by John Tillyard, Contributing Writer
The Hylian warrior Link is back to explore the massive Overworld of Hyrule in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, a straight sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild from 2017. The rock climbing, weapon-breaking, and shrine-solving are all back with a new coat of paint, new runes, an entirely new part of the world to explore in the sky, along with new technological devices.
First, I loved the first game and have been a huge Zelda fan most of my life. A Link to the Past was in a group of the first games I ever played, and although it took me three years, it was also the first game I ever beat. Growing up, I never typically had the patience to finish games, but I knew I had to with A Link to the Past. Having now beaten every home console Zelda game there’s been except Zelda II, as well as most of the handheld ones (I hope that doesn’t sound like I’m bragging; most of them are pretty easy), Breath of the Wild is undoubtedly up there as one of my favorites. It is essentially everything I had wanted from a Zelda game for years. The cut scenes stay within their welcome; you are free to explore wherever you want right after the tutorial and it is surprisingly challenging, even in the early game; and it has a refreshing lack of hand-holding.
Well, all those good aspects have been carried over to Tears of the Kingdom, as have some of the more infamous features, such as the weapons breaking and the rain. The difficulty is even more ramped up in this game because the puzzles are far less intuitive than in the first, where the structure of the puzzles, and the way you use the runes, make it very easy to figure out when and how you should use them. There being many metal things around clearly indicated that you needed to use Magnesis, shallow water meant Cryonis… you get the idea. However, the nature of runes in this game means that it is only sometimes visually apparent what you should do. Fuse enables you to combine other objects with your existing weapons, but it sometimes isn’t evident what to fuse, or how it would enhance anything. Ultrahand lets you attach different things and create custom machines using Zonai Devices (more on them later), resulting in a lot of trial and error work when figuring out the best machine design for the situation. The other two primary runes are far more self-explanatory: Ascend enables you to move through any solid platform directly above you, and Recall rewinds time, so it’s a build reset button; it reminded me of the first Life is Strange game.
The combat is also surprisingly cutthroat, even in the game’s early stages. Many enemies you come across in the first hour or so of landing in the Overworld will take you down in a single hit, and they will all take at least two or three critical hits to be defeated. The only natural way to get the upper hand is the wait for the right moment. The Zelda franchise has also centered around playing the long game by farming enough resources and upgrading until you feel ready to face the more significant challenge. You would usually start doing this once you were a few hours into the game, but Breath of the Wild had you thinking about where to find upgrades within an hour of starting, and Tears of the Kingdom is just the same. Once you have finished the tutorial, keep an eye out for shrines.
Speaking of the shrines, they are another welcome returning feature with a very different design. They look like giant boulders that, once unlocked, open a portal to enter the shines. For me, they don’t look as good as the ones in Breath of Wild, which look like shrines. One thing I prefer about them is the swirl of blue and green smoke over the top that disappears once you’ve completed the shrine. It makes it easy to spot the ones you’ve not beaten from a distance, and is a lot better than what they had in the previous game: a beeping sound that started when you were near one. The format of beating four shrines to get your choice of another heart container, or another segment of stamina, is the same, though the first time, you must take a heart container. The shrines are decent enough puzzles, though some need to be longer. Sadly, their internal design is a little bland, and is much the same in them all. The towers that reveal sections of the map when you unlock them are also a welcome return. However, this time you are able to skip the tedious task of climbing to the top to open them. Instead, there’s a small side quest for each of them. It gives them more variety than the previous game, but many side quests are too easy. Another change is the warp point; they are at the bottom of the tower, and if you go inside, the tower propels Link to the top. The first time each tower does this, Link scans the Overworld with his camera, Google Earth style, making for an excellent in-game explanation for why unlocking the tower also reveals part of the map.
Being propelled up also enables Link to access the Sky World, which takes the basic idea introduced in Skyward Sword and utilizes it far more effectively. In Skyward Sword, you have the satisfaction of flying through the air and skydiving down to floating islands, but not much else. Because the area you are flying in is above the clouds, there is little to look at, and most of the locations in the sky are somewhere to find chests or small side quests. In Tears of the Kingdom, you can skydive back down to the main overworld from the sky, and the view is pretty dazzling. You can see almost the whole Overworld from that height. You also do a good amount of main objective-related gameplay in the sky, and it’s just an exciting area to explore. Like Breath of the Wild, the visuals are remarkable, and the Sky World showcases them from a new perspective. Also, like the previous game, some criticism of the graphics needing more realism has been mentioned. The lack of authenticity is not bad; games can still look good without looking realistic. The bright colors have almost an anime look; why would you want it to look real? Don’t we play video games to escape reality? Besides, the Switch isn’t powerful enough for super realistic graphics.
