In what is surely one of the most pertinent examples of in-game collectible hunting gone mad, Nintendo’s most recent iteration of Hyrule in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild contains a grand total of 900 Korok Seeds, items that are obtained by solving miniature puzzles scattered throughout its vast expanse. You’d think that the prospect of finding every last one of these things, which players can give to an NPC called Hestu in order to expand Link’s inventory slots, would take a considerable amount of time, but one player has already managed to achieve such a feat, not even two weeks after the game’s release.
Reddit user xFateAwaitsx documented the achievement yesterday (via IGN), also providing a screenshot of the reward for their efforts. If you’re expecting the payoff to be untold riches, a swanky set of armor or a special weapon to commemorate the event, think again – it seems that Nintendo opted to have a little fun with its fans instead.
Yes, as you can quite clearly see from the above image, painstakingly collecting every last Korok Seed leads to players being awarded Hestu’s Gift or, as most people would describe it, a gilded turd. A gift of friendship this is not.
From the position of someone who’s barely scratched the surface in their quest to collect every Korok Seed, I find the revelation to be rather humorous, and props surely go to Nintendo for having a bit of fun with its players, even if it is at their expense. You never know, Hestu’s Gift may well be the key to unlocking an as yet undiscovered secret in Breath of the Wild, although I don’t imagine a piece of stool can unlock much.
One thing’s for sure, I’ll be putting my quest to nab every last seed on hold indefinitely, but what about you? Let us know in the comments if you still plan to find all 900, despite knowing what awaits you on the other side.
