Fan-Made Breath Of The Wild Multiplayer Mode Is Finally Real

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is undoubtedly a fantastic game, but it’s always been missing something. That something was the ability to play with your friends. It was such a glaring omission that a YouTuber and Twitch streamer by the name of PointCrow offered up a $10,000 bounty to anyone who could mod Breath of the Wild with multiplayer functionality. And over a year later, that mod is finally here.

“A new way to experience Breath of the Wild,” said Spuuky in the mod’s announcement trailer. “One hundred years of slumber, but this time, you’re not alone.”

Related: Tears Of The Kingdom Looks Like An Innovative Breath Of Fresh Air

The mod is available now over on PointCrow’s Discord server and comes courtesy of a mod team headed by Alex Mangue, the same folks that shared their work on the Breath of the Wild multiplayer late last year only to have all their videos copyright claimed by Nintendo. That honestly made it seem like the mod was dead in the water, but instead, it seems like the work merely went underground in order to avoid Nintendo’s lawyers. Nintendo is famously protective of its games and doesn’t like it when anyone attempts to change them in any way.

window.arrayOfEmbeds[“XlNDOZDmw8U”] = {‘youtube’ : ‘"<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XlNDOZDmw8U" width="560"></iframe>"’}; window.arrayOfEmbedScripts[“youtube”] = “null”;

For now at least, it seems like the Breath of the Wild mod is available from PointCrow’s Discord. The trailer showed at least seven moving Links on-screen at once and even suggested that there might be some PvP elements to the mod. As this is a mod, you have to already own an emulated version of Breath of the Wild that’s playable on PC, which might make it out of reach for those who aren’t technically inclined (although PointCrow has instructions on how to set up a Wii U emulator to get the mod working).

The mod includes simple software to set up a server, and you connect to individual servers through their IP address. There’s no central server keeping track of every broadcasting multiplayer session (which would most likely have been targeted by Nintendo), so you’ll have to know the person you’re connecting to in order to get their IP.

Provided all of PointCrow’s criteria were met, the mod should let you and others be anywhere on Hyrule, with no requirement to be physically near each other. Progression is also saved, in case you want to go diving into shrines or looking for Korok Seeds, and everyone has their own personal inventories as well. It does appear that one feature was cut from the final release, however, as only Links in different attire were featured in the trailer. Sad to see no Rito or Zora characters, but that probably requires more modding than just multiplayer functionality.

Head on over to PointCrow’s Discord for download and installation instructions.

Next: There Is Nothing Else Like Kingdom Hearts