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Look at this cute little guy! He is known as a Korok. Yes, it’s a palindrome. That only adds to the cuteness. Koroks are leaf sprite fairy elf things, and legions of them are carefully spread across the vast worlds of recent Legend of Zelda games, hidden behind clever puzzles, just waiting for you to free them.
You’ll do it, won’t you?
In 2017, Nintendo reinvented the open world video game with Breath of the Wild, then continued their innovative design conquest in 2023’s Tears of the Kingdom. Both of these games are exceptional blends of vast lands to explore, intricate combat that builds on the entire legacy of action RPGs, lore-tastic character driven stories, and design structure that throws out most of the tedious map-icon-driven checklist gaming stuff in favor of pure player-driven fun.
I like all of that stuff, of course — but my favorite thing about these games is the Koroks. They aren’t just sitting around the world like other “special” collectibles such as The Elder Scrolls’ Nirnroot plants or Final Fantasy VII Rebirth’s cute baby chocobos, oh no. The Koroks are hidden. They take just a little bit of work to find, and sometimes a little bit of guesswork. And that’s so awesome.
