95%Nintendo Switch

90 – All timer. Thought about often and can be replayed over and over.

Honestly phenomenal. The scale of Tears of the Kingdom blew me away, but what really kept me hooked was the presentation and cutscenes. I was hooked the entire way through and always looked forward to seeing what absolutely beautiful everything of the cutscenes, besides every character being perfectly designed the Zonai culture was so rich and beautiful with all of their architecture. Now from a gameplay perspective I think Breath of the Wild was better, I found traversal frustrating when I was used to the vertical movement of BotW and the building mechanic not really worth engaging with until I got Autobuild (65 hours in but that was kinda on me). Nonetheless, I will be coming back and playing more and I expect to put a similar amount of time as I put into BotW.
Also that ending was so amazing and I really really really loved it.

95%Nintendo Switch

Like many, I am in two minds about Tears of the Kingdom. A follow up of one of my favourite games of all time, it manages to neaten up a lot of the rougher edges and add even more features for player creativity and adventure. But on the other hand it sticks a little too close to what Breath of the Wild was in some areas; 4 main missions related to each race that inhibits Hyrule? Check. Shrines dotted around to discover and solve puzzles? Got it. Story split up into 'memories' found throughout the world? That's there too. That's not to say there's anything wrong with this formula, and the shrines in particular are way more fun this time round, but due to the familiarity I found myself bouncing off this game multiple times.

Having said that I kept coming back. And over the year plus it actually took me to see the credits, I ended up with a longer play time than I did with BotW. It's a testament to this game's fantastic design that it's a huge open world adventure that you can instantly pick back up and get back into the flow of. So many other games of this type would have you feeling completely lost, but the way Tears of the Kindgom structures itself makes it perfect to just pick up and do a but of exploring whenever you feel like it. There's a wonderful sense of simplicity here, despite there being so much to do.

I think my favourite part is of this particular adventure over BotW was when it was feeling a bit more traditional with the main quest. There is a section later on in the game that does focus in a bit when it comes to story telling and it felt great to play and once I got to this section I was hooked until the end. As a long time fan of the series if like to see a bit more influence of the earlier games when it comes to story and progression in future entries. There was definitely more story here than in BotW, but given the structure overall it felt a bit lacking. Where BotW knew it was story light, and the game was designed around that, this game tries to cram story into the same style and besides the latter parts of the game feeling more focused, it doesn't always work.

Despite any nitpicks or comparisons to its predecessor, Tears of the Kingdom is still an absolute masterwork and a must play title in the series.

100%Nintendo Switch

I mean, what can I say that hasn't already been said to death? This game is absolutely phenomenal. It took everything that was good about Breath of the Wild, and pumped it up to 11. There are more types of collectibles, more elemental interactions, more enemies, literally more layers to the world itself! The story itself is also leaps and bounds better than that of BotW. Without spoiling anything, there were some very emotional moments when it finally clicked together what ACTUALLY happened. And all of it is done with the usual masterclass of design - whether it be sound, environment, or mechanics - that we've come to expect from the Big N.

Of course, not everything is sunshine and roses. The Depths, while being extremely novel and unique early on, very quickly become repetitive. After the first few scary ventures inside, you pretty much know what to expect, and it becomes more of a check list to see what areas you haven't lighted up yet. The fact you can find your missing shrines based on info in the Depths is a very welcome edition, though (I had just one shrine missing in BotW :(((). Also, while I understand the incentive, it really bothered me that stuff from Breath of the Wild was almost non existent. While absolutely terrifying, the Gloom Hands just don't feel as special as the Guardians felt. I missed my bois.

As with BotW, near the end I started feeling quite exhausted. This is more of a me problem though - the very nature of extremely open-world games just doesn't really sit well with me. I like having very clear objectives, and knowing that once I finish them, I've finished the game and can go on to the next one. The Backlog is calling, as they say. Eventually I realized that I enjoy this game the most when I just sit back, relax, and explore whatever my whims desire. Then this game truly becomes magical. I'm also extremely glad I got to finish this game. The entire final battle was SO MUCH better than that of BotW. Truly a cinematic masterpiece. And the ending felt soooo worth it.

