Oh, Nintendo. You’ve always claimed to be the family-friendly funsters of the gaming industry. The truth’s out now. The truth’s out, Link’s shirt is off, and Hestu’s far too happy about it.
Now, there’s no denying that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has been quite the phenomenon. It was the jewel in the Switch’s crown right from the system’s launch day, and, with Super Mario Odyssey, delivered the one-two punch that kickstarted the system’s success.
Breath of the Wild was a whole new type of Zelda game. Nintendo, as we know, aren’t really one to change up the formula of their winning IPs, but this was something different. In recent years, the open world sandbox experience has proven fantastically popular across the industry (everything from Horizon Zero Dawn to the mighty Red Dead Redemption 2 has been at it), and this was Zelda’s shot at that.
As open world games go, Breath of the Wild doesn’t do anything especially ground-breaking (lots of weapon-breaking, but let’s stay away from that can of worms). It’s that familiar mix of combat, hidden secrets, foraging and cooking that we’ve seen elsewhere countless times.
What Link’s latest does particularly well, though, is combine those iconic Zelda eccentric NPCs with the eye for detail and hidden intricacies of a good open world adventure. Which, apparently, is how we’ve arrived at this: Hestu, overjoyed that Link’s journeyed out shirtless, dancing in honor of the Hylian hero’s proud pectorals.
The mysterious Hestu is quite a valuable NPC. If you want those upgrades for your inventory slots (which you absolutely do), you’re going to want to hunt down those elusive Korok Seeds. You’re going to want to do it without your armor, too, just so you can revel in this glorious easter egg.
Nobody can quite explain why Nintendo took the time to program this into the game, but as Reddit reports, all you need to do is speak to Hestu with your clothes off (or your shirt off, at least) once he’s returned to the Korok forest. You’ll be treated to the little scene pictured above, and it’s the greatest thing you’ll see today.
“I like to play shirtless Link for... reasons, and Hestu gets too excited to upgrade my equipment until I put a shirt on,” reports Redditor Audiblade, which says it all really.