People shit on BOTW’s Shrines WAY too much.
I replayed TOTK recently and am replaying BOTW now and I can safely say these shrines hold the fuck up. They are just as clever, just as creatively illuminating, just as focused mechanically, and just as varied and unique to eachother. The only one not is the Test of Strength shrines, and even those have more variance than people give credit for (because players tactics trend towards efficiency, not environmental novelty, in those fights… I think).
And that’s not the only thing that holds up, TOTK actually increased my appreciation for how linear BOTW *can* be if thats what you want out of it.
One of the biggest tricks these games pull off, IMO, is that the maybe most exciting and most cohesive experience narratively and gameplay loop wise is literally following the path as they point it to you-and that is neither immediately obvious nor desirable for so many players, that when you do find that path, it feels like you’ve uncovered something very special just by sticking to the road and the sign posts.
Both of these games played on rails are such great experiences. Following the path feels so subversive when you can go anywhere. It becomes novel to simply follow the story along it’s intended presentation and simply listen to what the game is telling you to stay on track.
The same goes for the shrines in both of these games- even though finding the wacky solution is what you’re probably going to find at first, when you find what the Shrine is actually wanting you to do, you uncover something very cool and very special. And not only that, they often teach you how to use your powers directly when you do, and it’s not just an arbitrary number go up mechanical reward. Both sets of shrines teach you functional things and are there to make you have a greater sense of knowledge about the game and how to you use your powers- which is something that supports the narrative purpose of the shrines. Link is being taught things by wise teachers at these shrines. That is such a clever reward and people do not sing that praise enough.
