After a year, is Tears of the Kingdom really the winner?
First, let's get things clear. It's incredible, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. It's not easy to top Breath of the Wild, but by God, they managed it. Is it really that excellent, though? We examine how the highly anticipated RPG from Nintendo has been received, performed, and achieved as it approaches its one-year anniversary.
We're all aware by now that the Nintendo Switch doesn't have very strong gaming performance, but it has held up well over time. It's crucial to keep this in mind since we shouldn't have high hopes for a massive, over 100-hour open-world game. Tears of the Kingdom is still really good at a lot of things, despite the technological constraints.
Without a doubt, one of my favourite games is Breath of the Wild. To say that I was concerned that Tears of the Kingdom wouldn't live up to my expectations would be an understatement—it's comfortably tucked away in my top three. My worries were thankfully allayed in the first several trailers. The game's environment is similar to that of BOTW, however with a darker tone and more available non-player characters.
The primary plot revisits popular characters like everyone's favourite Prince Sidon and the hilarious, now-adult Purah, while also touching on aspects of Zelda mythology that I was not very aware of, such the Zonai. It is bittersweet to be returning to the places I am so familiar with. Although Kakariko Village is familiar, there is a massive stone ring above it this time. All the villages you visit, including our very own do-it-yourself initiative, Tarrey Town, are comparable in this regard.
You never grow tired with TOTK, that much is certain. There are many tasks to do, a tonne of missing koroks to find, and countless creations to make using the Zonai technology that's all across Hyrule. I didn't think Nintendo would surpass the runes from Battle of the World, but now we can create whatever absurd we want, including actual tanks, flying machines, and korok torture devices.
Anyway, let's focus on the few places where Link's most recent journey falls short rather than creating yet another Tears of the Kingdom review and waxing lyrical about how amazing it is. While the answer to the question "is Tears of the Kingdom really that good?" is unambiguously "yes," there are still several concerns that players have, all of which are well-founded and worthwhile to consider.
I have two major complaints about the game. First off, the appearance isn't what I had anticipated. However, the Switch isn't really designed for these kinds of things, is it? The problem is that, despite being seven years separated and having seen a great deal of technological advancement in between, BOTW and TOTK essentially look the same. In several areas, it nearly seems more visually depressing than BOTW, presumably as a result of the larger universe and cutting-edge devices Link discovers strapped to his arm.
Two: Please allow me to possess a firearm for longer than five minutes. I don't like that every other fight, I have to glue a bomb blossom to a shield or fuse opponent body pieces to a sharp stick I discovered. The novelty gradually wore off, particularly as I saw that the durability wasn't always commensurate with the amount of work I put into making or getting the thing.
A third complaint really occurred to me: what the heck is going on with the expression Ganon makes in a cutscene? That one, you know, when he seems to be a child threatening them with a birthday cake? However, it seems that Ganon has been doing this for the whole series.
Other grievances I've noticed from day one include the Depths' homogeneity, the initial length of time spent on the sky islands, and the similarities between TOTK and BOTW. About the final point, honestly, what did you think a straight sequel would be like?
Still, the game does include a few unresolved issues. Like, where the feathers is Kass, without using foul language? How far away did he go? One of the new Tears of the Kingdom characters, Penn, cannot simply state, "Oh, he used to live here," without going into more detail about his disappearance.
I know that Nintendo has been telling us for a while that there won't be any DLC or updates, but it seems like certain things were left hanging, causing us to wonder what some items are or where our favourite birds have disappeared to. Despite what the developers claim, we don't absolutely need a DLC, but there is definitely space for one (cough, to add master mode, cough).
Along with further details about its enormous equivalents in the Depths, I would also want to know what on Rauru's green earth the Poe-collecting statue is. Link rushes about putting their enormous eyeballs back into their sockets despite the fact that there is no justification for this. I have to know who, what, why, and when they are here; I can't simply accept that they exist!
Furthermore, even if the game's plot is excellent, there are moments when it seems a bit jumbled. This is largely because you may reveal the buried memories either in a chronological sequence or, more often, in an entirely arbitrary manner. It's a good way to recount historical events after you've unlocked them all, however the first one I discovered was basically a huge spoiler.
Yes, it is your responsibility to locate Impa and then act accordingly, but nobody is doing that. Since the game encourages unrestricted exploration, regardless of whichever area you locate initially, the memories should always show in chronological sequence to avoid unintentionally giving away the plot. Hey ho, I guess it's all exposed in the end.
I do have to admit something, however. After spending the first thirty minutes of the game's launch party playing, I placed a pre-order for the collector's edition and purchased the digital version at midnight. However, even though I've put in 90 hours over the course of the following two weeks, I still haven't completed it. It's blasphemous, I know that much. It's not that the game is poor, however. If anything, it's because I was hoping it would go on forever.
Squishy for a second, I acquired Breath of the Wild at a really bad point in my life, and going to Hyrule helped to brighten things. Reuniting with Link, Zelda, Teba, and Riju was almost too good to be true. I think Tears of the Kingdom does a fantastic job of carrying on Hyrule's tradition while retaining the original game's charm and making enough changes to make exploring and discovery seem fresh and exciting.
Even if I and a lot of other players have legitimate complaints about the game, a few frame drops and unsolved issues won't take away from its overall charm. In addition, if you're anything like me and haven't played it yet, you really need to do so.
We have instructions for the Tears of the Kingdom shrines, Tears of the Kingdom maps, and all the Tears of the Kingdom amiibo that may unlock new outfits for you if you do decide to return to Hyrule. Tears of the Kingdom, happy birthday, and may the journey continue.