We didn’t get to buy Tears of the Kingdom when it first came out. We’ve both been lifelong players of The Legend of Zelda games. But, when TotK was released we were both unemployed. Dorian worked a temporary freelance job and got the game for free on his Nintendo Switch to review. But his job didn’t last long and so he never got far into the game.
Finally able to play the game all the way through together, here are our thoughts!
Overview
Tears of the Kingdom takes place directly after The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. There aren’t many Zelda games that do that. Even though Majora’s Mask was directly after Ocarina of Time, it still did not use the same world map and have the same repeat characters.
Ultimately, I think that is what we both loved and grew a bit tired of in this game. It was so much fun to meet the same characters again, but older and wiser. And it was fun to already feel familiar with the map and the towns. It was like coming home. But, there are some repetitive elements that the game could have gone without.
The Story
When you play a Zelda game, you expect an excellent story. This one was no different. The characters are well-rounded and the danger feels real. There are plenty of mysteries to explore, and you are invested in the world. This game keeps the focus on historical events and how they impact the present. That being said, while Zelda shook off most of the “damsel in need of rescuing” stereotype, we aren’t entirely free from it. That comes as a disappointment, since when news of the game first broke, fans rallied online to be able to play the game as Zelda, or at least back and forth between Zelda and Link. For those familiar with the plot of the game, playing between the two actually would have worked out seamlessly.
The Gameplay
Gameplay centers around learning to use special powers given to you via an attachment on your arm. Mastering these are central to overcoming obstacles and solving puzzles, though they don’t play a big role in combat. If you enjoy building and creating, then you will absolutely love this feature.
There are three maps to navigate across the game. The massive surface map of Hyrule is the same as in Breath of the Wild, though slightly altered due to events in the game. There are also sky islands to explore. While they are important in certain quest lines, we didn’t spend much time exploring them as navigating them proves to be extremely difficult and time consuming. The final map is the underground Depths. We stumbled upon this by accident, having not started the official quest that introduces you to this area. We were shocked! The Depths offers a fun, grueling adventure map where survival is your first priority. While it has a few key story points, the Depths are mainly used for finding really good loot.
The Side Quests
I have mixed feelings about the side quests in Tears of the Kingdom. Some are a great deal of fun. We especially enjoyed the quests with Penn at the stables as they often had a good deal of humor mixed in with them. The introduction of caves also allowed for some exploration side quests.
However, many are simply carried over from Breath of the Wild and we grew easily bored of them. For example, finding the korok seeds reappears, but we would have preferred a new system for expanding your weapon carrying capacity. The shrines make another appearance, key teleport points and opportunities to get more hearts and stamina. Again, we would have preferred something in the same spirit as the shrines but fresh and new.
Conclusion
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, is a fun adventure game full of heart. It’s three separate world maps, weapon fusion and building gameplay, and characters cement it as another fantastic title in this series. Honestly, the final section of the boss fight is one of the most cinematic of all Zelda games. Despite the repetitive feeling of some quests, we recommend it to any gamer who wants an immersive fantasy adventure.