While I enjoyed Breath of the Wild plenty, I never really fell in love with it the same way it seemed everyone else did. I have already spent nearly three times as long playing Tears of the Kingdom than I ever have Breath of the Wild.
The first thing I noted to be an improvement were the selection of rune abilities the game gives you. I found some of BotW's somewhat restrictive or situational. Instead, all of TotK's runes have extremely versatile use cases and excellent creative synergy. Ultrahand boldly asks: "what if magnesis, but you could control anything AND stick them together". Which is a goldmine of creativity in itself, especially with new Zonai Devices like fans, rockets, flamethrowers etc., but becomes truly bonkers when combined with other runes. To give a very simple example, if you need to climb a sheer cliff, you could build a simple T shape with wooden panels, and ascend through it. Higher still? Raise the structure with Ultrahand first, then use recall once you've ascended. It is truly astounding how flexible the system is, and I've really enjoyed finding 'unintended' solutions to the games shrines.
(The game also removes those dreadful motion control shrines BotW had thank god)
Traversal is also improved, in my view. BotW did a great job of zoning its landmarks such that there is always something to surprise you around a corner. But I often felt a bit limited to how high my stamina bar could carry me. In addition to the runes, TotKs Zonai devices let you easily create off-roaders, wind powered wings, hell you can strap a rocket to your shield and shoot into the sky. Even the game's equivalent of the towers send you soaring into the air. Getting to your destination is much easier, where I don't think I ever even visited Tarrey Town or Lurelin Village in BotW, there isn't a corner of TotK I haven't found myself in. It gives TotK a more expedition feeling where your time is spent less getting to point B and more time exploring caves, the skies, and the depths.
(Incidentally, realising the secrets and connections to the Depths... extremely satisfying)
Dungeon design is improved from the Divine Beasts, though none reach the franchise's peak and there is no real equivalent to BotW's Hyrule Castle. They also benefit from the versatility of the runes and devices. One dungeon I'm pretty sure I didn't complete a single puzzle the way I was supposed to. The bosses are all fun, build upon the dungeon's gimmicks well, and some fairly challenging. One recurring boss I went from dreading to looking forward to.
Fusion has radically changed and improved combat. No longer do you need to stock up on Fire Arrows, you can just stick a fire fruit or red jelly onto a normal arrow. Weapons do still degrade quickly, but you can fuse a monster horn on to increase the power of any old sword. Not only does this again open the game up in terms of versatility, it makes elements of the gameplay more meaningful. I found myself avoiding combat in BotW, because I was saving my good weapons for boss fights. I didn't make much use of elixirs and I didn't see much point in going out of my way to fight Lynels. In TotK, everything is useful yet almost nothing falls into the 'too good to use' trap.
Finally the story is exceptionally well done. It relies heavily on you already knowing and having some investment in the Hyrule and its people of BotW. The game's equivalent of the captured memories are easier to find and lay out breadcrumbs of story which colour events in the present in an interesting way and might even tip you off to some of its twists.
This game is a masterpiece. Simple as really.
The first thing I noted to be an improvement were the selection of rune abilities the game gives you. I found some of BotW's somewhat restrictive or situational. Instead, all of TotK's runes have extremely versatile use cases and excellent creative synergy. Ultrahand boldly asks: "what if magnesis, but you could control anything AND stick them together". Which is a goldmine of creativity in itself, especially with new Zonai Devices like fans, rockets, flamethrowers etc., but becomes truly bonkers when combined with other runes. To give a very simple example, if you need to climb a sheer cliff, you could build a simple T shape with wooden panels, and ascend through it. Higher still? Raise the structure with Ultrahand first, then use recall once you've ascended. It is truly astounding how flexible the system is, and I've really enjoyed finding 'unintended' solutions to the games shrines.
(The game also removes those dreadful motion control shrines BotW had thank god)
Traversal is also improved, in my view. BotW did a great job of zoning its landmarks such that there is always something to surprise you around a corner. But I often felt a bit limited to how high my stamina bar could carry me. In addition to the runes, TotKs Zonai devices let you easily create off-roaders, wind powered wings, hell you can strap a rocket to your shield and shoot into the sky. Even the game's equivalent of the towers send you soaring into the air. Getting to your destination is much easier, where I don't think I ever even visited Tarrey Town or Lurelin Village in BotW, there isn't a corner of TotK I haven't found myself in. It gives TotK a more expedition feeling where your time is spent less getting to point B and more time exploring caves, the skies, and the depths.
(Incidentally, realising the secrets and connections to the Depths... extremely satisfying)
Dungeon design is improved from the Divine Beasts, though none reach the franchise's peak and there is no real equivalent to BotW's Hyrule Castle. They also benefit from the versatility of the runes and devices. One dungeon I'm pretty sure I didn't complete a single puzzle the way I was supposed to. The bosses are all fun, build upon the dungeon's gimmicks well, and some fairly challenging. One recurring boss I went from dreading to looking forward to.
Fusion has radically changed and improved combat. No longer do you need to stock up on Fire Arrows, you can just stick a fire fruit or red jelly onto a normal arrow. Weapons do still degrade quickly, but you can fuse a monster horn on to increase the power of any old sword. Not only does this again open the game up in terms of versatility, it makes elements of the gameplay more meaningful. I found myself avoiding combat in BotW, because I was saving my good weapons for boss fights. I didn't make much use of elixirs and I didn't see much point in going out of my way to fight Lynels. In TotK, everything is useful yet almost nothing falls into the 'too good to use' trap.
Finally the story is exceptionally well done. It relies heavily on you already knowing and having some investment in the Hyrule and its people of BotW. The game's equivalent of the captured memories are easier to find and lay out breadcrumbs of story which colour events in the present in an interesting way and might even tip you off to some of its twists.
This game is a masterpiece. Simple as really.