The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild DLC review - worth forking out the extra cash?

If you're a Switch owner and haven't played Breath of the Wild yet, drop everything and go do that. Play it. Live it. Breathe it. It's awesome.

Its first DLC, Master Trials, launched this past week and whilst plenty of people were sceptical at first, doubts quickly seemed to fade as more was revealed about it.

But is it really as good as Nintendo makes it out to be? Or would you be best spending your money elsewhere?

Armour, armour everywhere

Firstly, Master Trials will definitely suit you if you haven't completed or gotten most way through the game. There's no rule book but the benefits of the extra items will come in useful during all of the fights and encounters, and will generally make the game that much more fun.

There are four major pieces of armour: Tingle's Outfit, Midna's Helmet, Majora's Mask, and the Phantom Armour. They're not that hard to find, though the Phantom Armour and Tingle's outfit are spread out across three locations each.

Next, the Korok Mask - which I'd originally thought to be more of a gimmick - came in extremely useful, highlighting the hiding place of tricksy Koroks that I wouldn't have even noticed.

By far Majora's Mask is the most useful item. Much like the Bokoblin and Moblin Masks you can buy from the monster parts trader, Majora's Mask essentially turns you into one of the boys.

Once worn, smaller enemies will approach you before giving you a sniff and just hanging around you like some bizarre monster disciples. Aside from it being kind-of cool, it's also super useful for walking into bases and stealing treasure without killing anything.

It's all in the mode

Hero's Path Mode is less useful than I'd previously believed. It's easy to fire up and interesting to look at, but all in all it's only useful if you're trying to remember where you were recently.

Master Mode does what it says on the tin. Unlike the original mode, enemies actually gain health back in Master Mode so you've got to move quickly.

Monsters essentially start from the Blue Bokoblin stage and end up with a much higher maximum level than before. You've also got to remember to look up to spy sky-chests, though watch where you're flying - there're bad guys up there too.

Trial of the Sword is one of those addictive extras that makes you want to cry tears of frustration then have another go. Given that the prize at the end is an unlimited charge on your Master Sword, it's a pretty sweet deal.

But it's so hard. So very, very hard. Starting off with no armour, no food, and no weapons, you've got to make it through 45 rooms of increasing difficulty without being able to save.

It has its uses

Master Trials is stuffed with some neat gear. If you crave the challenge of the Master Mode or are determined to beat the Trial of the Sword despite your failings, this will be right up your alley.

If you're not too keen on the time-consuming extras, however, the price tag is a little high for a few crates of armour - for now, at least.

The price paid includes the second DLC, The Champion's Ballad, coming later this year, so let's hope it brings a little more substance to the table.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild DLC review - worth forking out the extra cash?

Breath of the Wild's first DLC definitely has a lot of goodies on offer, however I can only hope DLC 2 has more to offer in terms of story
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Emily Sowden
Emily Sowden
Emily is Pocket Gamer's News Editor and writes about all kinds of game-related things. She needs coffee to function and begrudgingly loves her Switch more than she lets on.