They took the ultimate adventure simulator and pumped it full of more adventure. You’re gonna read 1000+ reviews on this website and others saying variations on “it improved on BOTW.” You just read it again, so I’m not going to say anymore. First playthrough ended around the 140 hour mark, and I’m only at 55.3% completion. That’s a baffling number to me because I feel like I’ve had 3 games worth of experiences.
There’s so much to explore, traverse, build, solve, fight, and accomplish. And the freedom to which you can do any of it is astounding. The fact that this game has so many systems and mechanics that flow so smoothly and don’t fall apart at the seams the way Triple-A games on more advanced consoles do is the ultimate push-back to the entire industry model (Imagine anyone else handling something like Ascend). I played this on a year 1 Switch model and never saw a hiccup. “Eiji Aonuma built this in a cave!” shouts a Studio Head to some pressured underling.
Raid monster forts, solve mysteries for a newspaper, take photography requests for stables, fill the Compendium, discover wells, explore caves for equipment or treasure, house building, vehicle racing, overworld bosses. Character side quests that range from reuniting a folk band to manipulating a local election. The Depths, The Skies, The Temples, the Story, The Shrines. God damn.
The game has a linear through-line which I imagine will be welcome to players who want a direct focus, but very few things stop you from exploring at your leisure. There are perhaps 1 or 2 narrative events that will not trigger unless a prerequisite achievement is completed, but you can get through the mainline narrative however you wish. A lot of the game is open-ended in this manner, from the shrines to the traversal methods. There are clear-cut solutions, or ways you can use lateral thinking to make your own path. It’s a clever game that never stops you if you out-smart it, it just rewards you and lets you continue. It’s so thrilling. And it builds to one of the best finales in this franchise. A final gauntlet that mirrors and payoff the entire journey, taking you from the depths to the heavens in a magnificent final clash.
Just so this doesn’t sound like a complete wank of a piece, here are some pointed problems I have, most stemming from a case of stubborn design philosophy that Nintendo may seemingly never drop.
First and foremost, accessibility. Nintendo remains notoriously awful at game accessibility, from lack of button mapping to cumbersome menu and UI elements. TOTK doesn’t fix any of these habits, and it’s frankly disappointing. Custom menu organization, swapping buttons, fusing from a dedicated menu, all of these items would be welcome for gamers who need a change of pace. The Big N won’t give, and that sucks.
And for all the improvements they’ve made to traversal with vehicles, basic swimming is still a nightmare. The worst traversal method of BOTW remains the worst traversal method of TOTK. Other small cuts emerge, such as the annoyance certain companions can cause in their environmental interactions, or how I wish certain mechanics went a LITTLE further in their options (why can't I paint my house?!).
This last one is a biggie, but: For how deep and brilliant the Ultrahand building system is in this game, I have to say I was surprised that it didn’t have more motivated grounding in the mainline quests. The Fire Temple is the only one of the 4 that leans on vehicle creation, and beyond that, it’s here mostly as an incidental part of in-game lore. The final encounter doesn’t culminate in any vehicle building mechanics. You can USE vehicles at any point, and again the variety and possibilities are astounding (just go to r/HyruleEngineering). Given that traversal remains one of the key puzzles of this game, building is a welcome tool. I just would’ve liked to have seen it mean a bit more.
There’s a strong emotion in coming back to something IRL and seeing the changes. Revisiting the home you grew up in, going to the demolished remains of your first school. This map of Hyrule is arguably one of the best open worlds gaming has ever seen, and TOTK makes it that much more endearing by focusing on the passage of time in Link's world. From its characters to its locales, there’s a lot to love in TOTK, whether you're here for the first time, or coming back to see what's new. Even with the faults it does indeed have, this is a pure feat of gaming. A kingdom of pure possibility.
There’s so much to explore, traverse, build, solve, fight, and accomplish. And the freedom to which you can do any of it is astounding. The fact that this game has so many systems and mechanics that flow so smoothly and don’t fall apart at the seams the way Triple-A games on more advanced consoles do is the ultimate push-back to the entire industry model (Imagine anyone else handling something like Ascend). I played this on a year 1 Switch model and never saw a hiccup. “Eiji Aonuma built this in a cave!” shouts a Studio Head to some pressured underling.
Raid monster forts, solve mysteries for a newspaper, take photography requests for stables, fill the Compendium, discover wells, explore caves for equipment or treasure, house building, vehicle racing, overworld bosses. Character side quests that range from reuniting a folk band to manipulating a local election. The Depths, The Skies, The Temples, the Story, The Shrines. God damn.
The game has a linear through-line which I imagine will be welcome to players who want a direct focus, but very few things stop you from exploring at your leisure. There are perhaps 1 or 2 narrative events that will not trigger unless a prerequisite achievement is completed, but you can get through the mainline narrative however you wish. A lot of the game is open-ended in this manner, from the shrines to the traversal methods. There are clear-cut solutions, or ways you can use lateral thinking to make your own path. It’s a clever game that never stops you if you out-smart it, it just rewards you and lets you continue. It’s so thrilling. And it builds to one of the best finales in this franchise. A final gauntlet that mirrors and payoff the entire journey, taking you from the depths to the heavens in a magnificent final clash.
Just so this doesn’t sound like a complete wank of a piece, here are some pointed problems I have, most stemming from a case of stubborn design philosophy that Nintendo may seemingly never drop.
First and foremost, accessibility. Nintendo remains notoriously awful at game accessibility, from lack of button mapping to cumbersome menu and UI elements. TOTK doesn’t fix any of these habits, and it’s frankly disappointing. Custom menu organization, swapping buttons, fusing from a dedicated menu, all of these items would be welcome for gamers who need a change of pace. The Big N won’t give, and that sucks.
And for all the improvements they’ve made to traversal with vehicles, basic swimming is still a nightmare. The worst traversal method of BOTW remains the worst traversal method of TOTK. Other small cuts emerge, such as the annoyance certain companions can cause in their environmental interactions, or how I wish certain mechanics went a LITTLE further in their options (why can't I paint my house?!).
This last one is a biggie, but: For how deep and brilliant the Ultrahand building system is in this game, I have to say I was surprised that it didn’t have more motivated grounding in the mainline quests. The Fire Temple is the only one of the 4 that leans on vehicle creation, and beyond that, it’s here mostly as an incidental part of in-game lore. The final encounter doesn’t culminate in any vehicle building mechanics. You can USE vehicles at any point, and again the variety and possibilities are astounding (just go to r/HyruleEngineering). Given that traversal remains one of the key puzzles of this game, building is a welcome tool. I just would’ve liked to have seen it mean a bit more.
There’s a strong emotion in coming back to something IRL and seeing the changes. Revisiting the home you grew up in, going to the demolished remains of your first school. This map of Hyrule is arguably one of the best open worlds gaming has ever seen, and TOTK makes it that much more endearing by focusing on the passage of time in Link's world. From its characters to its locales, there’s a lot to love in TOTK, whether you're here for the first time, or coming back to see what's new. Even with the faults it does indeed have, this is a pure feat of gaming. A kingdom of pure possibility.