Nintendo went all in on the newest installment of the legendary Legend of Zelda series at E3 this year. Except for a quick mention of Pokemon Sun and Moon, the Zelda game was the company’s only attraction to its Treehouse display area inside a convention with more than 52,000 attendees and hundreds of developers, companies, and industry insiders.

Outside the Treehouse, a huge line of people snaked around the exhibition floor. Some of them waited more than 3 hours to look inside and play the 45-minute demo. Those who got to play experienced just one percent of the full game’s map, according to Nintendo. Players slashed, jumped, and climbed around a glossy game world that looked like a halfway point between the aesthetics of Twilight Princess and Windwaker. 

Inside the Treehouse, a lifesize Link sculpture battled a new tentacled, glowy enemy called a Guardian. The scene was backdropped by a majestic Hylian sunset and the ruins of a temple. In fact, “Glowy” and “majestic” are probably the best words to describe the entire palette of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. One of the playable demos opened with a nearly naked Link emerging from a pool of glowing blue stuff beneath what looked like a gigantic glowing mushroom.

Not much is known about the story at this time, but besides the glowy stuff, some of the old recurrent symbols are present again. In particular, the Sheikah Eye was prominent on Nintendo’s branding for the game.

The title is set to release for Wii U and Nintendo’s new console, codenamed NX, sometime in 2017.

About the Author

Julie Ershadi is a journalist based in Los Angeles. She has covered culture, lifestyle, Congressional politics and Iran-U.S. relations for a variety of publications. She can be reached at julie.ershadi@gmail.com and on Twitter as @jershadi.