Basically, PLAY THE DAMN GAME ALREADY GODDAMIT

85%Nintendo Switch

amazing game. made me cry like 6 times

85%Nintendo Switch

Tears of the Kingdom is a long investment for players, and it still shines despite reusing the entire asset of the main world by expanding on it greatly with the depths and with locations in the sky. This is a super complete game, but how much more of this Zelda style will old school players be able to endure?

95%Nintendo Switch

如果没有旷野之息，或许它就是天。

95%Nintendo Switch

BOTW ON CRACK! Love the fusing mechanics and the creative direction the game aims for. The framerate issue with the Switch is still pretty prevalent though...

95%Nintendo Switch

Incredible game with flaws that is held up by how fun it is

100%Nintendo Switch

Zela TOTK: o melhor mundo aberto que já joguei, o melhor Zelda até agora, da uma liberdade imensa de exploração e para fazer as coisas de jeitos diferentes. Em um primeiro momento parece mto com o antecessor, confesso que não tem o mesmo impacto, naturalmente, mas não deixa de ser um dos melhores jogos da atualidade. A adição das habilidades novas, história mais narrada e novas localidades no céu e subsolo, fazem mta diferença em relação ao anterior. Eu poderia esperar mais alguns anos pra jogar ele no Switch 2, com desempenho e gráficos melhores, mas já está mto bom.

70%Nintendo Switch

Haven’t been this disappointed like this in a long time. I’ve talked to multiple people to try and figure out why it felt so underwhelming, yet it still is a solid game. For context, Zelda is easily my favorite video game franchise and Wind Waker is my favorite video game of all time, so I had ungodly high expectations for it.

I won’t write the entire 10-page essay I could write just for brevity’s sake, but of course making a literal recreation of Breath of the Wild’s mechanics + sky and underground sections + the most impressive and complexly-coded vehicle creator this earth has seen would be a good game, but at times it feels it was not worth waiting 6 years. In that time I finished all the mainline Zelda games, graduated high school and college, and now have a job, only to be received with the same game with a different (but gorgeous) coat of paint. I cannot explain how disappointing it was to find all this things masterfully teased in the trailers to be the exact thing we already had… but again. Geoglyphs were just memories but easier to find, regional phenomena were just Divine Beasts masquerading as actual dungeons, those rocks with spiral trails were just more shrines. Hell, the game even ends the same way: it took me 9 months and 250 hours, to be at the same place where Breath of the Wild ended??? It still has some incredible moments that will go down in all our memories, like the Colgera fight, the incredible build-up for most temples, and just being a war criminal with Zonai tech on poor lil’ bokoblins; but it also has some of the laziest design I’ve seen from Nintendo, mainly the Water temple, the depths, and Ganondorf being such an uninteresting villain, which just felt insulting. Nearing completion I feared that classic “oh no I don’t want for it to end,” but now I have no desire to go back in ever again.

100%Nintendo Switch

Simple Rating for now, I may comeback to make a full review.

5 = I want to play it again and I’m planning to do so. If I won’t play it again, the single experience was worth it!
4 = I would play it again, but I’m not planning on it
3 = I was happy I played it, but I do not want to come back to it
2 = I was not happy with it, but it was not a total waste of time
1 = This was a total waste of time and I will warn others to avoid it

Key take away: What is there to say? it is an amazing game that builds upon the success of BotW. You have the familiarity of the BotW landscape but with completely new areas in the sky and underground. The gameplay itself is also significantly changed (new Runes and the loss of old Runes) to make it feel new and different when compared to breath of the wild. I wanna play this again and I plan to.

