It's a Zelda game, i don't see critics giving it less then a 90 even if it isn't up to par.

I think it happens less with connected, story-driven games because they have to top one another.  Uncharted 3 had to live up to Uncharted 2, for example.  When you have games like GTA and Zelda, which are many years apart and aren't direct sequels, then I think there is less of a compulsion to compare them as closely to the previous entry.  Direct sequels have to walk a fine line where they get criticized for changing too much and for not changing enough.  Story-driven franchises generally outrun their initial premise, as well, so later entries have a very difficult task in making people care again.

However, I would include Uncharted in with that "fear" factor I talked about, and probably TLoU 2.  When there is overwhelming love for a franchise, I think some of the big, high-traffic websites can be reluctant to rock the boat.  What will happen if the Meta for BotW is 95 and IGN gives it an 85?  Threads will pop up all over the internet bashing IGN for being haters and demanding that people never go there again.  It would absolutely happen at VGC.  I'll never forget that utterly pathetic display by some fans over a Pokemon score, which honestly embarrassed me as gamer.

GTA4 will always be a perfect example of that for me.  It was just not as good as reviewers scored it.  The hype was so massive, though, that I think it influenced the scores it was given.  

88 _90 I'm not too fan of Zelda because always feel it was too easy and the story it's ok . But Nintendo fans no have more to choose so .this game will do good in sales and critics too.

I think it'll be regarded as a pivotal point in the series and seen as the best since Ocarina of Time, it probably wont reach the 99 that OoT has but all but one 3D Zelda game have remained at 95-100, except Skyward Sword which initially was 95 but dropped to 93.

I think that reception will be overwhelmingly positive because I'm kinda seeing everyone saying this already and lots of critics I see aren't likely to give their honest opinion, they tend to reinforce the popular opinion and expectation time and time again. To be fair though, this time I think Nintendo has shown more than usual through Treehouse streams and playable demos at events so we actually know some details about this.

With all of that plus being both a swansong Wii U title and the defining title of the Switch launch I think it'll get good reviews almost everywhere.

Very well unless the dungeons suck. If the dungeons are decent, 95+.

So maybe score inflation is related more to hype than anything else? I suppose I could see that, critics getting carried away with expectations. But surely that could cut the other way? Remember how Killzone was hyped as a Halo killer? Those lofty expectations set it up for negative reviews. Watch Dogs and Destiny suffered similar fates.

I guess the bigger question is do we trust video game publications at all? Are all review scores influenced by unreasonable expectations of fans on one side and publishers on the other? Are critics given the freedom to express their true feelings on a game? Are they even trained adequately to do so?

When we start down this rabbit hole it gets pretty depressing...

Honestly, 7/10 is IMO the very best score that Zelda BTW can get.
Sure, it has setting,artdesign and stuff, but that's it. Nothing in the game looks breathtaking, really.

Yes, I think it does happen with a lot of franchises, including Mario (2d and 3d), Uncharted (Uncharted 3 should have been much lower), The Last of Us (there was an awfully big number of people who played it and who didn't like it yet almost all reviewers gave it extremely high scores). I'm sure there are more but I can't think of anything else at the moment.

Edit: Forgot about the most obvious one, GTA.

It's simple - journalist are part of the industry and because of that they have to hype big AAA games, even if they have flaws. Why ? Because bad metacritic = bad sales and bad sales = lower investments in the future=less games in the future=less reviews,articles,trailers etc.

Everybody cares about his feeding hand.

I do think the majority of the stablished franchises always land in some expected or average score. Most mainline Pokemon games get high 80s, 3D Marios mid 90s, 3D Zeldas mid to high 90s, same with Uncharted. I don't know if they get a free pass, but who would dare to say Pokemon Sun and Moon had a very restricitive world, was filled with handholding, and all for a mediocre story? Nah, it's an innovative Pokemon game, which steered away from the traditions that previously limited the series.

But when fans can't stand Uncharted 4 dropping from a 94 to a 93, who's there to blame?

With that said, I expect BotW to score lower than what most expect. Since it's moving away from tradition, and seems to be inspired by other open-world games, reviewers will know what to compare it and might be just a tiny bit more harsh. Yes, I expect BotW to score... a 91.