Zelda: Breath of the Wild - Great Plateau starting area, Follow the Shiekah Slate main quest
Get started with the opening moments of Breath of the Wild.
Welcome to the Great Plateau in Zelda: Breath of the Wild, the first area of this huge open-world adventure.
This opening area gets you exploring within moments, and features the game's first main quest - Follow the Shiekah Slate - giving you an introduction to key aspects including stealth, combat and items.
If you're after help for parts of the game, consult our Zelda: Breath of the Wild walkthrough and guide.
Head to the Great Plateau
When you start, examine the light blue pedestal directly ahead of you to pick up the Shiekah Slate.
Leave the cavern when the door opens, and go through the chests to get various items of clothing, including the Well-Worn Trousers and Old Shirt, and equip them as instructed.
Head to the far end of the room and investigate the pedestal in the far corner, scanning the Shiekah Slate as mentioned to open yet another door, taking you out to the open world after a short climb up a rockface. Let's go!
After the title card introducing you to the Great Plateau, the camera will show a temple far down on the right. Let's head in that direction.
You can collect a Tree Branch (a makeshift weapon) and other Hylian Shroom on the path down to the church. You can also grab Apples by leaping up and tapping A when the prompt appears.
At the bottom of the path, investigate the fire to get a Baked Apple and chat to the Old Man, who after a few dialogue choices, will highlight the temple nearby. Before heading there, get the Torch leaning up against the cliff face just behind the Old Man, who will also give you a few tips on combat, too.
Follow the Shiekah Slate
Press on and some point as you're exploring you'll get the 'Follow the Shiekah Slate' objective, adding a handy waypoint to the map, which takes you out into the plains below.
There's a bit of exploring to do here before you press on Continue down the hill and get the Woodcutter's Axe from the stump by the extinguished fire on the right; there is a body of water to the right; if you dive in from the long cliff into the circle of lilypads below, you'll encounter you first Korok Seed.
Finally, there's also a Rusty Broadsword on the tall island in the middle of the water, which you can reach by swimming across and climbing up the walls., which is a good weapon for now.
Head down the path towards some ruins at the base of some stairs, and you'll be given a stealth tutorial; in short, crouching makes it easier to sneak on foes and animals - whether you're trying to get by unsighted, or get the jump in battle - so use it where you can. In this instance, circle round the back of the Bokoblin, and use your newly discovered Rusty Broadsword to easily dispatch it.
If you continue on towards the waypoint and into the open plains, there's some enemies worth dispatching along the way. To easily defeat the camping pair of Bokoblins on the right, push the boulder from the plinth nearby onto the explosives below, giving you free access to the meat they are cooking. There are also two Bokoblins on the nearby hill top, which you can sneak upon for a Boko Bow.
Thanks to a new update, it's now possible to play Zelda Breath of the Wild in VR. Want help with the main game? Our Zelda: Breath of the Wild walkthrough can help complete Divine Beasts Vah Ruta, Vah Rudiana, Vah Medoh and Vah Naboris and more. There's also how to get the Master Sword, Hylian Shield and all Zelda Captured Memories and Great Fairy Fountain locations, while our Shrines locations and Shrine maps hub explains where to find and solve every puzzle room, including dragon locations and Labyrinth solutions. We also have a DLC 1 guide and DLC 2 guide, including all Tingle, Majora's Mask, Phantom, Midna outfit locations.
Press on to the waypoint, and the Bokoblin there should drop a Boko Shield and Traveler's Sword. Equip both, then head to ruins, use your Shiekah Tablet to activate the first Shiekah Tower - Great Plateau Tower.
After the cutscene, climb down the bottom by dropping through the gap in the floor, then down each step, until you reach the ground. Another cutscene will play at the bottom with the Old Man. He'll tell you in order to get the paraglider to leave the Great Plataeu, you need to get some treasure from the Oman Au Shrine, which features your first Shrine and Rune.