Collecting Korok Seeds in Breath of the Wild is game changing

I started hunting down all 900 Korok Seeds, convinced it was a dumb quest. I imagined the process as a Sisyphean task. All I would do was mindlessly collect seed after seed after seed after…seed. I thought collecting was only for the sick and die-hard fans. But after a few weeks of my hunt – which is still not over – I am now convinced that it is indeed the ideal way to enjoy it The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

Now listen to me: I’m not saying that people who aren’t after the Korok seeds aren’t “true fans”. Far from it. Collecting seeds is a completely different type of gameplay than the mainline quest and associated boss fights, which proved challenging even for a seasoned Zelda fan who loves 3D action fighting games. In contrast, collecting the seeds was a delightful and leisurely way to revisit them breath of the wild in 2023.

Like any good hero, Link has a few tools at his disposal to take on this particular challenge. You will definitely need Revali’s Gale if you don’t plan on spending a lot of time climbing. Also, I beat all of the DLC for the game, so I had some essential items like Master Cycle Zero (Link’s tricked-out motorcycle), a Korok mask that wiggles when a seed is nearby, and the Travel Medallion you use to get it can place a teleportation waypoint anywhere on the map that you want. Luckily I also had about 200 arrows to start with as you have to play a mini game where you shoot fast moving balloons to get lots of the seeds. But among the tools, the most important resource I used was an online map that saves and tracks my progress.

Kind of like playing games Elder Ring, you must be willing to laugh first and then be frustrated. It’s still annoying that you can’t climb well when it’s raining. Some seeds feel like a real challenge, while others feel like the developers are secretly laughing at you personally if you bend over backwards to earn a single measly Korok seed. For example, in Lurelin Village, you must throw a rock at a roof to complete a mold and get a seed. It sounds so plain and simple, but it’s not.

Image: Nintendo via Polygon

The top of the building is quite high, so a normal throw won’t cut it. I tried different methods to get the seed there. I first felled all the trees from certain angles, hoping they would land on the roof and form a bridge (they didn’t). I then tried using Stasis and basically playing rock golf and getting one up (the angles weren’t right). I then tried using the Stasis method, except I smashed the rock into a tree stump and fired from there. I tried every stump, but no combination of angles worked for me. I thought about using Octo Balloons but didn’t have any and didn’t want to get them for a single Korok seed. (I probably should have done that, though.) Eventually, I went farther away and launched off a hill, shooting from afar rather than high. The rock finally landed and I openly cheered from the solitude of my desk.

Seeds that require this level of tinkering breath of the wild Sandbox elements are fewer and further in between. This challenge really made me appreciate how relaxed the vast majority of Korok Seed hunting looked in comparison. For the most part, a lot of seed hunting involved casual strolling and appreciating the scenery. I would go to a region to collect certain seeds, but if I had one seed I would be close to the next. I was able to string my hunt together somehow.

While playing through the main game questline, there weren’t many prominent names that I remembered. I remembered a few locations like Dueling Peaks for its early relevance in the game, but honestly not much outside of the main attractions like Hyrule Castle, the Temple of Time, Death Mountain and so on. But as I hunted seeds, I really began to appreciate that the developers gave a name to every peak and valley, creek and meadow. The smallest of all meadows can contain shallow puddles of water that reflect the light with a blinding shimmer. Collecting the Korok seeds highlighted the great level of detail in the breath of the wild Landscape.

I don’t want to underestimate the enormous amount of time required. Even if I’m listening to audiobooks or podcasts while gaming, this grind would be brain-numbing and excruciating if I tried to squeeze it into a tight time frame or deadline of sorts. It’s a daunting task, but I think the developers want players to be successful. Once you find a korok, it will be marked on the map. So if you get to the end and – Hylia forbid – you’re missing a few seeds, you can technically go back on your map and reference the ones you’ve collected (although that’s a bit too administrative for my own liking). .

It’s easy to argue that the result doesn’t seem to justify the effort. Collecting all 900 seeds essentially rewards you with a golden turd. It’s actually absurd, but I also like that about chasing the seed. It is collecting for collecting’s sake. It’s for folks whose brains itch when they don’t hit that 100 percent mark, and for those who are content with roaming Hyrule’s vast and varied terrain. It turns breath of the wild in Nintendo’s most breathtaking walking simulator yet.