One dedicated fan of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has completed the entire game without running or walking at all. From the moment Breath of the Wild was announced as a game where Link could run straight to Ganon’s castle right at the very beginning, players were imagining all of the different speedrunning possibilities which would be available to them, but most of those, like the Breath of the Wild speedrun challenge to feed every dog in Hyrule, involve some sort of, well, running.
Regarded by many fans and critics alike as one of the best open world video games in years, Breath of the Wild has seen players consistently discover new weird tricks and interesting combinations of gameplay elements thanks to the multitude of mechanics Nintendo included in the game. Some of these, like the ability to drop bombs in midair and use them to propel Link long distances, as well as the fan-favorite traversal method of shield-surfing, proved integral in this latest Breath of the Wild challenge.
As first reported by Polygon, one The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild player has completed the entire game without walking or running once, and there’s video evidence from the player’s YouTube account PointCrow to back it up. According to PointCrow, the exact stipulations of the challenge meant that there was “no walking, no running, and no scooting across hyrule.” However, other forms of movement, such as “paragliding, climbing, swimming, unsing horses (which i didn’t do), shield surfing, flurry rushing, etc. is allowed. Literally just no walking.” Check out PointCrow’s video below, in which he demonstrates a number of useful techniques for getting around Breath of the Wild’s open world without resorting to walking.
Of course, such a massive undertaking doesn’t go without slip-ups and was likely quite frustrating to attempt at times, but PointCrow was adamant about restarting from a previous save if he accidentally took a step in order to preserve the integrity of the challenge. In the video description, he confirms that the whole experience of beating Breath of the Wild without walking was a “Lot of fun, but MY GOD it’s so unsatisfying to hop everywhere.”
In light of this most recent The Legend of Zelda challenge, it will be interesting to see where the Breath of the Wild community takes skillrunning and speedrunning next. There have always been a dedicated group of fans trying to squeeze every bit of content possible out of each and every Zelda release, likely due to the series’ propensity for rewarding such exploration with actual content, save for those lost years in the early 2000’s when everyone was looking for the triforce in Ocarina of Time. As players await news about the upcoming The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild sequel, they will likely be returning to Hyrule in order to satisfy their anticipations… hopefully, though, they’ll be allowed to walk around.
Next: Zelda Breath Of The Wild: How To Get Into Hyrule Castle
Sources: Polygon, YouTube
