Hey, do you remember when Nintendo first showed Zelda Breath of the Wild over 2 years ago
at the 2014 Game Awards?
You know, back when it was known just as as Zelda: Wii U. And even though the developers
of the game showed it off on a small TV from like 90 feet away--do you recall just how
exciting it was to see the game being played for the first time?
There was so much mystery back then--such as what other secrets or surprises might be
lurking just off camera
So, now that Breath of the Wild is here at last, we’re finally able to explore that
world for yourself...and it made us wonder...can we actually find some of the locations shown
over 2 years ago?
And if so, how have they changed since?
Now in a world this big, finding some of those locations might seem to be impossible--especially
since they may look dramatically different now.
However, Nintendo actually revealed what the map looked like at the time--and as it turns
out, that map is remarkably faithful to the final game--we can see what ended being Central
Hyrule right in the middle, Lake Hylia just to the South, and same for Death Mountain
to the Northeast.
Even the world’s borders are extremely similar, with ocean to the east, a deep ravine that
wraps around the northwest corner, and the flat desert to the Southwest.
Now it’s not an exact match--as some things like trails and rivers have either been rerouteed
or were even missing entirely originally --but on the whole, it’s impressive how similar
the two maps are even years apart.
Which is a very good thing, as that old map also revealed Link’s exact position in the
first scene--so what do you say we venture on over to that area in Breath of the Wild
and see how things look.
And here we are, even at the same time of day.
And it looks remarkably similar--while being remarkably different.
It’s a little bit like one of those optical illusions, where depending on how you look
at it, you see either a young or old woman--except in this case, it’s either an identical landscape,
or a completely different one.
So most of the major landmarks are in roughly the same place--but the finer details are
where the distinctions lie The waterfall on the right is still there--but now it’s bit
wider.
And the mountain it’s falling from is a bit taller--in fact, most of the mountains,
and landmasses in general, have been noticeably reshaped.
Including the very cliff we’re standing on right now.
Yeah, I actually have a bit of a confession--because I may have lead you to believe that the edge
of this s the exact same cliff edge from the original footage.
Except that’s not exactly the case...because that original cliff no longer exists.
And we know that because we went to the exact spot that Link’s standing in the Game Awards
footage--which going by the map, is butting right up against the right side of the U-Shaped
trail--and look where that puts us.
Right next to the trail...at ground level.
Yeah, it’s a far cry from the high ledge they were originally on!
Which means we had approximate a similar viewpoint from the mountain behind us--which seems to
have been smoothed out to have a more gradual slope compared to before, losing the cliff
that hangs over the path in the process.
You can see on the map how much farther back we had to go in order to get a similar perspective.
But even with all the differences--it’s pretty wild how identifiable the area still
is.
And that’s where the fun comes in, because we can finally reveal what’s remained a
mystery all this time--what else is around here?
So let’s see what happens if we point the camera just eastward a bit--whoa, there’s
Hateno village!
Huh, who would have guessed that there was an entire suburb just out of frame originally?
Although, believe it or not, there’s actually a hint of this village in the original footage.
Because at the very start of the original video, we can see two dirt patches separated
by a tree.
And if we go to that same spot in Breath of the Wild, there are the two dirt plots seperated
by a similar-looking tree.
But again, there are almost as many differences as there are similarities--such as how the
flagpoles that used to mark the path leading to the village have now gone missing.
At any rate, since this exact spot is where Link started from in the Game Awards footage--you
might be wondering, well what happens if we try to follow the path up the cliff ledge
that we said no longer exists.
Well...
As you can see, we quickly ran out of room to move, whereas the Link from the Game Awards
is able to continue out onto the ledge that hangs over the path.
And as a result, the wooden platform that was there was lost too--in its place is just
this lousy flagpole that’s set much farther back.
And there’s another major difference around here too--because the region’s Tower not
only looks dramatically different, but has even been relocated.
Originally, it was positioned on the edge of that hill just ahead.
Whereas in Breath of the Wild, it’s been moved on to an entirely new landmass slightly
to the west.
And speaking of that tower--let’s check it out from a slightly different vantage point
in Breath of the Wild...,in an area you might also recognize from the Game Awards...or maybe
not, because--of course--the tower wasn’t located here back then.
Yep, this is in fact the same trail where Link first met Epona in the Game Awards footage.
And like before, it’s recognizable, but different.
There’s still a forest at the top, and the grander details of the valley below still
match up, like the rocky structure and the ruins
But on the other hand, the trail here used to be wider with a rockier look, and the bordering
mountain was steeper, and well, uglier, and there used to be a random torch here.
Now I don’t know about you, but at the time, I imagined this scene being quite some distance
away.
But as it turns out, it’s suuuper close.
We’ll show you how close in Breath of the Wild, as we head right for it from the cliff
in the first scene
Yep, we’re here!
Pretty crazy huh?
And as you might have noticed, this means that the forest that the developers were looking
at from the cliff, is the same one just past Epona, which we now know is called Ginner
Woods.
So it turns out, when the developers lept off the cliff and began parasailing--using
the Sail Clotch no less--they were heading right toward it!
Who knew that was a clue all along?
Anyways, if you want to check this area out for yourself, you’ll find it right here
on the map.
Now a bit later on in the Game Awards demo, Nintendo showed several scenes that place
in a heavily forested area.
