In previous Zelda iterations, Link could regain hearts by cutting grass or breaking containers. But in Breath of the Wild, players must gather actual food items and store them in their inventory so they can eat or use them later on when needed. For example, players can hunt animals for meat, or use items dropped by monsters to replenish health hearts.
But this isn’t the only new purpose for consumables. Rather than simply gathering items and consuming them individually, players will be able to cook ingredients over fires or in ovens (ovens yielding the best results) in order to create new and improved consumables that will do a lot more than simply heal Link.
An informative YouTube video by Arekkz Gaming, explains the cooking system of the new upcoming game.
Arekkz demonstrates in the video that adding together ingredients, like raw meat and mushrooms in an oven, results in the creation of a consumable of much higher quality – something that replenishes more hearts than the items would have alone and uncooked.
He also shows that adding something else to the mix, like a truffle, can give Link an item that will grant him an additional heart until he takes damage. This buff is seemingly reminiscent of items like Elixir Soup from Wind Waker, which gave Link a damage boost until he took damage himself.
Besides just food items that give health and buffs, Link also has the option to make potions that will allow him to traverse in warm and cold climates for a duration of time –whereas he normally would have to change armor to brave such weather.
This is an interesting addition to Zelda mechanics, and I for one am excited to see the full potential of cooking when Breath of the Wild releases in 2017.