One of the new additions to Tears of the Kingdom is the Zonai Devices. These are Hyrule’s attempts at modern technology; they include fans, rockets, balloons and batteries, the last of which you can utilize to power the rest. Combined with Ultrahand, they open up almost limitless possibilities for what kind of machines or tools you can create. It’s surprisingly engaging in messing around with the different resources you find lying around the overworld, using Ultrahand to merge them with these devices, and then seeing if what you’ve created works. The only problem is you can’t put them back into your inventory after taking them out, so they are one-use items. Still, at least they don’t break!
The cutscenes in the more modern Zelda games have always been the story’s most immersive part. However, one shortcoming has always been the need for more voice acting. The need for a voice to give the emotional impact of a sad, angry or funny line takes away from the experience. So I was excited when they announced Breath of the Wild would have voice acting, and then equally disappointed to discover this voice acting was only in major cut scenes. The sequel, however, has increased the number of scenes with voice acting, making some of the more significant moments in the story far more interesting to watch. The game’s opening cutscene surprised me with its setting and the quite horrific events that take place. Typically, Zelda games have a storybook-style opening. This one, though, throws you into an entire cutscene, and even a bit of gameplay that immediately draws you into the game’s story. Thankfully Link still does not have a voice. Contrary to common belief, Link does talk; but the player doesn’t see the text because we can generally guess what he’s said. In games, they prefer to have the player’s character not talk too much to better engage the player in the idea they are playing as themselves. The scenes without voice acting also have small good emotional moments brought across through a change in music, but it doesn’t feel the same.
In contrast to Nintendo’s other big franchise, Mario, the Zelda series has generally always prided itself on having a compelling storyline. However, this is less apparent in Breath of the Wild, despite the unprecedented use of voice acting, since most of the main story-related content is optional. Tears of the Kingdom makes the storyline more transparent, most obviously in the opening, with better utilization of cutscenes and voice acting, and a more extensive range of characters that have an ongoing presence during Link’s adventure. Still, I’m not too fond of Zelda’s voice access.
In terms of main objective dungeons, like the previous game, there are fewer of them than you would typically expect in a Zelda game. The divine beasts in Breath of the Wild are one of the few things I don’t like about the game; they all look the same, there are not many enemies, and the bosses all look the same. So I was happy to see a much more evident variety in the design of the dungeons and the bosses you fight at the end. Another nice change of pace that gives each dungeon a unique feel is the companions you have with you the whole time. Each has a particular ability that is important in completing the dungeon’s puzzles and defeating the boss. This aspect frustrated me, as the A.I. with these companions is sometimes lacking. You can also do the dungeons in any order, so each playthrough of this game will feel different.
Another aspect carried over from the previous game that some fans might wish hadn’t been is the weapons breaking. I understand the need to balance the game, but they break so frequently, and it feels like it’s even more frequent in Tears of the Kingdom. What should be a very satisfying moment when you find a powerful weapon feels hollow when you remember it will likely be gone after a couple of uses in combat. It’s also a little irritating to be forced to equip new weapons in the middle of combat; the empty hand animation Link does when you try to attack without a weapon is now a permanent part of my subconscious. The rune Fuse gives you a new ability in this game to enhance your weapons by combining them with other items found around the Overworld, or even other weapons, which makes assembling a decent inventory of potent weapons easier. So as long as you are well-prepared before heading into any combat situation, the weapon-breaking shouldn’t be too much of a problem. Also, a minor feature they fixed for this game is that if you open a chest with an item you don’t have room for in your inventory, the game immediately gives you the option to drop another item from your inventory to make room. In Breath of the Wild, the game put the item back in the chest, and the player had to open it a second time after making room.
As an all-around gaming experience, Tears of the Kingdom takes everything that makes its predecessor great and builds on top, with elements from Skyward Sword, Minecraft, and even a few minor details from Majora’s Mask. The Overworld graphics are nothing to write home about, and it isn’t easy to pinpoint anything original about the game that gives it some real life, but if you like being free to explore and experiment with what you can do with a game’s resources, Tears of the Kingdom gives you that in abundance. It’s the sort of game you can stop playing for a bit and then jump right back into due to its relaxed tone. But it’s also one you don’t want to stop playing, because you keep finding new things. Sometimes I like to stop and admire the view. At the time I’m writing this, I don’t think I’m halfway through the game’s main objective, yet I’ve explored enough of what they want you to do. The design is to make you want to do side missions, and upgrade your weapons and items before doing the main objective. The fact that the game can do this without ever feeling like they are forcing your hand is a testament to how mesmerizing the whole experience is. You won’t like this if you prefer games with a more linear path and a clear beginning, middle, and end objective, but it is perfect if you enjoy exploring a world without physical barriers.
Score: 9/10
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