This is a really tough game for me to review because it was so special on my first playthrough. It got me into souls games and was an unbelievably amazing experience.
However, every new playthrough I do of it I like it less and less. For the first time, i went for a magic build, and I don't think my lack of enjoyment came from being a mage because I thought it was a pretty fun time tbh. My complaints obviously lie mostly in the 2nd half of the game. Tomb of the Giants, Demon Ruins/Lost Izalith, and New Londo Ruins are just such an absolute slog to get through, so obviously unfinished.
Most of the bosses that I initially thought were amazing are just so average now. Fights like Ornstein and Smough and Kalameet have been outshone since, and now are just very underwhelming.
Nevertheless, the sublime level design of the first half, the aesthetic and the base gameplay still hold up today: 4.5 / 5

Tears of the Kingdom is a miracle of a game, it is so absolutely outstanding in its mechanics. As someone who is getting into game making, some of the things Nintendo managed to do here are just crazy (especially the ultra hand and vehicle mechanics). This makes the game so fun at times, however the game rarely encourages you to actually get creative with these mechanics. For example, between the islands there was almost always the same assortment of items to get you across: a wing, some fans and some batteries, allowing for the same old construction time and time again, and this issue persists throughout the game. Why give me such awesome creative mechanics if you are regularly going to try to limit what I can create?

Now for my main issue, the sky and the depths. To say the sky peaks at the great sky island would be a massive understatement, everything else is monotonous and incredibly repetitive. There is the same puzzles and same aesthetics on every single one. The only other time I felt true wonder in the sky was when I first trekked up one of the very tall structures to the top of the map and dove through the rings below, absolutely amazed until I realised there was two near identical structures. It's just so disappointing. And the depths have the exact same issue, an awesome introduction until the place becomes very boring, very quickly.

As for the base map, I still had a lot of fun on it with the adjusted locations and new quests, however, due to the simple fact its a sequel, it just can't capture the magic of the original. I've been everywhere in the original and the only meaningful change was the caves, which are a nice addition for sure but again grow boring just like most of the other new content. To me it really feels like Nintendo spent most of the development time developing the mechanics instead of actually producing meaningful content to make exploration exciting like in BOTW.

Now for the main story. Wow was I so disappointed that they used the memory structure again. It made perfect sense in BOTW, but this was now a perfect chance for a more involved story, however, most of the exciting sections of the story were left to the memories, which we have no real gameplay connection to, and will almost certainly be viewed out of order. As for the story missions in terms of gameplay, I was pretty impressed overall. The dungeons have overall improved from the predecessor, and some of the build ups beforehand were epic (especially climbing to the wind temple). The final few hours after completing the 4 region sections was pretty phenomenal as well, capping off with an awesome final sequence.

Overall, as a sequel to my favourite game of all time, I can't pretend that I wasn't slightly disappointed with this. There isn't enough new, unique content that isn't repetitive to make it feel as enjoyable and adventurous again. However, a lot of the new quests are great fun, and the new mechanics really are astonishing so it still is a very good game:
9/10

This has some of the best level design of any of the souls games with the moving platforms and winding paths, however, like all of the Dark Souls 2 DLC and most of the main game, ,it fundamentally misunderstands the enjoyment of difficulty. Spamming hordes and hordes of enemies around every corner. I don't understand why they felt the need in this game to place so many enemies everywhere that gank you in every opportunity, it's simply not fun. Cave of the Dead is one of the worst areas imaginable, I hope whoever designed it got fired.
The bosses are a mixed bag: the gank squad I think is overhated but certainly not the best of fights. Elena is very average, her attacks are all easily dodgeable, and its just a game of luck whether she will spawn Velstadt. Sinh was way more annoying for me than I remember: I didn't die to him at all, but it felt like the fight lasted 10 minutes, he'd spam the fireball, then fall to the ground, I'd run towards him and he'd just fly up again and repeat the pattern. It's a shame, because when he didn't do this, it was a pretty enjoyable fight. At least some of the ideas led to Midir, which is a much better fight
Despite this, the visuals are solid and, as I said before, the level design is great: 4/5.