100%Nintendo Switch

255 hours later, I finally saw the credits roll in this game and I still can't believe it's actually over; it felt like an experience of a lifetime.
As someone who loved Breath of the Wild and had sky-high (pun intended) expectations for Tears of the Kingdoms, I got to say, the game lived up to my expectations.
Now, while the combat system and the visuals remain largely the same as in Breath of the Wild, everything else has been improved; the story is more engaging, the puzzles are more creative, there's more enemy variety, the map has been changed in many areas and there's much more content overall.
However, being able to explore islands in the goddamn sky and the gloomy depths, paired up with Breath of the Wild's unmatched sense of exploration and even more player freedom, a huge world filled with so much content, 100 hours of playtime feels like barely scratching the surface, is an unbelievable achievement that I didn't think was possible for videogames.
And I thought Breath of the Wild had mind-blowing abilities and mechanics but Tears of the Kingdom puts it to shame with its new set of abilities and tweaks; they're simply game-changing.
With that being said though, I wish the sky islands were slightly more dense and the frame rate was more consistent.

Pros:
+ Addictive gameplay
+ Groundbreaking new ideas
+ Massive world filled with nearly endless amount of content
+ Genius mechanics
+ Gorgeous visuals & audio

Cons:
- Frame drops at times

Final Rating: 10/10
- Masterpiece -
While Breath of the Wild was a breath of fresh air for the Open World genre, Tears of the Kingdom raises the bar for the Open World genre up to the skies both figuratively and literally, and it goes even further by redefining the limits of videogames in general.
This is a "once-in-5-years" kind of game, an achievement in the videogame industry and a strong contender for being the best videogame experience I've ever had.

Do I recommend it?:
It makes Breath of the Wild obsolete, so it's a must-play.

80%Nintendo Switch

Improves on its predecessor in many ways, but still suffers from a large amount of unused space and nothing of interest despite the new areas available. That said, I found myself sucked into the game, as my almost 180 hours of time with it proves, and can confidently say I enjoyed it. I do hope, however, that future Zelda games return to a smaller scope with a tighter emphasis on story.

95%Emulated

The sequel to my favourite game of all time has kept my expectations of this game very high high and it delivered. The new mechanics introduced have completely changed the way I played the game and doesn't make it feel like dlc with the inclusion of two full new layers to map makes going through a familiar yet changing map of breath of the wild even better in tears of the kingdom. The divine beasts now replaced with dungeons are fun but lack the level of craftiness the divine beasts had and felt slightly lacking but other than an excellent sequel

90%Nintendo Switch

Possibly a glorified DLC pack, but definitely an improvement over the previous entry.
In the end it just left me wishing there was more to the game.

Also that final boss was a little disappointing and I felt like I overprepared for it. I really wish it had more phases, and that's basically how the game felt all the time.

50%Nintendo Switch

Too similar to breath of the wild. If I hadn’t played BOTW, this game would be more fun. However, the blights in BOTW were way better boss fights.

80%Nintendo Switch

While it’s unfortunate that Nintendo has reused the previous game’s world with little changes, Tears of the Kingdom is still a welcome addition for bringing more Zelda staples back into the fray.

100%Nintendo Switch

I was not expecting to like this game as much as I did. Coming from a really slow, clunky start on the main island, dropping the game, to picking it up and getting hooked the rest of the way, this game was pretty close to a perfect game.

My favorite thing about the first game was the pacing: them giving you access to the final boss at the start of the game and letting you run free felt soo nice compared to other open world RPGs. And this game compounds that with a 3x the size map essentially and a much more dynamic air travel system. On top of lots of QoL improvements, this game cuts the downsides of the first one and still feels different.

The depth of the new building system I think is largely up to how much of it you want to explore. It feels like most of the heavy building is left to shrines, while you can still make cool vehicles for travelling the open-world. And the sections where you do get deep into it, you get to use really cool building tricks to solve puzzles.

But the real highlight of this game for me was the flashy, complex combat. With all the new fuse combinations for weapons giving you access to burning, freezing, blowing, sleeping, stunning, exploding in any way you want, combat feels like a sandbox. The synergies between freezing and blowing someone off a cliff, smoke bombing a horde to plant bombs in their face, bomb-shielding in the air to rain hellfire arrows (which are now so much cheaper with fusing), it all just flows together like choreography. In the end, instead of feeling like other games where you just have bigger stats or weapons, the insane amount of options for combat you have make you actually feel like a god.

