The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (2023)

That Nintendo managed to improve upon The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild with The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was one of the biggest surprises I have experienced in gaming. I would never have expected that a game as complete and transformative as Breath of the Wild could be meaningfully expanded without losing its essence.

When Breath of the Wild launched alongside Super Mario Odyssey on the Switch, it felt almost unreal. The scale of possibility within this 3D Zelda framework was staggering. At its core, it is still a puzzle game, just as the series has always been. In many ways, the fundamental structure has not changed in decades—only its presentation. And yet, it feels completely fresh.

Tears of the Kingdom takes that foundation and refines it even further. The additional year of polishing and testing is evident. The expanded mechanics—especially the new hand abilities and the deeper interaction with the physics engine—add enormous freedom without breaking the game’s internal logic. I cannot think of another studio that could integrate so many systemic possibilities into a world of this scale while maintaining stability and performance on relatively modest hardware like the Switch.

Together, these two Zelda titles represent two of the most remarkable gaming experiences available. If pressed to choose, I would replay Tears of the Kingdom, simply because its mechanical depth goes even further than Breath of the Wild.

It is a genuine technical and design achievement. The only real question is how Nintendo intends to follow it. It is difficult to imagine surpassing this level.

I played the Switch 2 edition of this game and really enjoyed almost every minute of it. Which is saying a lot because it took me 75+ hours, and normally games start to wear out their welcome with me after 30-40 hours. But there was so much to do and explore and the progression felt really satisfying to me. Every minute spent doing extra stuff felt worthwhile because I knew I was building Link up through weapon, armor, and sage upgrades to help in defeating each successive boss more easily.

This game succeeded in taking everything that made BotW great, and building on it. That game was big? This one is massively bigger. That game gave you special abilities? This one gives you more powerful ones. That game had companions that helped you board the beasts? This one gives you companions that stick with you. That game had 4 dungeons? This one has like 4 and a half. That game lacked enough variety in enemies? This one has a ton more. In my opinion, there were no aspects of the gameplay and overall fun aspects that didn't at least meet BotW where it was, but most exceeded it. I loved the sky islands and the extra challenge of exploration with those. I loved how it rewarded you consistently for exploration; and even when a chest opened to something worthless, it still felt worth it just to get there and open it.

Where the game fell short was in its lack of imagination. The story felt forced and silly (although the story actually came together pretty nicely when you start to realize Zelda went back in time and helped orchestrate it all), then with the regional phenomena and everyone blinding following a clearly not-Zelda puppet, and so many things felt just arbitrarily put in your way for the sake of a challenge. Like the temples and their designs? Why are they there? Why are the various "terminal"-like things that you have to activate there, what was their purpose, and how did they know what companion I'd have with me to activate them? I THINK the answer ties back to Zelda orchestrating the whole thing from the past but it just feels like they put obstacles in your way just to put obstacles in your way. Then again, BotW did the same thing with the beasts, and every LoZ game before that had arbitrary dungeons in exactly the same fashion. But something about Tears made it feel more like busy-work than other games. And as much as I enjoyed playing it, after the 4th temple I expected I was close to the end, and it kept throwing more tasks at me, again feeling like busy-work just to extend the game.

In conclusion: this game takes all the great aspects of BotW and makes them better (IMO), and most of the downsides in temple backstory and design are actually staples of the series. It somehow made 75 hours feel mostly fun and fresh the whole way through. I can't give it anything less than 5 stars.

Expectations were HIGH, and Nintendo took its sweet time to release this sequel.

As such, this game delivers on all fronts. heading back to the same location and world as the previous game, this game builds on the lore on all fronts.

Admit ably, this game is unable to explore ALL the open questions that were left from BotW. But, it does build on all the gameplay and extends the story in such a way to leave me at least wanting for a Trilogy ending.

I remain a LoZ fan, even after this new gameplay exploration in the last 2 titles, these games remain a pinnacle of the Nintendo First party Universe. Enjoy!

Tears of the Kingdom is an incredible game with breathtaking moments, especially the "geoglyphs" quest and the soothing atmosphere of exploring sky islands. The world’s scale and gameplay depth are impressive, making for some peak gaming experiences. However, the game isn't without flaws—pacing issues and a bloated, unfinished underground world detract from the experience, and grinding for batteries (or materials) was tedious.

While I enjoyed the innovative mechanics, I hope future Zelda titles lean more towards a linear experience, as the open-world formula is starting to feel a bit overdone. Overall, though, it's still an unforgettable adventure with a beautiful ending.

5/5

Played on switch.

