I argue that the feel of BotW is a return to Zelda origins. It’s the most any game has felt like the original Zelda.

There original Zelda game was a game about exploring a giant over world to find it’s secrets. The dungeons weren’t puzzle filled, they were essentially just combat challenges.

… It’s that feeling that you are setting out on a difficult journey of exploration across a giant world with no support.

Every Zelda game since the original has felt smaller in comparison because the role of the over world got shrunk to just a thing to connect dungeons.

My favorite is AlttP which I think has the best balance between dungeons and over world exploration, but I prefer over world to modern dungeons we got in skyward sword and such.

It’s true, game prices today are the same as they have been for the past 40 years for AAA titles.

I can’t think of an industry which hasn’t had a price raise in decades.

Gaming had managed to get by on this thanks to increasing market volume as gaming became more mainstream in addition to extra revenue streams like micro transactions. But it’s hitting saturation now and won’t keep counteracting inflation forever