I really thought I wasn't gonna like this game from the slog of the starting island, but I'm so glad I stuck it out and got to see this game. Please play this game if you haven't already, and check out clips of good players' combat too!

100%Nintendo Switch

Welp, guess I have a new favorite Zelda game.

90%Nintendo Switch

Better than Breath of the Wild in every way.

100%Nintendo Switch

Phenomenal game

100%Nintendo Switch

4.8/5= Masterpiece

Story/writing/acting: 4

Structure (level design/enemy variance): 5

Graphics: 5

Music/sound design or effects: 5

Gameplay: 5

90%Nintendo Switch

It's the best open world game I've ever played and much better than BotW, which was pretty awesome itself. I love this game, it is incredible.

100%Nintendo Switch

Improves on its predecessor in every imaginable way possible. My favorite Zelda game by far. Highly recommend this game to every gamer out there, you do not want to miss out on this gem!!

80%Nintendo Switch

Tears of the Kingdom definitely has a better story than Breath of the Wild, but other than that it still has all the same issues. The shrines and temples were noticeably worse. Basically every shrine was some variation of "use these pieces to build something", and it got old, but the combat shrines were much better. While I'm sure many people were delighted that there was even more area to explore in this game, I already thought Breath of the Wild was too big, and frankly, the depths were boring. A lot of people really seem to love this nonlinear, open world stuff, but I don't think it makes sense for the Zelda series, and I wish they'd stop. I worry that there will never be more games like Wind Waker and Skyward Sword, much like there will never be another game like A Link to the Past, and that's a darn shame.

100%Nintendo Switch

A Perfect Game. Amazing Sequel

100%Emulated

Can't really give this or BOTW a higher score than the other, both are awesome games in their own rights. 5 months well spent.

90%Nintendo Switch

After the success of Breath of the Wild, of course Tears of the Kingdom was going to do well. It had a really strong foundation to stand on. However, when I say TotK was better in *almost* every way, I'm not lying!

For a start, the story in TotK was much stronger than BotW's. BotW went with the approach of everything was lost 100 years ago and now you are trying to deal with the aftermath and correct the wrongs. It's a fine story however I'm never a fan of this style of story telling as I no longer feel as if I'm part of the story. I had no influence in the way the world is now shaping out, I'm just here to deal with it, kill the bad guy, see the credits roll.

TotK is much more direct with it's story. For a start, you are actually playing the opening section before all of the evil is let out which is much better as I, the player, feel much more connected to the down fall of the kingdom. After which, I now need to deal with the events from the opening. As you clear each part of the map, the way the area looks and the way the NPCs talk to you, you feel much more connected to the world. You can feel the world changing from your actions as a hero.

The dungeons are much better now as I was never a fan of the devine beasts style and we get our traditional style bosses back instead of just 4 clones of the final boss. The world feels more alive and as mentioned before, clearing areas and side quests actually change the world and how the NPCs behave so you actually feel like you are making progress as you help out across the kingdom.

Now, I did say almost better in every way and I will now explain why this is only a 9/10. We are also entering spoiler teritory so watch out!

Arrows are vital yet feel really rare. Compared to BotW, TotK seems to have a real arrow shortage thanks to the fact that there is no longer elemental arrow types due to the fuse function. As a result, shops only sell 4 bundles of 5 arrows for a total of 20 arrows where as before you would find 3 bundles of 5 arrows usually for 3 different types of arrows resulting in 45 arrows total. Now you can TP away from the shop and back again to refresh the shop however this does take some time and becomes quite expensive after awhile. This is made worse by the fact that arrows are almost required in a lot of areas. While there are ways to work around some of them, a lot of times I have found myself needing to leave an area, buy arrows and TP back as there's no way to continue and I have ran out.

