Tears of the Kingdom is the latest game in the acclaimed Legend of Zelda franchise – and has lived up to its hype on more than one occasion.
The sequel to the beloved Breath of the Wild, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has been one of the most awaited video games in recent years. As with any popular video game, Zelda fans have had many different opinions about Tears of the Kingdom, but ultimately, there's no doubt that this game lived up to the hype.
From its references to other Zelda video games, to the massive extension of the map and inclusion of many features that allow players to create any type of gadget, Tears of the Kingdom is an outstanding video game that offers unique playability in this already iconic open-world video game.
With several installments throughout almost 30 years, The Legend of Zelda is one of the most beloved, popular, and prolific video game franchises of all time. Fans of this series love to encounter callbacks to previous Zelda games, and just like Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom didn't disappoint in this area. On top of the usual names of civilizations, locations, and weapons, Tears of the Kingdom also includes some subtle references to previous Zelda games that only hardcore fans would appreciate.
Some new features in the game that reference other Zelda games are the Bomb Flowers, which players surely recognize as they appear in almost every game in the franchise. Additionally, the Gleeoks are a more obscure reference, as they only previously appeared in The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons, and Phantom Hourglass. Additionally, players now can obtain free classic Link outfits.
Breath of the Wild players are by now very familiar with the charming Koroks, playful tree-like creatures that hide throughout the game and gift Links Korok seeds that he can exchange for inventory space with Hestu. In BotW Koroks were mostly hiding in secret spots, but in TotK Link also encounters traveling Koroks that need his assistance to reunite with their friends.
Fans absolutely love this new dynamic, and it has become viral all over the internet. Some people took it as an opportunity to create interesting and creative gadgets whereas others exploited the endless possibilities to either torture the Koroks or put them in funny places. Either way, this feature was definitely a success.
One of the reasons people loved Breath of the Wild so much is that it allowed players to explore the map to their hearts' content. Nintendo clearly understood the appeal of this feature and added two more layers to the already familiar map in Tears of the Kingdom: the Sky Islands and the Depths.
The original Breath of the Wild map was already massive, but with these new additions, players can spend hundreds of hours illuminating the entirety of the Depths and find all kinds of treasures and interesting spots in both the Depths and the Sky Islands.
While Breath of the Wild already offered gamers several classic Link outfits, players had to buy the Amiibos to obtain them. Now, in Tears of the Kingdom players can obtain all these incredible outfits for free on top of several new Link outfits that players can modify to their taste.
The variety of Link's outfits in Tears of the Kingdom is amazing, and many players enjoy outfitting Link with some of his most iconic outfits of the past or the new ones that TotK offers. This is a dynamic feature that not only offers fun customization but also gives players plenty of hours of gameplay as they collect all the outfits and boost their powers.
Another layer of exploration that Tears of the Kingdom added to Breath of the Wild's map is the caves and the wells. Now players will encounter interesting treasures or Bubbulfrogs (which leave Bubbul gems) in these places as well as the very useful Brightbloom seeds.
While the caves aren't particularly aesthetic locations in TotK, they provide hours of discovery around the map since there are 147 caves. What's more, TotK made sure this feature didn't become tedious, partially by adding the Ascend abilities that save time when exiting.
Players greatly appreciated the return of the traditional temples that have been constant features in previous Legend of Zelda games. These temples corrected one of the few mistakes in Breath of the Wild: the Divine Beasts, a diversion from the classic temples that many Zelda fans did not enjoy.
The temples in Tears of the Kingdom resemble more conventional dungeons in structure and their designs are absolutely wonderful. On top of that, each great civilization from Hyrule has its own temple and Link has to venture through these dungeons to defeat a powerful monster causing problems for the city. So, not only are the temples themselves outstanding, but the side quests leading to them allow for more dynamic interaction and add to the overall story.
Something that truly makes Tears of the Kingdom an exceptional game is its playability. Players can use Ultrahand to create interesting gadgets with the Zonai devices and other pieces of material. Furthermore, the Fuse ability offers players the possibility of creating their own weapons. What's more, a lot of materials give weapons new and exciting features.
These features have given players the opportunity to create their own unique machinery and spend hours of gameplay finding new ways to defeat monsters, move around the map, and simply create funny inventions. A lot of these creations have even become viral memes around the internet.
Many Zelda fans find it more enjoyable to do side quests than to focus on the main story, and for them, Tears of the Kingdom is the perfect game. While Breath of the Wild included a fair amount of side quests, TotK includes almost double the amount seen in its predecessor.
Furthermore, the side quests of Tears of the Kingdom are extremely fun. Most of the time they provide interesting insight into towns or characters. What's more, the game also includes side adventures, which are complex side quests that last throughout many stages.
Tears of the Kingdom added many scary, challenging, and exciting monsters. Gleeok, for example, is a three-headed dragon that first appeared in the original The Legend of Zelda. These monsters aren't just incredibly epic, but also very hard to defeat.
Additionally, TotK added the terrifying Gloom Hands, the Phantom Ganon, and many other Gloom creatures throughout the Depths. While they become easier to defeat as Link becomes stronger, the first encounters with these creatures had players running for their lives.
The Tears of the Kingdom plot centers around the Zonai, an advanced and ancient civilization led by King Rauru. In the Depths and the Sky Islands, Link encounters a variety of useful devices and materials that allow players to create airplanes, cars, weapons, and all sorts of interesting machines.
These devices add another exciting layer to an already amazing game. The fact that players can now fly around the map or kill monsters in all sorts of creative ways (especially using the beloved beam emitters) makes Tears of the Kingdom one of the most mind-blowing video games of 2023.