One of my childhood games. As an adult I had to go back to wonder whether my nostalgia is driving my love for this game.




Nope, still fantastic, favourite game ever.

It's hard to describe how perfect Tears of the Kingdom is without acknowledging the feats of its predecessor, Breath of the Wild. That game captured lightning in a bottle, perfecting the open world genre (which at the time was becoming increasingly over-saturated and quite stale), and defined what it meant to build a world that would envelop the player from the very beginning. Tears of the Kingdom succeeds in building off of its predecessor in nearly every way possible, an almost impossible feat by most standards. It not only greatly expands the world created by the predecessor, but gives the player the tools they need to conquer it in any way they may choose to do so. The amount of creativity this game is undeniably incredible. Any puzzle or any combat challenge you encounter, there are almost limitless ways to achieve the goal, it really is hard to describe in words just how creative this game enables the player to be. The new set of abilities is much better than in Breath of the Wild; the obvious standout ability being Ultrahand, but also I really enjoyed using rewind and ascend. These abilities would not work in any other open world game, but with the foundations established in Tears of the Kingdom, these abilities are what allows the game to thrive with creativity. Much more akin to the series' traditional dungeons, Tears of the Kingdom has 5 major temples spread across the land of Hyrule. I found these to be much more enveloping and enjoyable than Breath of the Wild's Divine Beasts, with excellent music, fun boss fights and story beats that really hit home. I even found the story to be much stronger than the predecessor, though this isn't necessarily a narrative masterpiece by any means (not that it needs to, if the game is fun that's what matters most). The story is largely written by the player, and the journey they embark on. Every path you take, mountain you climb, sky island explored; it's all part of the story forged by the player. This is all what Breath of the Wild already accomplished however, where Tears of the Kingdom succeeds in this aspect is through the story told in the memories. I found these cutscenes to be much more entertaining and kept me intrigued in the story being told. There was a greater sense of mystery surrounding much of the story, something Breath of the Wild lacked and what made me enjoy Tears of the Kingdom's story more. All in all, this game will remain unforgettable and will always hold a special place in my heart as one of my all time favorite games. After my 160 hours with this game, I am confident in saying that this game is the pinnacle of action-adventure games and is an achievement in the medium; I really love this game.