Spoiler warning: Talking about the guardian replacement enemy. If you're yet to encounter them, turn back now!
Finally, and this is really spoliery so spoiler tags, go! The replacement for guardians are very iffy. The gloom hands are much scarier than the guardians as being caught off guard with little to no supplies will make for a challenging fight, especially with a lack of gloom removal foods. However, in my 185 hours of currect playtime, I have ran into them only twice (2) outside of scripted spawns. I know the guardians were only limited to specific areas of the map but they were much more presant than the gloom hands are and made exploring areas much more risky. The phantom ganon that spwans from the gloom hands isn't a challenge at all as you can fight him like you would any other monster. The only challenge is again, you need gloom removal foods if you aren't confident you won't be hit.

Overall, I feel like Tears of the Kingdom was a big step up from Breath of the Wild and while I would still prefer a more traditional Zelda game like Skyward Sword or Wind Waker, I welcome Tears of the Kingdom with open arms as a really enjoyable Open World RPG and probably one of my Top 5 Zelda games of all time.

80%Nintendo Switch

Fun like the last one, same great Art style, Nice story, Boss fights are cool. Sky Islands really has nothing but little challenges for seeds and shrines. Underworld is pitch black but with challenges for seeds and shrines with mini bosses. The big changes was supposed to be the sky island and underworld but was super boring added nothing new.

90%Nintendo Switch

Great game but it may have been TOO MUCH game. I played 340 hours of it so it's not like I hated it at all.

The story was standard Zelda stuff which is fine, but too many puzzles and sidequests felt too easy. It would have been nice if the rewards were listed with the quest when you took them on because so many just weren't really worth it but others were very much so.
The armor sets being hidden at random all over the countryside was bad, most of the armor sets you would have gotten in the last game with no explanation as to why you lost them all which is an annoying plot point. I take issue with the randomness because by the time you get some complete armor sets their benefits may be useless to you. It would have been better if you upgraded your ability levels instead and they combined the effects of some sets so that they weren't too situational. I looked up how to get some of them online so as to not miss out on actually getting to use them.

The main characters were from the last game and although they had new roles to play in the world they were still not super fleshed out. This doesn't really harm the game but I can see others wanting more depth to them.
Being able to use the sage abilities was great, as they almost all felt overpowered and were fun to use, but their implementation of having to walk up and talk to them in the middle of battle was very clunky. They also often obstructed my view of enemies and the world so I found myself unsummoning them frequently.

Playing with zonai parts was very game-breaking at times but it was fun and felt like a sandbox with near-unlimited possibilities. This is something that will keep people coming back to it.

I really liked the game but I wish I knew how to streamline my gameplay of it so it didn't take so long, there is just so much to do in it.

Final total:
137 shrines of light completed
119 light roots
361 korok seeds

90%Nintendo Switch

Excellent, addictive experience even after beating BOTW a few years prior.I wonder where the franchise will go next
Pros :
- gameplay variety,
- 3 connected worlds with great traversal,
- options to approach fights,
- rewards for exploring
Cons :
- rarely challenging,
- quite a slow start on the tutorial island

95%Nintendo Switch

Incredible. The music, art direction, and gameplay are top notch. The story is its only hinderance, but even then its not enough to truly hold the game back.

95%Nintendo Switch

It's impressive how much they improved from botw. This game makes botw feel pretty inadequate in certain aspects. There are a lot of pros to this game but I don't need to talk about all of them because it's already being reiterated by millions of people. One of the best improvements for me is how present the story is when you explore the world and talk to other characters in the map. I actually cared for zelda despite the fact her voice being too british.

With that being said, my problems are: The sage powers being very frustrating to use, the depths are kind of annoying to explore, the switch is so underpowered, the story being pretty formulaic a lot of the time, and the overall combat is pretty basic. Also it's time for link to actually have a deeper personality and speak.

