Over the past week the only thing that has been on my mind is Nintendo’s newest modern marvel. In the days leading up to Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’s release- my anticipation was at a peak. Very few pieces of media nowadays get me excited. As depressing as that may sound, I find it best to see what exists then check it out later and form opinions afterwards. Not with Tears of the Kingdom though.
In Nolen years, the time between Breath of the Wild and Tears was way too long. I was going to be at that midnight release. Surely enough, I was and luckily it was nowhere near a waste of time.
There is no way I will be able to fully complete the game or the majority of the rest of the game for a few years. Until then- here is a very brief review off my experience, so far, with Tears of the Kingdom. I am currently not far enough into the game to really spoil anything, but I would still recommend proceeding with some caution if you are playing.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Thoughts of the Fool
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is one of my favorite video games of all time. The world is huge, the story is fun, long, exciting, and the gameplay is smooth. “There is no way Nintendo could top themselves in this franchise,” I say to myself stupidly. After the release of the first trailer, I immediately ate those words.
A few months, a couple weeks, and some days later Tears of the Kingdom is in my possession. Not a moment has passed that this game has not occupied every facet of my brain.
Overwhelming the Gamer
Tears of the Kingdom is so jam packed with stuff, things, and objects that I sometimes get sensory overload. This can easily be controlled, but it is more fun to see every single possible thing that could be done and ignore it all to cook a steak again.
Part of what is so appealing to me about this game is the seemingly endless amounts of quests to do and crevices to explore. Whether I will get to accomplish any of it in two hours or two years, the fact that it all exists feels incredible.
Link on a glider in the 2023 Nintendo video game The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Image provided courtesy of Nintendo.
Survival of the Masses
This version of Hyrule feels very lived in. My roommates and I were talking about the differences in the worlds between this game and the previous. We conceded that what really separates the two worlds is the status of the villagers. Breath of the Wild was an oppressed world whereas Tears of the Kingdom is a thriving world of survivors and adapters.
In my experience, sequel games try to make everything bigger and more action packed. Without a doubt, Tears of the Kingdom does that, but puts the world at the forefront of everything. To me that is an invaluable part of what makes story expansion work. How can I care about the protagonist doing the things they need to do in this world if the world sucks?
So far, so good. Even though this game has been a way scarier experience, the side quests and even the main quests are a lot of fun. The charm of the stables, the silliness of the Korok collectibles, and the separateness of the Yiga Clan encounters are all still here and super fun. This is a pretty good segue into the gameplay itself.
Hestu the magic Korok in the 2023 Nintendo video game The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Image provided courtesy of Nintendo.
Tears of the Kingdom
The gameplay is still as smooth as the previous game. Thank God. Since there are three layers to this world, flying and stamina are as crucial as ever. So far about a quarter of my time playing the game has predominantly been flying, gliding, or falling from the sky. It rules. I’m a big fan of free falling in games and that is basically all this game is.
Aside from being Tom Petty and free falling, Tears has an interesting story. Gannondorf is here, and he is scary as hell. The biggest of the baddies in all of video game history is back and badder than ever. The Demon King is here to destroy everything that Link, and the player, knows and loves. It will take me some time to get to Gannon, but until I do- everything he has built in order to destroy me is terrifying.
Bokoblins are funny little henchmen, but with some upgraded horns, upsized versions, and evil monkey updates- they are slightly more scary. The monkey ones hilariously bounce on their butts when you knock them off the ceiling, but that’s besides the point. Despite everything being mostly different from Breath of the Wild, the enemies are just as creative and tricky to deal with.
Creativity of the Player
Speaking of creativity- this game is bonkers with the things it makes you use your imagination for. Something as simple as walking up a hill can have a minimum of thirty different methods. Too low on stamina to climb up? Make a fire and create an updraft to fly up. Already up high? Drop out of the sky from a sky island. In a cave system below where you want to be? Use ‘Ascension’ to just go up through the ground. There are so many options that I can’t even think of a fraction of the things to do.
Link free falling to a sky island in the 2023 Nintendo video game The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Image provided courtesy of Nintendo.
The ‘Ultrahand’ ability is crazy to me. You can attach two things together to make some bastard creation that gets you wherever you need to go. Never in a million years would I think I would be able to attach a flight pad to a rocket with a spring pad underneath and two fans on the back for extra support. It’s absolute mania. Honestly, that is a pathetic example of what you can create. My imagination is so limited with construction that I could not tell you what else could be done but the opportunities seem infinite.
Tears After The Journey
Tears of the Kingdom has only been out for a week, and I don’t think anyone has scratched the surface of what this game offers. There is so much to address that I don’t have the time or dedication to list every single entity I have encountered. Expectations are not something I ever want to set for the media I will consume. Every now and then, I can’t help it and expectations were definitely set for Tears of the Kingdom. So far, they have been completely obliterated.
