It’s hard to believe this is my 10th Legend of Zelda-themed jigsaw puzzle. (Damn, I do a lot of puzzles!) Nostalgia fueled my interest in previous ones, based on the older titles like Wind Waker and Majora’s Mask and the 8-bit original. As I do not own a Switch and thus have not had the opportunity to play Breath of the Wild yet, artistic beauty alone was the primary motivating force behind my decision to buy this latest addition to my growing hoard of collector’s jigsaw puzzles.
The “Scaling Hyrule” puzzle depicts Nintendo’s iconic Hylian hero climbing a mountain cliff overlooking a painterly Hyrule landscape aglow with the warm colors of sunset. The completed puzzle image is pretty as a painting, the watercolor artwork printed in impeccable detail on pieces with a matte faux-canvas textured surface. Part of me wishes USAopoly left out the game logo in the bottom left corner, because the art is so beautiful it deserves to stand on its on, unmarred by branding.
From a usability standpoint, though, having the logo certainly helps in putting the puzzle together. I’m struggling to estimate the difficulty level for the average user, because even as a skilled jigsaw puzzle-doer I thought the puzzle was going to be a stiff challenge going in, but it actually turned out to be a lot easier than I had initially anticipated. I was able to bang it out, from sorting to the final piece, in a handful of sessions over three nights. There’s plenty of color and object variation to help distinguish the pieces, so getting the border, logo, cliff, and Link portions sorted and assembled was a breeze. The clouds and central horizon are the tough sections that I can see some folks getting hung up on, especially beginners.
The last two USAopoly jigsaw puzzles I’ve done have had loose interlocking pieces–this Destiny one a worse offender than the Zelda “Legend of the Hero” puzzle. I’m happy to say that’s not an issue here. This puzzle is about as well cut as jigsaws get. Matching pieces connect and hold without any wiggle room. Where some puzzles have certain pieces that feel as if they could have multiple mates, with this puzzle there’s never even the slightest bit of ambiguity over which pieces are a correct fit.
A few peeling edges aside, the pieces interlock and firmly hold in place, enough that small groupings can be picked up and moved as one without crumbling apart. In fact, once completed I was able to lift the entire puzzle up from one side and have the pieces hold tightly sheeted together. Framing won’t require any glues or sealers, the pieces bond that strongly on their own.
Zelda fans can’t go wrong with the Scaling Hyrule puzzle. It’s among the larger category of premium puzzles offered by USAopoly at 1,000 pieces and 19″ x 27″ finished size, but even though it has some tricky spots that may cause jigsaw novices some trepidation, the puzzle overall shouldn’t be too intimidating a mountain to climb.
Buy From: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild “Scaling Hyrule” Puzzle is available from Amazon.com and Entertainment Earth for $19.95.
Disclosure: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild “Scaling Hyrule” Puzzle purchased by VGBlogger.com for review purposes.
Matt Litten is the full-time editor and owner of VGBlogger.com. He is responsible for maintaining the day to day operation of the site, editing all staff content before it is published, and contributing regular news, reviews, previews and other articles.
Matt landed his first gig in the video game review business writing for the now-defunct website BonusStage.com. After the sad and untimely close of BonusStage, the former staff went on to found VGBlogger.com. After a short stint as US Site Manager for AceGamez, Matt assumed full ownership over VGBlogger, and to this day he is dedicated to making it one of the top video game blogs in all the blogosphere.
Matt is a fair-minded reviewer and lover of games of all platforms and types, big or small, hyped or niche, big-budget or indie. But that doesn't mean he will let poor games slide without a good thrashing when necessary! 
