TITLE: The Legend of Zelda™: Tears of the Kingdom
DEVELOPER: Nintendo
PUBLISHER: Nintendo
RELEASE DATE: May 12, 2023
GENRE: Action, Adventure, Open World
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is a successful sequel to the open-world action-adventure game, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Despite being a sequel, the game has a somewhat loose connection to its predecessor. You don’t necessarily have to experience the 2017 version, as the new installment doesn’t provide a story recap. Moreover, the game offers a comprehensive tutorial for both familiar and new gameplay mechanics, and the level of excitement depends on the player’s creativity.
Tears of the Kingdom takes place in a post-apocalyptic Hyrule, where its people face new threats, leading to Zelda and Link’s investigation in the depths of Hyrule. In their quest, the seemingly inseparable duo uncovers secret documents about the ancient Zonai race and their battle against the Demon King. However, during their exploration, Link loses his powers and the Master Sword is destroyed by a mysterious character, while Princess Zelda mysteriously disappears. This sets the stage for a new adventure that is both unfamiliar and familiar.
The familiarity comes from revisiting the “Shrine” tombs, seeking new sources of power to replace the old gameplay mechanics from Breath of the Wild, within the familiar open-world environment. However, the new power sources are upgraded and improved significantly compared to the previous gameplay mechanics, contributing significantly to a more thrilling adventure and puzzle-solving experience, surpassing its predecessor by 7749 times. The exploration areas expand not only on the ground but also into the sky and beneath the ground.
Compared to Breath of the Wild, Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom builds a grander and more immersive experience in terms of design. While the game reuses a significant portion of gameplay elements and assets from its predecessor, it also introduces a substantial amount of new content, doubling or even tripling the amount found in the 2017 version of The Legend of Zelda. These gameplay mechanics are unlocked early on, providing a completely fresh experience rather than being introduced near the end of the game, similar to God of War Ragnarök.
For instance, the first skill, Ultrahand, is an intriguing upgrade to Magnesis in Breath of the Wild and Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity. Not only does it allow for remote manipulation of interactable objects, but it also has the ability to attach objects together with virtually no limits. This skill proves incredibly useful, enabling you to create pathways across deep chasms that would be otherwise impassable for Link. Although the control mechanics of Ultrahand may feel a bit clunky at times, its application potential is remarkably high.
Similarly, Fuse is a skill that combines different materials, enhancing both the power and durability of equipment in combat. For example, you can fuse fire with arrows to ignite enemies or merge a stone slab with a sword, creating a versatile tool capable of both breaking rocks and serving as a heavy-duty weapon with superior durability. Speaking of equipment, I cannot overlook the ongoing issue of durability, which continues to be frustrating in the experience of Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
Recall is also an interesting upgrade to Stasis. It not only freezes objects like Stasis in Dead Space but also reverses the movement of objects in time, and even “returns” some things thrown at the main character by enemies if you’re quick enough. Only Ascend is a completely new skill, distinct from the upgrade of Cryosis in Breath of the Wild. This skill grants Link the ability to traverse different levels, similar to Doraemon’s Anywhere Door, but limited to ceilings rather than floors.
Every area demands effective utilization and creativity with Link’s new skills, whether it’s in combat, exploration, or puzzle-solving. For instance, if you accidentally fall from a mid-air jump, you can use Recall to rectify the mistake. Encountering a protruding rock wall that prevents climbing can be overcome by immediately using Ascend to ascend upward. Seemingly inaccessible locations like deep chasms or rocky outcrops can be easily addressed by utilizing Ultrahand to construct sturdy bridges or rudimentary vehicles from wooden planks or stone slabs and wheels.
These four skills play a vital role in the gameplay experience as players begin to interact with the ancient Zonai civilization’s technologies. However, Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom omits the invaluable Revali’s Gale, a skill that was extremely useful in the previous installment. Revali’s Gale allowed players to glide and made climbing segments less arduous in Breath of the Wild. While the game compensates with other skills from the wind sage Tulin, they have more limitations compared to the “divine” Revali’s Gale.
Equally important to the Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom experience are the familiar yet peculiar scientific and technological advancements of the ancient Zonai civilization. Initially appearing as box-shaped objects resembling modern-day fans, they can elevate Link or create specific directional movements when attached to corresponding objects. However, as these technologies become more abundant, they offer a wealth of creative possibilities that may have seemed limited to your rich imagination.
