TotK is a bit of a let down all things considered. As a complete package I find the game to be alright the pros and cons tend to even out for me. If you enjoyed BotW you'll likely enjoy TotK as its no secret the games are very similar.

To get the biggest negative out of the way I feel that the combat is a real let down. I wasn't expecting a dramatic change from BotW but it feels like there was no adjustment to how quickly weapons break. The fusion mechanic is alright it just feels to me like an added step in getting weapons that can actually manage to hurt monsters. Both of these factors made me almost always avoid combat whenever possible. To finish off the subject of combat, by the end of the game having more HP felt like more of a problem than anything else. I'm unsure if this is how the game actually works so maybe I'm wrong but the more HP I had the stronger variants monsters were around Hyrule. I spent more than half the game at 5 hearts and it wasn't until I upgraded my HP that I started to encounter more powerful enemies. I always felt like I could die in 3-5 hits no matter how much HP I had.

Another major problem I have is the story. Not so much as to what happens in the games story but that again all the good parts of the games story happen before the events the player gets to personally experience. While this happens a lot in the Zelda series I feel like almost every game has moments outside of the final battle where a pivotal event takes place. There really is no such event in this game. Outside of the final battle I would argue there is no story development that takes place in this game. You again find memories of the past and help the four races solve an issue with their home which awakens them as a sage to help you in the final battle. Those moments aren't bad and the problems the four races face in this game were interesting its just everything felt disjointed.

The dungeons overall were better than BotW but in the end they were a bit of a letdown. The airship was the first I went to and I had a very good time with it I found it to be a great experience from getting to the dungeon until defeating the boss. The other three dungeons I cant say the same for once I found out they were all the same thing I tended to not enjoy them. That being said the pyramid was interesting to navigate in my opinion and the worst one by far is the Zora dungeon. You can basically skip doing anything in that dungeon if you try.

So what would I say is positive about this game? The exploration obviously. Overall the world is fun to explore. It is fun to find shrines, while the shrines aren't amazing they're still fun to do. Overall the best shrines I would say are the ones that have an overworld puzzle to get into the shrine rather than a puzzle inside the shrine. Doing side quests, exploring the world, riding horses or building cards no matter how you choose to go through the overworld its fun. The sky islands are lacking in my opinion but still interesting. The underground unfortunately is a letdown. I did find all the light roots but there's really not much of anything else to do down there aside from the Master Koga questline and the fifth dungeon. There are no shrines in the depths and that's a little sad. You can go the whole game without ever going into the depths aside from the story dungeons. That realistically leaves 90% of the depths empty at least the sky is physically 90% empty and every bit of land you can go to in the sky has something to do. Regardless of that though exploration makes this game fun. Traveling through Hyrule finding shrines, quests, caves, and even the occasional Korok (I cant emphasize occasional enough as looking for more than that is insane.)

To quickly address the new abilities replacing the old slate mechanics. I thought they were okay overall. Ultrahand is most used and I'm not gonna talk about performance its the switch if your not happy with the performance I don't know what to say we've known the switch is underpowered since 2017. Building things to solve puzzles or vehicles is neat. It wasn't for me though and I actively tried to solve puzzles without it or travel without it. Ascend is the best ability hands down. I already mentioned fusion and I never used blueprints really.

Overall I'd say I enjoyed the game but it still deserves a six to me. Exploration alone can't save this game. I'm glad people enjoy it and say it's their favorite game but its just not mine. I hope that future Zelda games build from here as it feels like they didn't build from BotW. Adding more world and then not utilizing it. Adding another story you only get to watch rather than experience. It's a letdown. All that being said I enjoyed it and many others will hopefully more than I do.