95%Nintendo Switch

One of the most flawed games ever made, and yet, one of the greatest ever made. Is it Breath of the Wild again? Pretty much. However, do I consider that a flaw? Absolutely not. Tears of the Kingdom is Breath of the Wild but better in almost every way. Breath of the Wild was already one of the greatest games ever made, and if this game is just that but improved and on a bigger scale with a brand new mechanic that completely re-invents the wheel, then what's not to love? The game has its flaws not because it isn't like Ocarina of Time in how it does its dungeons or story structure, instead I think ToTK's approach to dungeons are extremely valid and well-made, but it has its flaws due to some repetition in its world and poor writing in its story. Aside from that, Tears of the Kingdom is the best open world game we've seen to date.

70%Nintendo Switch

Plenty of joy but a fair bit of tedium as well. Happy to have played it and seen it through to the end.

100%Nintendo Switch

Fizeram o videogame definitivo, em todos os sentidos.

(zerei em 28/09/2024)

100%Nintendo Switch

game so good that I have no words to describe it

75%Nintendo Switch

Tristemente para mi, una copia del primero con alguna novedad que otra pero nada mas. Un viaje bonito como cualquier zelda pero esperaba mas. Sobre todo a nivel de lore. Una lastima, con el primer zelda hicieron historia y con este triunfaron.

100%Nintendo Switch

Меня достали валяющиеся короки, потому что я не могу пройти мимо них и забываю куда шла изначально (＞﹏＜)

90%Nintendo Switch

91

100%Nintendo Switch

PRO:
- hyrule felt familiar but also entirely new
- fuse weapon element
- epic soundtrack
- final boss fight (design, atmosphere, gameplay, soundtrack)
- voice acting (german)
- weapon durability system
- queen gibdo boss fight
- visuals
- a fresh new set of abilities that are unique and fun to use
- seamless transition between levels (the depths, ground, sky)
- new build system (zonai devices)
- new discoverable content (caves, the depths)
- new items
- improved and expanded clothing and paraglider customization
- new clothing sets
- improved and expanded cooking system (link´s cute humming)
- easter eggs, nods and direct references to older zelda games (ocarina of time, majora´s mask, skyward sword, wind waker, etc.)
- beautiful character designs of old and new characters (especially ganondorf, riju, zelda and purah)
- link´s long hair

- strong story
- emotional storytelling (parallels between the beginning and the ending)

CONTRA:
- weak dungeons (particular the water temple)
- unique but weak bosses (especially mucktorok)
- lack of content on the sky islands and the depths
- locations of the memories

90%Nintendo Switch

Everyone know this a masterpiece that came just after a masterpiece

80%Nintendo Switch

L'histoire est vachement plus intéressante à suivre, la réalisation est sublime, techniquement c'est ouf que TOTK tienne sur Switch alors que Pokémon tourne à 4 fps, les cinématiques c'est du poulet, le gameplay est ultra poussé et pousse à la créativité, le combat final est un des combats finaux les plus grisants que j'ai pu faire ces dernières années. Les larmes du dragon très cools aussi.

MAIS... le jeu est beaucoup beaucoup trop long, les donjons sont un peu relous (le feu nique sa mère), la recherche de Zelda au Château est très chiante aussi et la quête avant d'aller battre Ganon est chiante aussi.

J'ai abandonné plusieurs fois jusqu'à me motiver à me dire qu'il faut que je vois la fin et que j'ai pas investi 40h pour rien.

Donc le jeu va me marquer, c'est sûr mais j'espère que la formule à la BOTW & TOTK est terminée pour Zelda et qu'ils vont trouver autre chose pour le prochain épisode...

