I don't know if any new game release carries the same sense of weight as a new Zelda. I've remembered the release of each new mainline title as a marker of a significant new point in my life, and I know I'm not alone in that view. For anyone who's ever fully bought into the setting, story and "legend" of any of the games, there's a sense of sanctity to the series, and there's little that can match it for that. The godesses and rituals and sacred artifacts that the games fill themselves with plays into this sense of sacredness, but frequently, it's how earnestly the stories and themes have connected with fans that have gained it such a passionate and devoted following. And unlike most long-running franchises, there's a vague, fleeting chance that its best days could be ahead.
There's a cautious optimism that goes into approaching any new Zelda. It's almost certainly going to be really, really good, but there's also a chance it could underwhelm. That some aspect of the formula won't really connect, and you'll cling tighter onto the seemingly-forgotten qualities you hold so dearly about the personal favourite, wondering if they'll ever be able to recapture that.
Tears of the Kingdom really wants to earn its status as The New Zelda Game. Breath of the Wild dared to shed off a lot of recent series conventions to single-mindedly devote itself to freedom and exploration, but Tears of the Kingdom tries to dial that back, with big dramatic story beats and elaborately decorated dungeons. As much as I loved BotW, there was always some ennui with how muted the Proper Zelda Stuff was. TotK attempts to remedy this, but it's mostly focused on exploring the potential of BotW's gameplay. Structure is loose and hands-off. It's a quality that has the potential to either give players a deeply personal sense of satisfaction, or undercut any sense of classical adventure.
I struggle to view Tears of the Kingdom as its own thing. It's really easy to adopt a cynical perspective on how much content they've repackaged. You can't really do Breath of the Wild again. Can't recreate that initial shock and overwhelming sense of liberation. A million little distractions over a huge map, and each one of them, Industrial Strength Zelda. Ultrahand, Recall and Ascend are abilities that Tears of the Kingdom utilises as if they were standard Zelda items, but they offer so much freedom to Play The Game Wrong. Yes, I did the Fire Temple, but climbing up the walls and gliding down to each gong feels like the kind of thing I'd be locked out of a Platinum Trophy for in any other game. I want Zelda to be more firm with me. To pay attention. To show it loves me as much as I love it.
That was kind of what I liked so much about Breath of the Wild, though. Its unwavering devotion to freedom. How you could vanquish centuries-fabled demons by throwing mushrooms at them if you wanted. By attempting to compromise, Tears of the Kingdom never really commits to either the theatrical pageantry of old or the sense of wild discovery that's been introduced. You're warping around the map, doing things in the wrong order, and not really connecting to any part of it as much as you feel you ought to. Breath of the Wild often put you into hopeless scenarios, miles from safety, creating personal stories of overcoming desperate conditions through grit and ingenuity. Link's new God Hand is so concerned about not boring returning players that you're only ever a couple menu clicks from warping back to the Poké Center and getting a full recovery.
That's probably enough moaning. I really, really liked Tears of the Kingdom.
The sense of confidence that the team have gained from Breath of the Wild's reception has spurred them on to do a deep dive into the history of Hyrule, the ambitions of Ganondorf, and Zelda's resolute devotion to her kingdom. It reshapes the audience's view of the world and characters, and it's stuff I'm going to be thinking about as I replay Ocarina of Time or Wind Waker or Zelda 1. It takes big swings, and when it works, it really works. It feels like a weird old folktale, and that's what I think The Legend of Zelda ought to be. I loved what they were willing to do here.
There's so many things Tears of the Kingdom does that I just love. It brings back that old N64 scariness. There's stuff in this game I know is going to give kids nightmares, and I've just got to stand up and applaud them for that. Knowing that young audiences will be as petrified of the power this game holds over them as the earlier titles did for me when I was their age makes me feel alive. The fact that this game will serve as the next stop on the Nintendo bus for a bunch of children coming off Mario Odyssey... I can't explain how excited that makes me. The scariness is all handled very carefully. There's nothing traumatic here, but there's places in the game that they will just not want to go to. It's kind of Minecrafty, actually. I don't know if grown-ups appreciate how well that game deals with horror for younger players, but we've all seen a 6 year-old in a Creeper t-shirt. Man, that's just how ReDeads made us. Terror is back, baby.
Sidequests are a bigger part of the formula here. It's where you get a sense of what life in post-Calamity Hyrule is actually like. There's some really good stuff covering Gerudo culture, which is more interesting for how it reflects on the one male of their race, Ganondorf. The strict, authoritarian doctrines that run through the lives of otherwise relatable, likeable characters, and how they integrate into a more inclusive society. Again, it's how these these things shift my perspective on some of my favourite games that I really like. It's not like going back to earlier Metal Gear games and attempting to determine what Cipher's objectives were as they manipulated every action behind the scenes. I wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo consulted decades-old internal documentation about how Hyrule works before writing a single line of fetch-quest dialogue. This is the game that the series' core fans are seeing that casual audiences can't appreciate.
