Hailed by both critics and audiences as one of the most ambitious video games Nintendo has ever produced, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild game has earned universal acclaim. The massive open-air adventure will soon receive even more engaging content with the Expansion Pass, composed of two planned DLC packs for both the Nintendo Switch and Wii U versions. The first pack, called The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – The Master Trials, launches this summer, while the second DLC pack launches in holiday 2017. The two packs are only available as a bundle for a price of $19.99. The first pack of downloadable content will add the Trial of the Sword and a challenging new Hard Mode to the game, as well as other fun and useful features.
“Whether you have already completed the adventure or are just getting ready to paraglide into Hyrule for the first time, this new downloadable Expansion Pass makes this massive game even bigger and more engrossing,” said Doug Bowser, Nintendo of America’s Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “We are always looking for new ways to provide fun and exciting experiences for our fans.”
Here is a breakdown of everything The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – The Master Trials has to offer:
Trial of the Sword: By accessing this location, players can challenge the new Trial of the Sword (previously known as “Cave of Trials Challenge”), where enemies appear one after another. Link starts without any armor or weapons, and if he defeats all of the enemies in the room he can proceed to the next area. Trial of the Sword will include around 45 total rooms for players to complete. When Link clears all of the trials, the true power of the Master Sword will awaken and always be in its glowing powered-up state.
Hard Mode: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is already considered one of the most thrilling games in The Legend of Zelda series, and fans looking for a challenge are in for a treat with the new Hard Mode. In Hard Mode, the “ranks” of enemies in the game are increased (i.e. Red Bokoblins change to Blue), and players might even encounter higher-ranking enemies they wouldn’t find through normal play. Enemies will also slowly recover health in battle, forcing you to defeat them more quickly. They will also more easily spot Link as he approaches them, making these enemies tougher to sneak up on. In addition, floating planks held aloft by balloons will be scattered around Hyrule. By successfully reaching these planks, players can battle enemies and collect treasure.
Hero’s Path Mode: Exploring Hyrule is exciting, but with such a large world it’s sometimes hard for players to remember where they’ve been. To help with tracking progress, the new Hero’s Path Mode will document every step players take, and mark their path in green on the map. The route taken will be tracked for the player’s last 200 hours of play time, with an included slider to track footsteps on a timeline. This even works retroactively, so players that have already put many hours into the game will be able to see where they have traveled. This feature will help in identifying the locations they haven’t visited in this vast world, and may help players find those Shrines they haven’t encountered yet.
Travel Medallion: There will be a new treasure chest somewhere in the game world which contains the Travel Medallion. With the Travel Medallion, players can create a temporary new travel point on the map where they are currently standing. Link can then transport himself to that point at any time. Only one travel point can be registered on the map at a time.
Korok Mask: By finding the new Korok Mask, players will have a much easier time finding Korok locations in the game. When equipped, the mask will shake, indicating that a Korok is hidden somewhere nearby.
New Equipment: Eight new pieces of equipment inspired by previous characters and games in the series will be added to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild after downloading the first DLC pack. Once discovered by the player, they will yield equipment themed after fan-favorite games and characters such as Midna, Tingle, Phantom and Majora’s Mask.
More information about the second DLC pack will be revealed in the future. All DLC is available for both the Nintendo Switch and Wii U versions of the game.
Starting today, players will be able to experience the game in one of nine audio languages [Japanese, English, French (France), French (Canada), German, Spanish (Spain), Spanish (Latin America), Italian and Russian], with a different language used for on-screen text by downloading a free software update. To enable this feature in the Wii U version of the game, players will need to download a Voice Pack from Nintendo eShop.