100%Nintendo Switch

This game came to me in a moment in my life that helped me understand myself better, relish both the world i was in and playing in, and gave me countles moments of laughter and excited glee. It's boons are too great for me to put here, and have been spoken of in better length by many others. May this game never fade from my memory

100%Nintendo Switch

Think about how difficult it is to make a Zelda game. It's one of the most iconic series in all of gaming, and for nearly 40 years, it's been defining the action-adventure genre, inspiring developers and players alike with its groundbreaking design and eye for detail. Which means for every new entry in the series, greatness isn't a just goal; it's an expectation. Any Zelda less than a genre-defining classic is considered a failure. That alone would be enough of a burden for any developer—but for Tears of the Kingdom, that was just the beginning. Forget an iconic series; TOTK had the pressure of being a sequel to Breath of the Wild, a wildly revolutionary title in every way, subject to near universal praise. If that wasn't enough, TOTK was also saddled with a 6-year development cycle, all while using the same engine and same general overworld. For a long time, people were skeptical of TOTK and had good reason to be. (The phrase "$70 DLC" wasn't uncommon in discussion around the game.) But as more was revealed about BOTW's sequel, it became more and more clear that, once again, the Zelda series was cooking something special. And its release did far more than just quell fears.

One of the biggest concerns about Tears of the Kingdom was, due to its familiar locales, that it wouldn't provide that same wow factor its predecessor did. It doesn't take long for TOTK to prove that theory wrong. Whether it's the sun-swept sky islands, the pitch-black depths, or the renovated locations, there's plenty to be awed by; Link's first dive from the Great Sky Island is bound to inspire awe. Somehow, Nintendo has taken what is essentially the same world map as BOTW and renovated it in such a way that, somehow, it's still infinitely explorable—maybe even more so than its predecessor. Only those with the strongest of wills will be able to carry out a plan in this game; there's more than ever in Hyrule that's worth going off the beaten path for. And that's just on the surface; combine the titanic addition of the depths with the enticing allure of the sky islands, and you have an open world vastly worthy of exploring. Or, for many, reexploring.

But as big as exploration was in Breath of the Wild, and as good as it is in Tears of the Kingdom, amazingly, that's not even its focal point. The abilities you're given in the game border on nonsensical, in the best of ways. Ascend revolutionizes both traversal and world design. Fuse provides nearly limitless combat applications. Recall is an incredible feat of game engineering, and its range is simply unbelievable. And Ultrahand, named after a Gunpei Yokoi toy of the 60s, is the crème de la crème of creativity and innovation in gaming. TOTK, beyond its story, provides a practically unlimited sandbox tool for players to create to their wildest dreams. In fact, the player is given so much control at first that it's almost alienating, and getting accustomed to these new systems can take a little time. But it swiftly becomes second nature, and by then, the amount of freedom the player has is unrivaled. Gone are the days of "one problem, one solution." TOTK is a gorgeous, awe-inspiring canvas waiting for you to add in all your personal little details.

Now, players who weren't fans of its incumbent are likely to feel the same about Tears of the Kingdom. And that's a shame, because virtually everything that was a source of debate about BOTW is improved here. The story, while still subdued, is a significant improvement and delivers impactful moments with a significantly more satisfying final boss fight and conclusion. Weapon durability, when combined with Fuse, is a non-factor; you'll never be wanting for weapons in this title. More traditional dungeons return with unique and well-designed bosses. Enemy variety is increased, and their drops are much more useful. The game looks fantastic, especially while running on what's effectively a modern smartphone, and loading time is reduced. If there was a popular complaint about BOTW, it was addressed in TOTK.

Many have speculated on where the Zelda series goes from here. As incredible as Tears of the Kingdom is, it would be risky (at best) to try to base a 3rd title in this version of Hyrule. But that can be speculated on in the future. Because with TOTK, Nintendo has done something truly exceptional—perhaps even more surprising than BOTW. Concerns for the game's wellbeing seem foolish in retrospect. And while BOTW was no stranger to 3rd party knockoff titles, it's hard to see how TOTK could even be imitated. To have this many new, groundbreaking ideas in a 36-year-old series defies all sense of logic and reality, and yet, it feels like something only Zelda could provide. So if you worried the magic of BOTW would be irreproducible, that TOTK would struggle to have its own sense of identity, that it would fail to live up to the hype, worry no longer. They've done it again. What else is there to say?

100%Nintendo Switch

Holy cow its peak

100%Nintendo Switch

Best game of the year for me, plenty of things to do and very entertaining.

100%Nintendo Switch

11/10