"Can you do this for me?" A pained wail comes from the sofa, muffled yet audible despite my noise-cancelling headphones. My girlfriend is curled up there playing The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, as she has done nightly over the past few weeks, and not once in that time has she asked for help. I pause my own game and swivel the computer chair to face her, dredging up the now admittedly hazy memories of the 14-hour Hyrulean marathon I'd embarked upon a year ago. "Where are you at with it?" I ask – and hastily button my lip when she tells me.
The thing I'm least looking forward to about replaying Breath of the Wild on Switch 2 is dealing with the game's hardest boss all over again – especially after being a backseat driver to my partner's own Thunderblight ordeal last weekend. It's one of the most beloved and best Switch games of all time, but I need to be in a specific mood for such a demanding Metroidvania. Backtracking, shrine-grinding, farming for armor upgrade materials… sometimes, it's just not for me.