I always like a horse in a game, but Zelda's horses are special. Galloping across unknown plains and delicately navigating treacherous cliff faces. That's a vision of adventure that really resonates with me. Breath of the Wild loved its horses, but Tears of the Kingdom goes further. There's so many sidequests about the horses, and so many NPCs who love the horses too. We're past the vision of cold, masculine reliance on animals as tools on our grand quests. We want to feed them and pet them and treat them with love. I find old men talking about beauty of their steeds very sweet. These people have earned their protection from the Demon King.
I've reflected on the decision to call the big new mechanic "Ultrahand". That was the name of the extending grabber toy that got Gunpei Yokoi hired by Nintendo, before going on to create the first handheld game console. Handhelds have always kept Nintendo going, even when their home consoles failed to build enough of an audience to support the business. The Switch's success is largely owed to the groundwork Yokoi laid. The Game & Watch was essentially a fun new use for cheap calculator components, and the Switch took the same kind of approach with the global ubiqity of mobile hardware in the 2010s. Ultrahand in Zelda doesn't have all that much in common with the original toy, but it's a fitting tribute to the man to get the term trending on Twitter as it spearheads the company's biggest game in years.
Repurposing the old locations is a mixed bag. While the diversity and complexity of locales doesn't bring the same sense of awe as they did in 2017, the process of discovery brought back a lot more of the emotion felt on that first playthrough than any of the subsequent discourse and merchandise did. Seeing the familiar mountains, that have now been hollowed out for elaborate Link's Awakening-style mini-dungeon caves, remembering all the other locations that seemed so significant in Breath of the Wild, and rushing over to see what they've done with the place. I think revisiting the previous game's environments kind of cheapens both titles, but the team seem aware of that risk, and it's hard to argue against Aonuma's suggestion that more could be done with this huge world. The developers are keen to make up for any sense of disappointment that the new Zelda game might not seem new enough.
It's all so subjective though. I'm a bitter old bastard who thinks that Zelda will never feel quite as perfect without a set of C-Buttons for quick item access and ocarina manipulation. Something I cherish about my experience with Ocarina of Time was that I was much older when I eventually finished it than I was when I first tried it. Reflecting on how my life had changed in those intervening years greatly complemented my appreciation for the story and themes. It's easy to picture the 11 year-olds who played Breath of the Wild at launch may have the same level of investment in Tears of the Kingdom as they approach adulthood. I don't know if Zelda could ever mean as much to me as Ocarina of Time does, but I'm glad to see Nintendo continue to make these precious memories for people.
This one didn't totally work for me, but they've got so much right here, I'm still open to the idea that the next one might.
There's a cautious optimism that goes into approaching any new Zelda. It's almost certainly going to be really, really good, but there's also a chance it could underwhelm. That some aspect of the formula won't really connect, and you'll cling tighter onto the seemingly-forgotten qualities you hold so dearly about the personal favourite, wondering if they'll ever be able to recapture that.
Tears of the Kingdom really wants to earn its status as The New Zelda Game. Breath of the Wild dared to shed off a lot of recent series conventions to single-mindedly devote itself to freedom and exploration, but Tears of the Kingdom tries to dial that back, with big dramatic story beats and elaborately decorated dungeons. As much as I loved BotW, there was always some ennui with how muted the Proper Zelda Stuff was. TotK attempts to remedy this, but it's mostly focused on exploring the potential of BotW's gameplay. Structure is loose and hands-off. It's a quality that has the potential to either give players a deeply personal sense of satisfaction, or undercut any sense of classical adventure.
I struggle to view Tears of the Kingdom as its own thing. It's really easy to adopt a cynical perspective on how much content they've repackaged. You can't really do Breath of the Wild again. Can't recreate that initial shock and overwhelming sense of liberation. A million little distractions over a huge map, and each one of them, Industrial Strength Zelda. Ultrahand, Recall and Ascend are abilities that Tears of the Kingdom utilises as if they were standard Zelda items, but they offer so much freedom to Play The Game Wrong. Yes, I did the Fire Temple, but climbing up the walls and gliding down to each gong feels like the kind of thing I'd be locked out of a Platinum Trophy for in any other game. I want Zelda to be more firm with me. To pay attention. To show it loves me as much as I love it.
That was kind of what I liked so much about Breath of the Wild, though. Its unwavering devotion to freedom. How you could vanquish centuries-fabled demons by throwing mushrooms at them if you wanted. By attempting to compromise, Tears of the Kingdom never really commits to either the theatrical pageantry of old or the sense of wild discovery that's been introduced. You're warping around the map, doing things in the wrong order, and not really connecting to any part of it as much as you feel you ought to. Breath of the Wild often put you into hopeless scenarios, miles from safety, creating personal stories of overcoming desperate conditions through grit and ingenuity. Link's new God Hand is so concerned about not boring returning players that you're only ever a couple menu clicks from warping back to the Poké Center and getting a full recovery.
