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Why The Story Matters
TOTK Could Use An Upgraded Switch
Where Does Zelda Go From Here?
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom begins auspiciously - there's a weight to its earliest moments that was absent in the more airy beginning of Breath of the Wild. An immediate purpose in the sense of exploration and a lengthy tutorial area that more accurately conveys some of the game's most important mechanics sets up Nintendo's latest for success. That success, of course, is vital. Following the immense cultural impact and design scope of Breath of the Wild is paramount to Tears of the Kingdom, especially since it's a proper sequel. For the most part, this is the game fans were hoping for - but it isn't without its limitations, thanks to aging hardware and the unrealized potential of some of its verticality.
This review contains minor spoilers for Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.It has been six years since Breath of the Wild launched alongside the Nintendo Switch, and the interim period between then and its sequel has seen its genre-defining qualities imitated, for better or worse. Genshin Impact successfully implemented the open-world exploration to the tune of billions of dollars in revenue, and a less-is-more approach to sound design, guidance, and weapon systems has been much more popular than it was in 2016. Tears of the Kingdom positions itself in this new landscape confidently, though not without a surprising lack of innovation in some respects.
Related: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom - Release Date, Story, Trailer
Why The Story Matters
One of the most immediately noticeable improvements in Tears of the Kingdom is its focus on telling a more cohesive story. It's still the implication-heavy, show-not-tell approach that Zelda fans have come to love - and, perhaps, nay-sayers have come to revile - and it's not going to suddenly answer every question lore experts have about timeline continuity. What's here is a solid fantasy story that ups the ante from the first game, which isn't easy, given the world-ending threat Calamity Ganon represented.
Tears of the Kingdom focuses on Link's journey to find his own group of Sages, inheritors to an ancient magic that previously saved Hyrule from ruin. He's guided by Zelda, who, within the first ten minutes of the game, is transported back in time and forced to witness the Demon King Ganondorf's rise to power. There's an interesting tension between voiceless Link and Zelda's desperate attempts to understand the chasm between their time periods and how she can help him in the present, and it's one that lends a lot of emotion to the story. Zelda's situation is dire and her wish to improve Hyrule is a noble one, while Link's journey is almost comical in how little he knows of what's going on, piecing together the mystery slowly while the game offers glimpses into the past.
That said, the decision to pursue a more cohesive story - one where the jigsaw pieces fit together more neatly but need more information to do so - does mean Tears of the Kingdom is slightly more linear. There are gated progression checks, some of which can be missed until they're suddenly relevant to the story, which swells in importance only to be hindered by a previously unchecked main quest that reduces the stakes temporarily. This isn't a game to rush through, not because of its deep world - though that's naturally a factor - but simply because it doesn't want you to. There's a limit to the limitless in Tears of the Kingdom that feels more restrictive than Breath of the Wild, but the story's beats and the character's screen time generally balances this out and makes it feel worthwhile.
Gameplay Innovations & Refinements
While the story takes baby steps forward with great effect, Tears of the Kingdom's gameplay is more dramatically improved. A lot of the mechanics of the prior game return, to be fair - warts and all. Despite its controversial status and a promise of improvement, weapon durability has reared its ugly head once more, this time in an even more frustrating manner. While the ability to Fuse weapons with materials that enhance their power or affect how they're used means exploration is a necessary thing, it also means it's easier to get attached to a specific weapon style.
Going through the trouble of hunting a powerful enemy to use their tail to alter a broadsword's swing only to have it break in a few battles is frustrating, and doesn't lend itself well to the intended goal of Fuse. Rather than encourage players to experiment and find new things, it's easier just to have backup base weapons and plan to fuse them with the nearest high-power monster item with reckless abandon. While it is obvious weapon durability is a system that works on some level to create a more tense exploration period, it can be grating. However, those weapons that really don't make sense, or were made out of pure desperation in a moment of need, really do sell the journey of Link as one of ingenuity and determination. Weapon durability still sucks, but the combat is so good it can't bring it down even a little.
If Fuse is perhaps a little hindered by its underlying systems, Ultrahand and Ascend are the opposite, opening up massive new avenues for Tears of the Kingdom. Ultrahand can create all kinds of silly inventions and buildings to solve environmental problems, and also build vehicles that range from practical to cartoon-like. The eventual discovery of Autobuild lets players save their own blueprints for these creations, too, and summon them out of thin air to help assist some of the more difficult roads that a kingdom on the brink has no time to repair. Ascend gives the game a verticality even on the ground that triumphantly opens up even more options for Link's journey, while creatively using it against bigger enemies can sometimes result in unexpected paths to weak points.
Speaking of that vaunted Tears of the Kingdom verticality, the decision to essentially port over the base Hyrule map and then add one layer on both its top and bottom is largely an innovative, exciting one. The floating sky ruins are particularly breathtaking, and desperately trying to upgrade stamina enough to ride a glider to reach one of the buildings that was previously too far to get to is a satisfying gameplay loop. The sky ruins feel the most like Breath of the Wild in the sense that they're simply wide open for interpretation and exploration - there's not many strings that lead there as the story unspools, but there's enough promise in them simply existing that they're easy to get caught up in chasing.