I found it difficult to find my footing with Breath of the Wild - having to take multiple breaks and losing steam multiple times. This was not so much the case with Tears of the Kingdom. Whilst I did take a large multiple month-long break in the middle of the game that was due to the plethora of other games coming out in 2023. Picking up Tears where I left off was easy - a testament to the quality of the game.

I won't go into detail but put simply gameplay is sublime - puzzles in shrines and the dungeons are engaging, the new powers are creative and Ultrahand is a game-changer, exploration and the world design is addictive as ever and rewarding with useful loot scattered all around. Simply unlocking the map(s) was a joy. Combat is more of the same and enjoyable, but nothing amazing. The way powers are used in combat adds a lot of flavour.

The story was a little bit drawn out with the way the different main quests wove together, and the non-linear nature of it was a little bit a drawback (although the twists of the story revealed themselves in a very natural order on my playthrough). The actual twists of the story were great and far better than I was expecting. The ending was absolutely triumphant.

The presentation is perfect, no notes. It looks amazing for a switch game. The soundtrack is gorgeous and the art-style too. The UI can use a bit of work probably but is very useable, and extra touches like the compendium are nice.

Absolute banger.

Oversimplified opinion: Open world games are too hard for me to swallow. I only have a few hours to give. The story is for babies.

Sub-genre: Open world exploration, collect-a-thon, fantasy, crafting

Favorite part: Getting lost and just feeling pure childlike exploration

Rating: 3/5

Review: In general I think I should stop trying to heavily engage with open world games. My main fault with this is my own fault. I avoided the main story until I was about done / tired of the game. Then all the 3rd act scenes, which should land, I just rushed through.

Overall yes, it is extremely creative and bright and lovely and inspiring. But for various reasons I go into games now, I think, mostly for gameplay loops or to challenge myself. Tears felt moreso like a grind and collect. I rarely felt my heart rate go up, I was much more apt to feel a sense of awe and calmness - but I need both.

Am I glad I played it and will I play all Zelda entries? Yeah probably. But it's not what I'm looking for in gaming and this point in my life, and that's okay. I still loved it, but I wouldn't put it on my top shelf.

My thoughts and feelings on Tears of the Kingdom can mostly be summarized as that I felt about the same as I did with Breath of the Wild. Both games provided a compelling gameplay loop that provided a great sense of exploration. Both also left me with the same longing for more varied enemies, bigger and more intense dungeons, and more interesting rewards or results from exploring way out of your way areas.

I'd also add that the story this time around felt especially messy. My hottest take here though is probably going to be that I don't think voice acting belongs in a Zelda game and that cutscenes should be kept to a minimum. Story has always been a small part of the package in Zelda games for me, and I do think the increased production value of adding voice acting and cutscenes really puts the story front and center to the player, which in the case of TotK, really highlights out elements that felt confusing, lacking, or really missing the potential to add something interesting.

Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Review Podcast | "An Amazing (Yet Flawed) Adventure" |VGBC #48

Group Average:

88.8% or 35.5 out of 40

My Final Verdict/Rating:

The Legend of Zelda: Tear Me Apart is a fantastic game and a great follow-up to The Legend of Zelda: Barely Breathing. The sense of freedom that the game gives you is just… amazing. Such a simple yet game changing mechanic - the ability to fuse anything together and build practically anything you want is just… genius. I’ve never seen it done to this level before. The amount of in game systems, mechanics, just naturally layering and dog piling upon itself with the physics, variable interactions, it’s a sight to behold. This by itself makes tackling challenges, shrines, dungeons, and exploration so much fun…. I had a blast playing this game. Finding solutions in the dumbest ways possible just brought so much joy - I have not smiled this much while playing a Zelda game in a long time.

Add in the fact that Nintendo was able to successfully hide an entire underground region from the playerbase up to its launch is - mmmm that’s so good. We were so focused on what was in the sky, that we never considered what was underground, genius marketing.

Now the game isn’t perfect by any means, and it’s definitely missing a lot of the quality of life changes that we mentioned in the previous section such as more sorting filters for food and items, location filters for the map, in game trackers to help determine progress. The Sages’ AI also leaves a lot to be desired as well… you should honestly be able to activate their abilities without having to run all the way to them and track them down….but you know what… this is still a fantastic Zelda game. Highly recommend it to anyone looking for a fun, open world experience, whether you are a fan of the Zelda series or not.

Which is why I am giving, The Legend of Zelda: Tear Me a New Butthole… a 9 out of 10.

This has my favourite "tutorial" of any game ever!

The game is so open! It feels like a level-up of everything I already loved about BotW.

