Here's When You Can Play Zelda: Breath of the Wild's Master Trials DLC

The first of two planned expansions for Breath of the Wild unlocks later tonight for Wii U and Switch.

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The Master Trials, the first of two DLC expansions for Zelda: Breath of the Wild, drops tomorrow, June 30. Depending on your region and time zone, you might be able to start playing tonight.

A spokesperson from Nintendo told GameSpot that The Master Trials DLC will unlock tonight at 9:00 pm Pacific, or at 12:00 am for those on Eastern Time. You’ll be able to download on the Nintendo eShop for your Switch or Wii U. Both versions of the expansion contain similar content, although the download takes up more space on Wii U than Switch. You’ll need 3.7 GB of free space on your Wii U or a portable drive, but only 456 MB if you play on Switch.

Master Trials adds several new features and unlocks others for Breath of the Wild. The main attraction is Trial of the Sword, a combat challenge spanning 45 rooms full of enemies that ramp up in difficulty as you progress. Survive, and you’ll power up your Master Sword permanently; the “Sword of Evil’s Bane” typically only gets a boost when you go up against Ganon or creatures corrupted by the King of Evil, such as bosses.

Other content includes new masks and outfits, a harder difficulty mode, an item that lets you fast-travel to any point instead of restricting you to shrines you’ve completed, an option to show the paths you’ve taken on foot across Hyrule, and more.

Master Trials and the second Breath of the Wild expansion, titled Champions’ Ballad, cost $20 and are only available as part of the game’s season pass. Champions’ Ballad is set for release this fall.

Long Reads Editor

David L. Craddock writes fiction, nonfiction, and grocery lists. He is the author of the Stay Awhile and Listen series, and the Gairden Chronicles series of fantasy novels for young adults. Outside of writing, he enjoys playing Mario, Zelda, and Dark Souls games, and will be happy to discuss at length the myriad reasons why Dark Souls 2 is the best in the series. Follow him online at davidlcraddock.com and @davidlcraddock.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    June 29, 2017 11:45 AM

    David Craddock posted a new article, Here's When You Can Play Zelda: Breath of the Wild's Master Trials DLC

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      June 29, 2017 12:08 PM

      i bought a dlc pass right after finishing the game, i hope i didnt make a mistake because this dlc doesnt look exciting at all.

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        June 29, 2017 12:18 PM

        This first DLC collects a bunch of new features and challenges. The second DLC is a story-driven module.

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          June 29, 2017 12:35 PM

          well i gonna play it anyway, but i am more excited for the second one.

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            June 29, 2017 12:39 PM

            Most people are, I kinda really want all the new armor. I'm a sucker for Link in cosplay apparently.

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              June 29, 2017 12:50 PM

              well at least link got a switch t shirt.

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      June 29, 2017 12:38 PM

      Is there an unbreakable shield in the game? I like fighting guardians but they are murder on shields.

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        June 29, 2017 12:44 PM

        learn to counter, fool!

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          June 29, 2017 2:41 PM

          Timing is everything! Once you learn to counter the beam you can use the weakest shield and wreck them.

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            June 29, 2017 7:08 PM

            Yeah, I can do it maybe 60% of the time, but in order to practice I need more shields!

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      June 29, 2017 12:46 PM

      Weird how it's 4 gigs on Wii but 400 megs on switch

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        June 29, 2017 12:51 PM

        typo?

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          June 29, 2017 12:56 PM

          Nope. On Switch, the download is just under half a gig. On Wii U, it's nearly 4 GB.

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        June 29, 2017 12:55 PM

        Speculation: I've wondered for a while whether updates to Switch games alter the data on the game cards themselves rather than some go-between files. It's easy to assume this content update would need direct and overwrite-able access to a number of game files.

        In the case of a disc, that would mean needing to replicate those files onto the drive to make the necessary alterations in the go-between stage, but for the game card you could just make the smaller alterations to the files at the source and not have to worry about file replication.

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          June 29, 2017 12:58 PM

          That's an interesting idea. I might look into it.

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          June 29, 2017 12:59 PM

          It's files on the switch, if you take Zelda out and put in a new switch, it still needs to download the updates.

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            June 29, 2017 1:02 PM

            Look at you, Mr. Multiple Switch Man.

            (that's interesting, and if true definitely throws a wrench into my theory)

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              June 29, 2017 1:06 PM

              If that's the case, then, it may just be as simple as more comprehensive decompression systems available, given that the hardware between the Switch and WiiU is so different. It makes me wonder if, when decompressed, the update or game content size is a similar size on both systems.

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        June 29, 2017 12:59 PM

        Perhaps its the optical storage disc that does it?

        On Wii U - if you have to replace something you have to replace the whole "chunk".

        On Switch (cartridge and digital) you can change just the thing you want to change (and load the rest of the "chunk" from cartridge/memorycard).

        I see that you could buy BOTW digital on Wii U also but perhaps the system or the fact that the game also have to support optical discs it has to load whole "chunks"?

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          June 29, 2017 1:01 PM

          I have it digital on Wii u. Plays pretty smooth? Discs thrash in the Wii u like crazy. I believe multiple games have data patches like xenoblade Chronicles x that are data files so you don't have to wait for optical disc speeds

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            June 29, 2017 1:12 PM

            Ok.

            But i guess that you are running the same version that the game on optical disc and if they only sent out the new files the disc thrashing would be even worse.

            Storage is cheap on Wii U so if they changed some things they just sent out the whole "chunk" on the patch.

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      June 29, 2017 1:19 PM

      What's the consensus, buy in to finish the game or use it as bonus for the holiday add on?

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        June 29, 2017 3:56 PM

        Hard mode is a separate save. I just caved and picked it up because the Master Trials look awesome and I want that new armor.

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