The Chasm - the underground portion of Tears of the Kingdom - isn't nearly so adventure-friendly. Things are pitch black in the underneath of Hyrule, with an affliction called Gloom that will "break" Link's heart containers such that they can't even be fixed with food. While there are methods to beat Gloom affliction that don't require backtracks to Lightroots, the Skyview Tower of the underground, they are cumbersome and the mechanic as a whole is more of a subtraction from the experience rather than an additive. The Chasm is also, by its own design, a pretty bleak and boring place to explore - even the sources of light that indicate points of interest are a slog to get to, and generally don't pay off in a way that's as satisfying as the overworld or the sky. Once the story gets rolling on the Chasm's sections and it gets a bit more lit up thanks to the Lightroots, it's much more tolerable - even fun - but the barrier of entry for enjoyment here is a lot steeper than in nearly every other facet of the game.
Tears of the Kingdom combat remains exciting and is even more encouraging of player choice, regardless of whether it's taking place in the sky or underground. While the aforementioned durability reduces this joy of choice somewhat, there's still a dazzling complexity to battles that feel as open-ended as Breath of the Wild. That's further complemented by companion Sages, ghost-form versions of the heroes Link allies with over the course of the story that can help during battle and provide their powers to offer solutions to problems. One sage can provide gusts of wind to help gliding, while another can shatter rocks without needing to break a weapon to do so. It's a nice touch, one that makes the journey feel much less lonely than Breath of the Wild's.
The number of item combinations that can either be notched onto an arrow, thrown directly, or combined with a weapon makes for a series of battles like no other. There are clearly multiple ways to tackle most enemies, and even bosses have some variety in how to approach them. In every corner of Tears of the Kingdom, there's another example of just how advanced its systems' capacities for artistic interpretation really are.
TOTK Could Use An Upgraded Switch
While Tears of the Kingdom is innovative and greedy in the sense of its expanded scope, some of the stars it's grasping at are put out of reach by the Switch's hardware. There's still pop-in with the environment, most noticeably when traversing the sky to explore what's on the ground below, and the game can still chug when battle get chaotic - which, thanks to the breadth of options in weapons, Zonai technology, and vehicles, it often does.
Throughout our playthrough of Tears of the Kingdom - which amounted to around 70 hours while avoiding many side quests in the interest of saving time - it was hard not to wish for a Switch Pro or something equivalent to help fully realize the dream of this title. The hardware has not, to be clear, impacted the impressive stature of the game or its innovative approach to what made Breath of the Wild great. But here, even more than its predecessor, it becomes obvious just how much the imaginative approach in development that colors Tears of the Kingdom's Hyrule would benefit from technology that helped make it more seamless.
Where Does Zelda Go From Here?
It's fair to say that Tears of the Kingdom stretches Breath of the Wild's ideas to a pretty paper-thin limit. It would be surprising if there was much more to explore in this iteration of Hyrule. In fact, this trip was already a dangerous one, with some of the ideas feeling more like bloat - the Chasm, weapon durability's return, and the end of the game's multiple "just one more thing" moments all come to mind. For as expansive as it is, Tears of the Kingdom also makes a compelling argument for there being a necessary limit to the scope of games like these, and this may be it.
In spite of these concerns, though, it's clear that there's something special about the open world of Hyrule in Tears of the Kingdom that makes straying from it a lot less tempting than it might otherwise be. While it feels like the next Legend of Zelda game is a million Korok seed hunts and Lynel beatings away, it's worth wondering whether a more measured design choice with a more dynamic map might be the best plan of action moving forward.
Our Review Score & Final Thoughts
While most complaints about Tears of the Kingdom will largely be seen as small ones, that's just the bar the game sets for itself. It may not be perfect, but it's every bit as absorbing as its predecessor, with a world that feels even more dizzying in its grandeur. Any issues are buried underneath the many things Tears of the Kingdom does right, and at its core, it's a testament to the appeal of imagination as a game mechanic. Who cares if the game doesn't look like something made in 2023 or if the Chasm is a bit too barren when Link is flying a hovercar made of scraps he found on the ground? Does weapon durability problematically hinder the fun of sticking a Hinox's toenail on a giant metal spear to make it somehow significantly stronger?
If it's time to move on from the Tears of the Kingdom Hyrule that's now spanned two games, it hasn't overstayed its welcome. The memories this game is capable of creating just because of its ambitious systems mean that no two players will ever have the same experience - except that of joy, and the excitement that comes with unknown possibilities. Anyone worried that there would be some fatal flaw that came to ruin what seemed to be a can't-miss Switch launch can now rest easy. Tears of the Kingdom is a monumental achievement, and it's going to be talked about relentlessly for years to come.
Source: Nintendo of America/YouTube
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom releases on May 12, 2023 for Nintendo Switch. Screen Rant was provided with a digital download code for the purpose of this review.
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The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
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