Especially the story. I did ALL the under root and shrines before doing any story stuff (which was REALLY hard at times) but it allowed me to just breeze through the narrative and really retain it. To the point where I was crying during the ending.

This is the first time I cried to a Zelda game!

The good: Tears of the Kingdom takes the model of Breath of the Wild and improves upon it in some major ways. From the much-improved story (something which is much better-told and really integral to the game in a way it was not in BotW) to some fun new mechanics and just a million collectibles, TotK is a huge improvement on the model of Breath of the Wild. If you loved Breath of the Wild, you're probably going to love Tears of the Kingdom more. The new abilities and the sky/depths add new layers, and the dungeons do feel better than the Divine Beasts.

The bad: full disclosure - I was not a Breath of the Wild lover. I enjoyed this game more. But I think the reality of this game is that if you disliked Breath of the Wild, you're not going to love this. The dungeons are still very simple. The game still feels a bit like a collectathon at times with Koroks (which you still barely stumble over). The battle system is still far-too-punishing and really cruel at times. The world still feels empty (maybe slightly less so) and exploring can feel like you're just wandering aimlessly. I don't think the reward for all of the exploring, for going deep into the depths, or for getting a lot of Koroks is really worth it.

(Added on June 26): I also really need to add that I think the game's tutorial system is incredibly poorly-designed. While you get some minimal tutorial on a few mechanics on Great Sky Island, many things, like how to fight, are relegated to tutorial shrines which are easily missed. Given how punishing the battle system for the game is, I think this is a massive failure of the game, and I don't think it can be ignored. If you weren't well-versed in these mechanics from Breath of the Wild, it's very hard.

I still haven't beaten TotK and don't feel some huge urge to go back and complete it. I'm sure I will, but I kind of hit a wall with it around the 40-60 hour of playtime mark where I was getting bored, and I need a break before I return to it. But the fact that I hit that boredom maybe says a lot about it.

I just finished the game and I am just so overwhelmed by how much I've loved this game! Still lots of side quests and exploring to do, but after 120 hours, all main quests and every memory, I felt it was time to get to the ending!

Wow, I loved the final sequence. Going down to where we started with Zelda, jumping off the platform, which was also very reminiscent of the beginning of the game too. Fighting alongside the whole squad, GANONDORF (love that he can flurry rush(?) me too!), him going through the draconification, and then working with Zelda as a dragon during the final fight. And Link finally reaching Zelda's hand this time! The final scene with all of them after the credits. It was all perfect in my book

Having an old man moment with this game. Maybe it's because I'm so busy with work this time around. When BotW came out, I could smoke weed and play all day with no issue. Now I'm a proper Adult.

Thoughts so far:

• Of course they have doubled down on the anime-inspired storytelling here. That's not inherently bad, but it's mediocre anime storytelling of a story we've more or less heard four or so times now. Not exciting.
• Zelda is not a good character. Her greatest iterations are as Sheik and Tetra. Her name might as well be Hermoine Granger in TotK. Totally annoying. The way fans are forcing a relationship between her and Link is ridiculous.
• The stories in previous games have been strong because of side quests and interesting characters. BotW and TotK sacrifice this for a stronger focus on iterative gameplay. I must admit, I miss the complicated script and plotting of Majora's Mask when I play this. I even long for some quirky details like Ulrira in Link's Awakening.

• Gameplay is great of course

• Enemy tweaks are appreciated

• Crafting is fun

Hate to say it, but I think I'm just getting old and can't focus as much on games like this. Or maybe it's because I put so many hours into BotW and Elden Ring, which are similar enough in their approaches to open world.

65 or so hours into this thing, nowhere near the end, still loving all the gameplay to pieces and am amazed that they keep presenting me new things that really, really surprise me. The game makes me feel a sense of wonder and amazement every five seconds.

But I've also figured out the thing I don't like, which is the story. I get why the cutscenes are presented out of order, it definitely supports the "Time travel" theme, but my problem is that I haven't heard anything in any of these cutscenes that actually interests me. They all feel like:

“We sages come together and unite together with you, Rauru…”
Me: “ZZZZZ SNNK SNORE 😴”

I just don't feel a super strong connection to any of the characters, or what is actually happening in the story.

Just passed the 180 hour mark and if I’m being honest with myself, I should be close to done. I picked up the Aspect of the Hero a few hours back and I just finished hunting various beasts, including five more King Gleeoks, to fully upgrade it:

The problem is I don’t really want to wrap the game up yet. I have a few armour pieces that I can still finish upgrading, and naturally there are still some Korok seeds out there, plus the remaining Bubbul Gems so I might bum around looking for them. Anything to stick around in the world a little longer.