Dedicated Zelda fans translate the written, possibly Hylian, language found throughout the E3 2016 gameplay footage of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
After skipping last year's E3, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild took to E3 2016 in a big way. Nintendo hosted a lengthy gameplay presentation for the new Zelda at this year's E3, and some talented fans have analyzed that footage, successfully translating the written in-game language to find some interesting hidden messages.
The written language featured in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which is possibly Hylian, can be found all over the game world. Players will see it written on items, enemies, buildings, and more in the final game, with different phrases and words corresponding to different things. For example, in the E3 gameplay footage a dungeon door is labeled "DUNGEON," and a tower has the word "SHEAKTOWER" written on it repeatedly.
Besides various locations, it appears as though Nintendo is also using this language to give gamers an idea of what they're supposed to do with different objects. One example is that gears in the game have the word "ROTATE" spelled out on them, which may mean that savvy gamers could have an advantage when it comes to solving the many puzzles that will be encountered during the adventure.
Nintendo is also using the language for humorous purposes as well. For instance, on a Sheikah Slate seen during the gameplay presentation, "ALL YOUR BASE ARE" can be found, which is a reference to the 1989 game Zero Wing. One has to imagine that other amusing video game references can be found elsewhere in Breath of the Wild's game world, and searching for them could become a nice distraction for some gamers.
Fans haven't completely deciphered The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild's in-game language just yet, so it will be interesting to see if they are able to do so before the game launches next year. In the meantime, there may be other secrets left to find in the Breath of the Wild gameplay footage from E3 besides the coded messages, so Zelda fans may want to go back through it with a fine-tooth comb.
It just goes to show the level of detail Nintendo applied when developing The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. By including a written in-game language that translates to actual words, it can give gamers something extra to do in a game that's already shaping up to be quite massive. As those that went hands-on with Breath of the Wild at E3 can attest, the game world is set to be the biggest in Zelda history, and it looks like that world will be filled with interesting secrets like this.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will be available in 2017 for Wii U and Nintendo NX.