Modder Arkh Longstride has unveiled a mod for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild that changes, well, pretty much everything about the game’s visuals. Longstride has bumped the game up to 60 FPS on PC, applied a 21:9 aspect ratio, removed the cel-shading effect, vastly increased the draw distance, sharpened some things up, and applied some desaturation to the color scheme to account for the other aesthetic changes. The result is a game that looks… not very much like Breath of the Wild, for better or worse.
Suddenly, Link’s world is a lot cloudier, less idyllic, and awash in earth tones. Some have compared this style with that of Skyrim. A lot have concluded that this style is “more realistic,” even if it’s not as eye-popping, but I think this has more to do with some graphical enhancements on the modder’s part than it does the changes to the color scheme.
Personally, while I love the vast draw distance in this video, the overall vibe is dull and uninviting to me. And it makes me love and appreciate Nintendo’s artistic choices with this game all the more! But what about you? Would you be down for the next Zelda game to feature a grittier, more earth tone-style like this? Let us know!