In reality, the Zonai’s technologies turn Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom into a sandbox experience. You can prototype robots or bigfoot vehicles for exploration and combat, and even unexpected items such as flamethrowers or healing canisters. Moreover, while most of the technological items can be found through exploration, the game also features some one-time-use devices that you can “disassemble” and utilize their technology instead of using them multiple times like most other Zonai items.
This is because the majority of these items cannot be used indefinitely and require a power source in the form of an Energy Cell. If you are willing to invest time in exploration and enjoy crafting, you can unlock the Autobuild skill relatively early. This skill allows players to quickly rebuild the masterpieces they painstakingly created before. Additionally, players can use the Schema Stone and Yiga Schematic to unlock new crafting structures that they haven’t encountered before in Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
The world in Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has expanded and now consists of three tiers: the floating Sky Islands, the surface, and the underground. Essentially, the Sky Islands are smaller and occupy less gameplay time compared to the surface. There are multiple ways to approach them, along with a variety of intriguing puzzles. However, as I enthusiastically threw myself down from the sky initially, the more I progressed, the more I felt like I was wasting time on this particular action.
If you’ve experienced Breath of the Wild, you’ll find the surface tier in the new installment familiar with its old landmarks, but there are several changes compared to the 2017 version. The introduction of countless caves and new locations encourages you to explore more. While riding a horse remains enjoyable as before, zooming around on a motorbike like a fearless daredevil in the rain is even more enticing. The most terrifying area is The Depths, an underground region designed like a treacherous, venomous forest eagerly waiting to drain Link’s life force.
What’s more, The Depths also hide many costumes that were previously exclusive to those with amiibo. All you need to do is explore diligently and overcome the not-so-pleasant challenges in this dark and deep place underground. Notably, the gameplay pace in Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has improved as well. The puzzles now possess greater depth when combined with Link’s Ultrahand and Fuse skills, allowing for highly creative solutions. The dungeon and boss designs are also more extensive than in Breath of the Wild.
Exploring the dungeons is also more balanced as they no longer solely focus on puzzle-solving aspects like in Breath of the Wild, creating a sense of increased freedom in the gaming experience. This is especially true for the crafting aspect, where you can create numerous things using your own imagination and trial-and-error solutions. The only limitation to the creative ability in Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is that not all items can be combined, but there is still enough diversity for various experiential situations.
For example, have you ever tried attaching a bomb to Link’s shield to increase his jumping height? It’s an idea I found quite useful from my personal experience in the FPS game series Halo, and it leads to unexpected and exciting outcomes when applied in Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Although it can result in Link being “logged out” of the game world and the game over screen appearing if you’re not careful, it serves as evidence of the game’s enthusiastic creative potential, which few titles can match at the time of writing.
The graphics in Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom have received slight upgrades compared to Breath of the Wild, but performance issues sometimes still cause a bit of annoyance in crowded enemy scenarios or with particle effects. The frustrating aspect is that the performance issue is not any better than it was in the initial release of Breath of the Wild in 2017. In comparison to the previous installment, the game now features more diverse enemies and some formidable opponents, contributing to an elevated level of difficulty in combat.
However, alongside the array of innovative gameplay mechanics, Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom still harbors many lingering issues inherited from the previous entries that Nintendo has not addressed. This is not to mention the higher price tag compared to Breath of the Wild, as the writer is forced to accept these drawbacks as features rather than considering them issues with the game. Specifically, the narrative in the new installment continues to be overlooked by the development team, with the main focus of the experience being on replay value.
It is still a disjointed tale of the “knight” Link rescuing Princess Zelda and seeking the aid of the sharks, I mean, the sages, now replaced by a new term: champions. The final boss remains facing Ganon, and there is no significant innovation in story construction. Moreover, while the price has increased compared to the 2017 Breath of the Wild version, Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom only features voiced cutscenes during transitions. The majority of dialogues are reduced to unintelligible gibberish or NPC’s meaningless laughter.
Some minor drawbacks, such as repetitive dialogues and scenes in shrines, also diminish the writer’s enthusiasm. The music arrangement in these situations is also somewhat disconnected. However, I noticed a substantial addition of new tracks and musical arrangements in the game, with some music reused from Breath of the Wild. Nevertheless, not all of the music contributes to creating a suitable atmosphere in the gaming experience.
In conclusion, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom delivers a distinctive open-world action-adventure experience. This installment improves upon the scale of gameplay, gameplay mechanics, and graphics, providing a seamless experience despite the map being divided into three layers. The biggest advantage of the game is its highly creative gameplay, granting players a rare sense of crafting freedom within the realm of electronic gaming. If you enjoyed Breath of the Wild, it is highly likely that this title should be a must-have in your game library, and vice versa.