That's probably enough moaning. I really, really liked Tears of the Kingdom.
The sense of confidence that the team have gained from Breath of the Wild's reception has spurred them on to do a deep dive into the history of Hyrule, the ambitions of Ganondorf, and Zelda's resolute devotion to her kingdom. It reshapes the audience's view of the world and characters, and it's stuff I'm going to be thinking about as I replay Ocarina of Time or Wind Waker or Zelda 1. It takes big swings, and when it works, it really works. It feels like a weird old folktale, and that's what I think The Legend of Zelda ought to be. I loved what they were willing to do here.
There's so many things Tears of the Kingdom does that I just love. It brings back that old N64 scariness. There's stuff in this game I know is going to give kids nightmares, and I've just got to stand up and applaud them for that. Knowing that young audiences will be as petrified of the power this game holds over them as the earlier titles did for me when I was their age makes me feel alive. The fact that this game will serve as the next stop on the Nintendo bus for a bunch of children coming off Mario Odyssey... I can't explain how excited that makes me. The scariness is all handled very carefully. There's nothing traumatic here, but there's places in the game that they will just not want to go to. It's kind of Minecrafty, actually. I don't know if grown-ups appreciate how well that game deals with horror for younger players, but we've all seen a 6 year-old in a Creeper t-shirt. Man, that's just how ReDeads made us. Terror is back, baby.
Sidequests are a bigger part of the formula here. It's where you get a sense of what life in post-Calamity Hyrule is actually like. There's some really good stuff covering Gerudo culture, which is more interesting for how it reflects on the one male of their race, Ganondorf. The strict, authoritarian doctrines that run through the lives of otherwise relatable, likeable characters, and how they integrate into a more inclusive society. Again, it's how these these things shift my perspective on some of my favourite games that I really like. It's not like going back to earlier Metal Gear games and attempting to determine what Cipher's objectives were as they manipulated every action behind the scenes. I wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo consulted decades-old internal documentation about how Hyrule works before writing a single line of fetch-quest dialogue. This is the game that the series' core fans are seeing that casual audiences can't appreciate.
I always like a horse in a game, but Zelda's horses are special. Galloping across unknown plains and delicately navigating treacherous cliff faces. That's a vision of adventure that really resonates with me. Breath of the Wild loved its horses, but Tears of the Kingdom goes further. There's so many sidequests about the horses, and so many NPCs who love the horses too. We're past the vision of cold, masculine reliance on animals as tools on our grand quests. We want to feed them and pet them and treat them with love. I find old men talking about beauty of their steeds very sweet. These people have earned their protection from the Demon King.
I've reflected on the decision to call the big new mechanic "Ultrahand". That was the name of the extending grabber toy that got Gunpei Yokoi hired by Nintendo, before going on to create the first handheld game console. Handhelds have always kept Nintendo going, even when their home consoles failed to build enough of an audience to support the business. The Switch's success is largely owed to the groundwork Yokoi laid. The Game & Watch was essentially a fun new use for cheap calculator components, and the Switch took the same kind of approach with the global ubiqity of mobile hardware in the 2010s. Ultrahand in Zelda doesn't have all that much in common with the original toy, but it's a fitting tribute to the man to get the term trending on Twitter as it spearheads the company's biggest game in years.
Repurposing the old locations is a mixed bag. While the diversity and complexity of locales doesn't bring the same sense of awe as they did in 2017, the process of discovery brought back a lot more of the emotion felt on that first playthrough than any of the subsequent discourse and merchandise did. Seeing the familiar mountains, that have now been hollowed out for elaborate Link's Awakening-style mini-dungeon caves, remembering all the other locations that seemed so significant in Breath of the Wild, and rushing over to see what they've done with the place. I think revisiting the previous game's environments kind of cheapens both titles, but the team seem aware of that risk, and it's hard to argue against Aonuma's suggestion that more could be done with this huge world. The developers are keen to make up for any sense of disappointment that the new Zelda game might not seem new enough.
It's all so subjective though. I'm a bitter old bastard who thinks that Zelda will never feel quite as perfect without a set of C-Buttons for quick item access and ocarina manipulation. Something I cherish about my experience with Ocarina of Time was that I was much older when I eventually finished it than I was when I first tried it. Reflecting on how my life had changed in those intervening years greatly complemented my appreciation for the story and themes. It's easy to picture the 11 year-olds who played Breath of the Wild at launch may have the same level of investment in Tears of the Kingdom as they approach adulthood. I don't know if Zelda could ever mean as much to me as Ocarina of Time does, but I'm glad to see Nintendo continue to make these precious memories for people.
This one didn't totally work for me, but they've got so much right here, I'm still open to the idea that the next one might.
SunlitSonata
10 months ago
I brought that up in my own review actually. The Depths reminded me a lot of the Nether from Minecraft, furthered by all the Fire areas present there, not unlike all the lava you see in the Nether.