Four years. Four long years have I waited for this game. It just goes to show how much patience can pay off.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was one of the first games I got for my Switch, and I fell in love with it almost instantly. It quickly became one of my favorite games of all time. Sure, my opinion on it has soured a TINY bit since then, but I still adore it.
Even so, Tears of the Kingdom wipes the floor with its predecessor in just about every way. I know a lot of people are pissed off by a third of the map being copy-pasted from Breath of the Wild, but this game makes just the right amount of changes and additions to keep it feeling fresh. The redone towers make it much easier to get across the map, and the new caves are a genius addition. I sometimes felt like the previous game wasted some of its large landmasses by not featuring any caves to explore, which this game more than delivers with. The new sky islands are a blast to explore, as are the challenging yet rewarding depths. Also, rather than being essentially big shrines, this game has actual dungeons, and they are outstanding. They feel like a perfect blend between the new gameplay style and the old one present from Ocarina of Time to Skyward Sword.
Of course, you can't have fun exploring a world if what you could do yourself isn't equally as fun. Don't get me wrong, I loved the Sheikah Runes and Champion Powers, but Rauru's Arm and the Sages are honestly even better. Ultrahand is a genius evolution of Magnesis that lets you get creative with building different contraptions (I must also props to Autobuild for letting us save them). Fuse lets you take advantage of certain weapons and items, mixing and matching effects to become as strong and skillful as possible. Ascend makes climbing mountains a breeze, and Recall... serves its purpose. You can also call the sages' avatars to fight along side you and use their abilities once you beat their respective dungeons, and they're a big help. Between fuse, ultrahand and the sages, Tears of the Kingdom appears to have taken Twilight Princess' crown for the best combat in a Zelda game. I wish I could continue, but I'm still stuck trying to process this game's brilliance, so I think I'll save it for later.
I have only been playing this game for the past week, but I see myself playing it for much longer. Games like these only come once in a blue moon, where every quality is cranked up to the max and everyone and their mother won't stop gushing about it. Tears of the Kingdom is undoubtedly one of the best Switch games, one of the best Zelda games, and one of the best Nintendo games. I am more than willing to wait ten years or so for the next 3D instalment if this is the quality such a wait can yield.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was one of the first games I got for my Switch, and I fell in love with it almost instantly. It quickly became one of my favorite games of all time. Sure, my opinion on it has soured a TINY bit since then, but I still adore it.
Even so, Tears of the Kingdom wipes the floor with its predecessor in just about every way. I know a lot of people are pissed off by a third of the map being copy-pasted from Breath of the Wild, but this game makes just the right amount of changes and additions to keep it feeling fresh. The redone towers make it much easier to get across the map, and the new caves are a genius addition. I sometimes felt like the previous game wasted some of its large landmasses by not featuring any caves to explore, which this game more than delivers with. The new sky islands are a blast to explore, as are the challenging yet rewarding depths. Also, rather than being essentially big shrines, this game has actual dungeons, and they are outstanding. They feel like a perfect blend between the new gameplay style and the old one present from Ocarina of Time to Skyward Sword.
Of course, you can't have fun exploring a world if what you could do yourself isn't equally as fun. Don't get me wrong, I loved the Sheikah Runes and Champion Powers, but Rauru's Arm and the Sages are honestly even better. Ultrahand is a genius evolution of Magnesis that lets you get creative with building different contraptions (I must also props to Autobuild for letting us save them). Fuse lets you take advantage of certain weapons and items, mixing and matching effects to become as strong and skillful as possible. Ascend makes climbing mountains a breeze, and Recall... serves its purpose. You can also call the sages' avatars to fight along side you and use their abilities once you beat their respective dungeons, and they're a big help. Between fuse, ultrahand and the sages, Tears of the Kingdom appears to have taken Twilight Princess' crown for the best combat in a Zelda game. I wish I could continue, but I'm still stuck trying to process this game's brilliance, so I think I'll save it for later.
I have only been playing this game for the past week, but I see myself playing it for much longer. Games like these only come once in a blue moon, where every quality is cranked up to the max and everyone and their mother won't stop gushing about it. Tears of the Kingdom is undoubtedly one of the best Switch games, one of the best Zelda games, and one of the best Nintendo games. I am more than willing to wait ten years or so for the next 3D instalment if this is the quality such a wait can yield.