Nintendo updated The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild last night with a new feature that some players have wanted since the game launched. On both Nintendo Switch and Wii U, Nintendo has expanded the game’s voice and subtitle options, offering nine different languages to switch to at will.
While many are content to both play the game in their native tongue, others have lamented the English voice acting in particular. The English voices for both Princess Zelda and Mipha, a member of the Zora who plays a crucial role, have been routinely criticized by players.
ok im sorry but the voice acting in zelda is just plain awful, it's not okay, it's not passable, it's just bad
— Fritanga (@t8styham) April 15, 2017
honestly the only voice acting in botw that i dont like is zelda and mipha
— hidy✨ (@mchnzo) April 28, 2017
its just
bad imo
Ultimately I agree the script/voice acting in Zelda is often meh, but luckily it doesn't affect how epic the game is, at least for me
— Gaijinhunter (@aevanko) April 25, 2017
Zelda BoTW is probably game with the single worst English voice acting I probably played period. I never knew you can do it this badly.
— ksen (@ksen_otaku) April 25, 2017
Voice acting is a rarity in The Legend of Zelda games as-is, so it’s only natural that Nintendo didn’t quite stick the landing on this unique attempt. We’ve really only ever heard Princess Zelda grunt or cry in previous games, as this video highlights — those CD-i Zelda games notwithstanding:
With the new voice options, players can switch around the voices until they find one more to their liking. The original Japanese sounds like this, for starters:
There are also several Romance languages available, as well as Russian. Check out the video below to hear seven of the languages you can switch it up to, if you’re not a huge fan of the English dub.