And as you probably know by now, there are a lot of forests in Zelda: Breath of the Wild,
which means tracking down where these scenes take place might be a little tricky--and that’s
assuming they even take place in the general location.
But thankfully, they do--and the final scene from the Game Awards gameplay that helped
us tie it all together.
Because as we pointed out originally, the Great Bridge of Hylia can be seen in the background--as
well as region’s tower on the hill just left of it--and both of those are in the exact
same location in Breath of the Wild, which puts Link right about here on the map in Breath
of the Wild, within the Faron Woods.
And from here, we were able to work backwards to figure out where the other forest scenes
take place too.
Because the very start of that bridge begins at these two stone pillars--which were featured
heavily in the original gameplay, with Link fighting a pair of Bokoblins from horseback.
And sure enough, we found two very similar-looking pillars in that same spot in Breath of the
Wild--right about here on the map.
Although we say “similar looking” because the pillars themselves are now a bit more
straight-edged, although the one on the left has taken some serious damage--yeah, the last
two years really haven’t been too kind to it huh?
And then we have this scene, which features exactly zero landmarks from the other clips.
I mean, it’s pretty much just trees...except for this rock with strangely distinctive markings--and
as it so happens, we accidentally stumbled upon that exact rock just south of the pillars,
right here on the Breath of the Wild map.
So we only had to work our backwards from there to find the start of that clip---next
to the same pond and identically placed trees nearby--even if those trees do look slightly
different.
The forest really hasn’t changed all that much since then-- although some of the rockwork
along the trail has been swapped out for man made objects, like pillars, or the the staircase
here.
And that’s for a good reason, as it better ties into the pair of pillars just ahead--as
well as the ruins found in and around this region.
Speaking of which, we can see some more ruins have been added to the right of the pillars--and
then there’s a new large boulder can be found in front of the left pillar.
Oh, and the enemies that used to be here are completely missing now
We get another look at those pillars in this scene, with Link riding toward them from the
opposite side.
But if we back it up, we can see that the area is now much more heavily forested--originally,
we could already see the pillars from way back here, whereas now they’re completely
obscured by the trees.
And we get a better look at that in this next scene, with Link riding past the pillars in
the opposite direction, toward the Great Bridge Bridge of Hylia to the north--the path leading
to it used to be entirely clear--but now you can barely see the path!
But once we get back out in the open, the area suddenly becomes a lot more recognizable--the
bridge more or less looks the same, and that goes for the two rocks right here too.
Although once again, we can see how much the ground and mountain textures have changed
since 2 years ago.
Now as Link turns past the rocks, we can see the view of Death Mountain has been slightly
obscured by a new hill just ahead.
In fact, this entire area is now much more uneven and full of hazards, whereas it used
to be a mostly open field.
Alright, so that pretty much covers it for the forest--except for one thing.
Because now that we know the geographical locations of each scene, the order they presented
them at the Game Awards doesn’t make any sense.
So stick with is here--because the first forest scene is of Link approaching the two pillar
from the north
But the next scene then shows Link heading north toward the rock with distinctive markings
to the South--and since he’s heading North, that means he’s going toward the pillars
again.
This stands out because it means the developers originally rode past the twin pillars, then
past the rock, before turning around and heading back for the towers, at which point they finally
start riding toward the Great Bridge of Hylia.
So it seems like the developers just rode back and forth along this forest pretty much
the entire 2nd half of the video, which is a little odd in hindsight.
And it gets weirder.
Because as you might recall, the entire point of this journey was to reach the tower that
the developers had marked on the map.
And that’s why they grabbed Epona in the first place, to get to the tower even faster!
And since we now know Epona was found here, we can see that were already relatively close!
And yet, they’ve somehow ended up in the Faron Woods, all the way to the South--they’re
waaay off course!
But the developers don’t act like it at all--instead, they implied that they’re
getting closer to the tower, saying it’ll take about “4 to 5 minutes from here.”
So that’s weird.
But hey, who knows--maybe editing the video.
And for the record, it took us slightly over 6 minutes to get to where the Tower was originally
supposed to be on horseback.
Anyways, we’re getting off track--Zelda developer style.
Unfortunately, that might be the end of the road for us...because there is still one scene
from the Game Awards footage we couldn’t place at all--this one of Link riding between
fields and forests.
So if you have any idea where this is, let us know by posting in the comments below!
But to make up for it, we have one more scene for you--but this time, it’s from about
a year later, being the entire trailer from the Nintendo Direct...yep, all 10 seconds
of it, in which we infamously analyzed the grass in for like 10 minutes (even though
we totally nailed it).
And here it is now in Breath of the Wild.
And as you might have guessed, it’s both very similar, and different--even though it
is a year newer than the Game Awards footage.
For one, the hill just behind Link is pretty much identical, ,and the same goes swampy
forest down here . But on the other hand, the view of Death Mountain is now a bit more
obscured, and the area over here has seen some dramatic changes--like the addition of
a giant rib cage.
So if you want to check this area out for yourself, you’ll want to head right here
on the map,.
So there you have it--you now know how to find almost every area in Zelda: Breath of
the Wild from back when the game was known just as Zelda Wii U.
It’s surprisingly fun to look at the old footage, and then see what else is around
there in the final game.
Anyways, if you enjoyed this video, make sure to subscribe for more on Zelda: Breath of
the Wild and everything else Nintendo Switch too.