The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Review
"Creative Hand"
Campaign
Following the incredibly successful Breath of the Wild, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is a direct sequel to that adventure. It begins with an epic cinematic moment where the power couple Zelda and Link are exploring an increasingly toxic depths below the castle of Hyrule.
In a shocking turn of events Link is left with nothing and has to battle his way back into the shape of a powerful swordsman. It’s an interesting setup, and one that makes perfect sense in establishing a new scenario to engage with.
At the same time, you also don’t feel as though you’re back to the starting point from Breath of the Wild as you have more advanced mechanics to take advantage of in this adventure. I will note that the tutorial island in this one is a bit rough, but once you’re out into the regular open world it feels just as expansive and or exciting as the previous entry was.
It’s also insanely lengthy in terms of story delivery. I definitely had some frustrations in playing in terms of how difficult it can be; but this was genuinely a lengthy, well crafted time. It’ll take you at least forty-hours to go through and that is wild considering it really is maxing out the Nintendo Switch.
If this is the type of game you enjoy, it’ll feel like an expansive experience that just goes on. There will of course be ever so many surprises along the way as you tackle the various dungeons as you see fit, or solve the riddles as your hand isn’t held.
You’ll take on shocking monstrosities and battle many enemies on your way to solve the trials that are awaiting you on a path to deal with an ultimate conflict and to find Zelda. There is so much discovery to take part in as you collect items to help out others for side missions or even just figure out basic goals to find out a new way to solve a problem that comes along.
You can go forth adventuring on an actual quest or just take in the scenery to interact with what’s available. That includes Shrines which are smaller puzzles which grant a special source of light to improve one’s self or also stables where you might gather horses to use for traversal.
There are towers to unlock, people to help and strange caves to dive into. The overall world really is stuffed with things to take part in, and there may also be some smaller places if you look upwards to find yourself venturing into.
Gameplay
In following up with my previous note, Tears of the Kingdom certainly maxes out the Nintendo Switch. Or, it seems Breath of the Wild might have many years prior since this one is strikingly similar from a visual perspective. They have of course completely altered the overall world and revamped what it has to offer but visually it’s very similar.
You’ve got a dynamic 900p resolution at 30fps when docked and it rarely does hit that performance level. The world does feel lovely with its dynamic styling, but it certainly feels held back by hardware. I really would love to see this game shine on a future console as the performance can get extremely rough in most combative scenarios.
This does make it a tad harder to play in a situation where everything seems to instakill you no matter what you’ve got going on gear or heart wise. It does make me question the whole health system since the cooking elements are incredibly rich, so just be prepared for a very difficult situation throughout your play. You can of course counter this with a bit of creativity as many combative elements return from using arrows to being creative with the environment.
A main element of this offering is building where you’re able to create things like boats to get across water or even cars. If you’re creative as a person there’s a lot to do, if you’re not good at that your contraptions might be rather rough like mine were most of the time. It is really interesting from a physics perspective in how the crafting is handled.
As outside of throwing objects or say weapons together, the world is quite reactive. It can be lit on fire, things get damp and tree logs can smack into things. It makes everything feel lively, although for some the challenge of environmental movement may at times be somewhat tedious I suppose. As while physics are helpful, they can also be a challenge for how you traverse.
The world itself has a tad less in terms of enemy awareness, but that also made exploring easier going as giant monsters weren’t a constant. Your weapons will break like they did prior which is still annoying, but at least a certain powerful sword seems a tad stronger which was pleasant to use in combat.
The Conclusion
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is expansive, lengthy and filled with creative challenges for those that want to use the environment to their advantage. It’s certainly held back by hardware constraints and at times can be tedious to go through. It’s damn impressive in terms of how long the game is from a story perspective and just what’s done along that journey.
I may have some found segments intensive, trialing and generally difficult but I was blown away by just how much went on along my journey to the end. I conquered Shrines, temples and other surprises along the way. I made terrible looking boats and cars.
I went through dozens of makeshift weapons and I explored a lovely environment that was boosted by stunning musical infusion. The soundtrack of this game seriously delivers. I enjoyed the growth in cinematic story moments and really did like the connections between Link and Zelda.
It takes time to get going from a narrative stand point, but once you’re out in the open world there’s lots to see. There are many things to do and ever so many challenges to take part in. If you loved Breath of the Wild this will be a similar, but expansive change-up that keeps the style of play fresh across a new adventure.
Read our Breath of the Wild Review
View our The Legend of Zelda Hub
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Review on Nintendo Switch
Review Code Provided by Nintendo
Rating Overall: 9.0
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