I hope everyone will stop saying “Breath of the Wild has no music” now.
The soundtrack is five discs.
And I want it.Breath of the Wild’s music is mostly atmospheric. It only has a few big numbers (and I can only think of three that are not recycled), compared to the many that are available in other Zelda games. Case in point: https://www.zreomirror.com/twilight-symphony/
Yes, BOTW does have music, but most of it is not catchy or at all memorable. This especially doesn’t jive with how big a deal Nintendo has made in recent years about how important music is to the Zelda franchise.
…And, doing some research before submitting this post, I found out that Koji Kondo, the primary composer for much of the Zelda franchise, did not compose at all for BOTW.
You say “atmospheric” like it’s a bad thing. I think the music in BotW is fantastic and does exactly what it should. If there was an epic catchy overworld theme you would quickly get tired of it. Instead we get quiet and unpredictable music that stays in the background and lets us be present in the world and attentive to the sounds around us. The music doesn’t have to scream at us that “wow, this is such an adventure”, it just whispers “this is nice” as we hear footsteps in the grass, birds, wind, enemies in the distance.
In older Zelda games the overworld was just the space between the important experiences, so playing some adventurous music as we head for our next stop makes sense. But in BotW you make your own adventure. The music can’t just assume that you’re out to do heroic deeds all the time. You’re exploring, you’re gathering, you’re looking for secrets, maybe aimlessly wandering. You can spend hours not doing anything in particular. The music works perfectly for that.
And then there are the themes. Lots and lots of recognizable themes with many variations. They are not always catchy or hummable (but when they are, they’re great), but they underscore what is happening in the game and feel like a part of the world.
I wouldn’t say the soundtrack is worse than Twilight Princess or Wind Waker which are my favorites. It’s not better either. It’s just different from what we’re used to, just like the game itself.
The one thing that I miss from the game and soundtrack are unique dungeons/temples with their own themes. But that’s okay.