The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

It's actually crazy that this game was even made. Quite possibly the greatest open world game ever made. It has some flaws for sure, but it has so many positives that i honestly don't care about the flaws. The world is absolutely filled with a bunch of stuff to do, to the point where it took me 50 hours just to get to the first dungeon because i kept getting distracted. They also casually just threw in an amazingly complex building system in to this, which instantly elevates this game to one of the greatest sandboxes ever made. The fact that they took a game that was already a masterpiece and just made it so much better in every way is so amazing. And from a technical standpoint it's insane how this game was even made, they fit 2 and a half big maps (with one of them arguably being the best open world map in gaming history), around 50,000 possible fusion combinations which i didn't even mention in this review, an amazingly complex building system into a game already known for its amazing physics that's well made and implemented, and the player the ability of pure freedom to almost break the game by having a million different ways to do things, into a 16.3 gb small cartridge for a very not powerful console from 2017 is just insanely impressive and impactful for the gaming industry. In my opinion, this is by far the greatest open world game of all time.

(I'll update my review as I play through the game). I love the sandbox elements of the game and the new abilities that Link has access to. They are much better than what we had in Botw because they interact and are integrated with world in a much more engaging and interesting way. I also love the new enemy variety and bosses. It is much more similar to what we would expect from a Zelda game. However, the dungeons are still not what I want from a Zelda game. And the game in general doesn't really feel like what I've grown to associate with Zelda. I know many people dislike linear games but I think a linear experience doesn't run the risk of ruining the experience for players who do things the "wrong" way. Additionally, the story and progression can be more potent and fun. I firmly believe that a linear experience is a more consistently powerful than an open world experience. I love the freedom but eventually since the story only ends when you want it to, by the time you finish the game it will have lost its appeal whereas a linear experience gets to end the game with a bang. My biggest issue though is still the dungeons. In older Zelda games you would slowly unlock parts of the dungeon making the whole process satisfying as you would go through the dungeon one door at a time. Then halfway through you would get a key item as a reward for a mini boss and would be forced to use the item as a sort of tutorial. As you went through the second half of the dungeon you would become more and more comfortable with the item and finally, as one last challenge you would be tested on your knowledge of the new item and the dungeon as a whole. It was a satisfying experience that left me hungry for more and excited for the next dungeon. That just isn't the case here. There's never the wonder of "what item am I getting here?" or "what cool puzzles will be featured?" It's just a slog to do dungeons. I love the game but I honestly wish that the dungeons were more linear. However, they are significantly better than Botw dungeons and are actually fun so that is a big step up. Additionally, and I don't know if I'm the only one who's noticed this, but the game looks noticeably better than Botw which was a high standard. The enemy variety is very refreshing after the repetitive enemies of Botw. The new bosses are also very appreciated. I remember heading into the depths and then getting jump scared by a giant Obsidian Frox that freaked me out. In general the exploration has gone up from a 9.5/10 in Botw to a very easy 11. Now every corner of the world is not just filled with things to find but meaningful and exciting things. I recently found the torse to the Twilight Princess set and let out an audible squeal of joy and excitement. Overall, I won't give the game a ten until I've finished it but it's getting there.

Tears of the Kingdom had to live up to the impossible expectations of being a sequel to one of the best games of all time. What is even more impossible is that it not only lived up to those expectations, it blew past them in every possible way.

My personal worry while waiting for this game was that it would be good, but it wouldn't capture the same magic of exploration that Breath of the Wild did. The game soon proved me wrong with it's sheer size and vastly changed Hyrule. The game world has been changed to a point where it's near unrecognizable apart from the huge landmarks, and the added layers of verticality expand upon the world to be more than double the size.

I was immediately lost and overwhelmed by the sheer amount of stuff to do and explore, see how my favorite locations have changed etc. But in an absolutely good way. Really, the amount of times I was distracted from what I was doing only shows how magical exploring Hyrule again was.

The new abilities and mechanics are a joy to toy around with, and the physics engine is so in depth that the possibilities given to the player are almost truly limitless. There are countless ways to solve puzzles, and probably as many for straight up skipping them. The vehicle building was an unexpected but definitely welcome addition and I had way too much fun designing the worst and most cursed ways of traversal.

It is amazing how good the game looks even with the limitations of the Switch. The art direction is absolutely gorgeous and I would often stop and just enjoy the view, accompanied by the immaculate sound design. The atmosphere is so good that I enjoyed even just walking through the environment.

That being said there are also moments where the Switch doesn't pull through in the form of janky textures, very noticeable pop-in, and occasional frame drops. Even then the game was too good for these problems to hinder my overall experience.

The story is a simple but functional Zelda story so it is nothing amazing, but the high points and climaxes still hit extremely hard. Especially the finale was exceptionally good, one of the best videogame finales out there.

Everything I hoped for and more, a true masterpiece.

I have spent over 120 hours playing this spectacular game. At first, I thought it was a bit overwhelming, but as I made my way through the map and unlocked this new world, I realized it was much more than just a simple DLC. It offers new stories, characters, and adventures. Don't pay attention to those people who say it's just a new DLC; for me, it's something new while still appreciating all the good things from the previous game! The gameplay mechanics are very different, which can make it seem complicated, but after playing it, you will once again immerse yourself in a fantasy world that only Nintendo can achieve!

Excellent game!

My title holds some weight, I know.

Calling a game the "best game of all time" will always be subjective, but to call this game anything but a piece of art is criminal. I've seen a few reviews here that rate 6 and below, and I don't think I've agreed with almost anything they've said. Sure there are some minor story and performance issues, but neither effected me too much in my experience, not to mention the performance issues being a byproduct of this masterpiece being a switch title. And even then, if you have a good enough PC, just pick up a physical copy of TOTK and then play it on your PC, they deserve the money for this title.

This game is not only the sequel to what many considered one of the best games ever made, it is BETTER in every aspect. To call BOTW a better experience is near blasphemy on gaming, don't get me wrong, I love BOTW's setting and story elements as much as the next person, but this game expands on everything BOTW had and MORE, a better setting, a better more fleshed out story, quite literally everything is better.

Unique Mechanics, an Improved world from the previous game, a good story, an amazing score, incredible art direction, good combat, MANY enemies to fight, adding basically an entire maps worth of new area to explore, DUNGEONS ( I continue to hear "these aren't dungeons!" from people, but they are Dungeons. This is just like when people said BOTW wasn't a Zelda game back in 2017. ) and so much more I can't even list off the top of my head as I just did the aforementioned features.

Calling this game DLC shows that you fail to understand what a sequel is. I didn't see people crying over how God of War Ragnarok's map was reused, but because it's Nintendo, it's instantly bad. I'm not trying to defend Nintendo, as they do happen to produce half baked spin-offs quite often, but that's a topic for another review.

This game captivated me like no other, BOTW was a magical experience, and this game caught that feeling into an intricately wrapped gift and gave me the exact same feeling, but a new and fresh experience. I may as well treat this game's existence like the second coming of christ, because dear god have I never loved a game more.

I currently have 100 hours on the game, which may not seem like much at the moment, but I'm not even nearing the completion any time soon.

Tears of the Kingdom is truly something out of this world, and I don't think the gaming landscape is going to see anything like it until the next Zelda game releases, which I have high hopes for.