With nothing but vast landscapes and a tease of an enemy, Nintendo left everyone in the dark for years about this much anticipated title. Everything changed this year with a trailer and, finally, a name. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild promises to be an epic unlike anything we've ever seen before. A truly open world saga encourages heavy exploration as gamers learn along with Link about the tragedy of Hyrule's past.

Two demos were offered: one of pure exploration and the other showcasing the beginning of the game.

Story-wise things are still vague. A young Link is awoken in a dark temple, having slept for 100 years in a tomb-like bed filled with bright blue liquid that drains as you wake up. The same disembodied female voice from the trailer encourages Link to awaken. Once up, we found pants and shirt in a chest (you start off in your undies). Clothes are important in this game, as you'll encounter a variety of environments and will suffer if not dressed appropriately. At the end of the hallway you are told to take the Sheikah Slate, which seems "familiar" to Link and will guide him through his journey. Upon exiting the temple, we found a man who introduced himself as a "strange old man."

You can explore on your own from here, finding things like tree branches or torches to use as weapons. Apples are around to replenish health as well and you can chat with the old man, answering in different ways. After a bit, the woman's voice is heard again and told us to go toward a highlighted section on the map that our Slate was showing. The spot is a cave-like area with a glowing pedestal for your Slate. After map information is added, the whole area starts shaking.

A video showed different areas of the world where towers were bursting out of the ground. The area we were in turned into a tower as well and a giant black spirit was seen flying around a castle in the distance. The woman spoke to us again and urged us to "remember." Once on the ground, the strange old man told us the spirit we saw was Calamity Ganon. One day it suddenly appeared and caused destruction, but the purity of Hyrule Castle has been keeping him at bay for 100 years, but he fears it will soon escape and take over the world. The old man also suspected we've been hearing voices, but kept everything cryptic.

This area was revealed to be the Isolated Plateau, and was surrounded by sheer cliffs. We were offered a paraglider in exchange for doing a favor, but weren't able to play the demo further.

In the exploration demo, Link began next to a campfire surrounded by tools and weapons. We had a bow, sword, and axe to play with and found food everywhere. You can cook food in multiple ways to increase its affects. For example, a steak on the fire creates seared steak that will replenish a heart and a half, but one cooked in a pot created a steak skewer which replenished two hearts. Multiple items can be cooked together to make more complex recipes and items such as an energizing elixir. Even bugs like a sizzlewig butterfly can be cooked, so it's important to pick up anything and everything to experiment with.

We tried out "fishing" which involved throwing bombs into the water and swimming over to the fish that were killed as a result. Hunting also came into play as a wild boar launched a surprise attack on us as we wandered through the woods. The amount of environmental elements like this are so vast that you could spend a day just relaxing in Hyrule and working on your recipes.

Many enemies that previously wandered aimlessly now had their own encampments. We ran into a hoard of bokolins, which was great because I accidentally threw my sword (open world means you can easily screw yourself over too) and needed to steal their clubs to use instead. Bombs were a great option here but had an extremely wide explosion range so we had to be careful not to get injured as well.

Chests were scattered across the area and contained more clothes or small weapons like a boku bow. We explored a shrine, one of over a hundred, but did not have the tools to get past the gate. The shrine was underground, with constellation-type decorations on the wall and a single pedestal near the gate. We also explored the ruins of a large temple with statues near the back where we could pray.

There were many vantage points in the countryside so we could climb up and view the area to get our bearings. We were told that anything we could see, even giant mountains, we could visit. The whole game is meant to be played in whatever way you choose, so the story will be gradually revealed to players at their own pace and challenges can be completed in any order.

The demo was vast, and there was much more to explore and see. It was beautiful, peaceful, and unforgiving. There are minimal instructions, so puzzles should be much harder in this game as an item you may need won't be nearby and weapons aren't guaranteed. While the demo so far gave only a slightly closer look than the trailer, it was perfect for the overall feel and openness that Nintendo wanted to achieve with this game.

Update: After exploring all four corners of the demo map, we were able to gain a better understanding of the weapons, slate powers, and some fun features.

Link's bombs, bow, sword, and shield now come in all shapes and sizes and will eventually break, so it's important to build a good inventory to switch between. We easily found more by opening chests and defeating enemies. Don't want to waste a sword on its last legs? Just chuck it at an enemy for a satisfying hit. You can also use more utilitarian items for weapons, like an axe, which we also used to used to cut down trees to make bridges. Bombs are now tied directly to the Sheikah Slate.

Among other things, the Slate enables Link to use magical items and powers, which can be unlocked in Shrines. We were able to use two different types of bombs: round and square. Both bombs are no longer on a timer, they will only detonate when they player triggers them, and requires a short cooldown period afterward. The round bomb can be used tactically, such as rolling it down a hill, while the square bomb will stay put.

Using the Slate further, we experienced new magical abilities like the magnet which allowed Link to pick up metal objects, large and small. It took a little getting used to as the special controls were sensitive, but by our second try it was easier to have full control when precise placement was needed. The stasis power freezes objects for a short period, which we used to stop a bridge from rotating and halted a boulder in its tracks. The game utilizes the early Shrines as a sort of tutorial without all the boring text. It's a fantastic balance of puzzle-solving while learning the new ability on your own. There is also a lot of room for experimentation, such as using your sword in conjunction with the magnet ability to sort of boomerang it into enemies.

The Slate's map function can be extremely useful. With a world so large it was a relief to be able to teleport to select locations to make travel faster. Players can also set different colored stamps around the map to mark places they're trying to travel to or remember for later. Zooming out on the map really put the game in perspective: the demo's playable area only took up an extremely tiny fraction of the map's potential space. To use it in a different way, while playing you can push down on the left control stick to zoom in and use the Slate like a pair of binoculars to scout out your surroundings.

We were able to explore a section of a snowy mountainside which immediately brought up the need to change clothes. We had a warmer outfit on hand, but it was interesting to see how quick Link reacted to the temperature change. We had to quickly make the wardrobe change to avoid losing health. Also worth noting, water in cold areas are not safe to swim in for obvious reasons. If you do fall in, it's almost impossible to get out before dying.

There was also more of an opportunity to try out climbing. Everything we ran into, boulders, trees, a cottage, and mountains, were climbable. We simply ran up to them and Link jumped right on. Link will get fatigued when climbing, just as he does when you dash while running or swimming, so it's important to know where you're going if you're attempting something like a large cliff. There will be ledges sprinkled throughout, but some can be barely within reach of each other. We had to either plan our climb very carefully or make sure there was a ledge still below us to keep from falling to our deaths if we didn't make it.

The last feature we tried was small, but insanely fun. If you're quick with the buttons, players can flip Link's shield over and use it like a snowboard. We traveled down the mountain, swerving around and enjoying the ride. It's very sensitive, so be careful around scattered ponds and the like, but since paragliding wasn't playable yet, it was the coolest way to travel.