Patterns Breath of the Wild exemplifies

Pattern	How BOTW uses it
chemistry-engine	Fire / ice / wind / water / electricity as universal rules that propagate through the world independent of any encounter. The "multiplicative" core — Fujibayashi's GDC 2017 framing.
multiplicative-systems	Rules × objects × contexts produces N×M×O combinations rather than N+M+O. Fixed verb-set + chemistry rules + open terrain = solvable in many ways.
climb-anywhere-stamina	Almost every solid surface is climbable; verticality gated by a single stamina ring that also governs sprint, swim, and glide. One resource, five verbs.
weapon-degradation	Every melee weapon, bow, and shield breaks after 5–60 hits. No repair tool. Forces variety, drives engagement-with-camps; widely controversial. The Master Sword is "energy-limited" rather than breakable.
shrine-network	120 small puzzles (~10 min each) replacing classic Zelda's 8 long dungeons. 4 Spirit Orbs trade for +1 Heart Container OR +1 Stamina Vessel at Goddess Statues. Plus 4 Divine Beasts as the long-dungeon compromise.
fixed-verb-set	All 5 main runes + paraglider + climb + sword + bow + shield are unlocked in the first ~90 minutes. No new verb is added across the rest of the 30+ hour campaign.
bonus-with-drawback	Multiple structural cases: weapon durability (every weapon is a depleting resource); Heart vs Stamina at every Goddess Statue (irreversible per-decision tradeoff); metal weapons in storms (strong but lightning-magnet).
late-introduced-mechanics	Most combinations of the verb-set aren't taught — discovered by experiment across 30+ hours. The Master Sword unlocks at 13 hearts, the DLC at full main-game completion, the Hyrule Compendium across the whole game.
flavor-as-meta-narrative	The 12 Champion Memories (photos that trigger story cutscenes), the 76 Korok seed locations, the Hyrule Compendium photo journal — all are player-discovered narrative layers, not delivered scripts.
bite-sized-puzzle-loop	Shrines are 5–15 min self-contained puzzle units that fit between open-world traversal sessions. The pacing logic — "don't take the player out of the field for too long" — drove the count.
weather-as-global-modifier	Rain blocks climbing; cold drains hearts; lightning hits metal; hot biomes need heat-resistant clothing. One environmental layer doing 5 design jobs. (Adjacent to Pokémon's weather, but operating at the world layer rather than the combat layer.)
meta-progression-fork	The Heart vs Stamina trade at every Goddess Statue is permanent. Players become kinds of players — climbers vs fighters — through their accumulated trades.