My top 6 takeaways from playing the new 'Legend of Zelda'

There's a massive, gorgeous new "Legend of Zelda" game in the works. This is "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild":

You've probably heard about it by now, right? It's heading to the Nintendo Wii U and Nintendo's next console. In fact, the game is expected to launch alongside the new Nintendo game console, which arrives in March 2017.

I spent over half an hour with the new "Zelda" this week at E3 2016 in Los Angeles, the most important video game event of the year. These are my biggest takeaways:

First, and most obviously, the game has a beautiful painterly style. That was intentional, as you might expect.

Say what you will about realism. Clearly there are examples of games where approximating reality is ideal. "The Legend of Zelda"— a third-person fantasy exploration series starring an elfin boy with a sword — is not such an instance.

In the case of "Breath of the Wild," the game is stunning for its artistic choices rather than its outright graphical fidelity. There are jagged edges and blurry textures. Lighting and atmosphere could be more detailed. But these "flaws" are actually features in "Breath of Fire," in the same way that Paul Cézanne embraced spots of blank canvas.

Admittedly, the game is going to look sharper on Nintendo's next console (the version I played was running on a Wii U development kit). But even with sharper visuals, the game's art style is intentionally flamboyant. There's a sense of vibrancy in its popping, contrasting colors.

Seriously, look at this:

This is a real evolution — finally! — for one of the longest-running series in video games.

First, there's the simple stuff like being able to jump. Then, there's the more interesting stuff, like adding a survival aspect to the usual "Zelda" formula. You'll hunt animals for meat, cook that meat, and eat it to replenish Link's health. You'll climb mountains, trees, and all manner of structures. You'll set brush on fire to scare away enemies. You'll collects herbs, combine those herbs, and consume the concoctions you create to various ends (higher strength, perhaps, or more stamina while climbing). 

Combat is also seeing a huge change. Link's usually shining sword didn't show up in the game I played. Instead, I was encouraged to use one weapon on an enemy, disarm said enemy, and then use their own weapon against them. This is a crucial new system, specifically because weapons don't last forever. Too many attacks with any one weapon will wear it down, and it'll break eventually.

Hunting and combat alone are two major new changes to long-standing traditions in the "Zelda" series, and they're at the heart of the evolutionary change taking place with "Breath of the Wild."