Joy is Reason Enough

It’s been a busy year for games so far. A new Nintendo console just launched. I haven’t yet beaten Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 or Doom: The Dark Ages, despite truly loving what I’ve played, and I’m at least three games behind on the new releases I want to check out. And yet, these past few weeks, whenever I’ve sat down to play a game in my spare time, it’s been 2017’s The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

Now, outside of it being my favorite game of all time, it also recently received a big performance upgrade through the Nintendo Switch 2 version, making for an improved experience in the year 2025. Still, I haven’t been able to shake a persistent feeling of guilt each time I paraglide back into Hyrule.

Whenever I’ve fired up Breath of the Wild, a voice in the back of my head screams, “Shouldn’t you play something else? Something new?!” Part of that is thanks to my job as a member of games media, where I feel professionally obligated to stay abreast of the latest releases in any given year. But as I’ve reflected on my complicated feelings surrounding replaying my favorite games, I’ve realized there’s more to it than just my career.