Tears of the Kingdom begins after an unknown amount of time after Breath of the Wild’s true end. Link and Zelda are exploring underneath Hyrule Castle when they come across the great demon king’s withered corpse. In an instant the king returns to life, Link loses his arm, and Zelda is sent away. The game does bring on the darkness, and a darker entry like Majora’s Mask.
Waking up, Link finds that he now has a new arm and a slew of new powers as Rauru, a Zonai, becomes his guide, and he has a lot to say. He existed in the past and helped Zelda through her time there. And from this start, the game slowly opens up, as Link once again must clear the opening area.
Like the Great Plateau, the Sky Temple is a great starting point as it doles out Link’s abilities in just the right amount of time. The new abilities change things up and allow for so much customization it’s daunting at first. At the same time though, it’s quite impressive the lengths to which they worked to make this game better.
Ultrahand for example, offers Link the ability to connect anything to anything. Simply activate the ability and Link can connect logs together to make a raft or any number of crazy contraptions. It’s incredible to simply watch people play the game to see what they made.
Ultrahand completely changes the game and allows for even more fun and is an example of how Tears of the Kingdom shows off the truly magical power of Nintendo, where fun is the name of the game. This game could be played by a multitude of people and they can each bring their imagination to it. It shows us that Nintendo is still ready to break the mold and that is a good thing.
Breaking weapons was a major feature of gameplay in Breath of the Wild, but Tears of the Kingdom aims to mitigate that by offering up the ability to fuse. Players can fuse their weapons together to increase their durability and damage. It’s a pretty incredible addition because it allows players to keep their weapons for a little while longer.
Fuse also offers up other helpful things, such as players being able to fuse things to their shield to gain powerful effects. Simply fuse a puffstool, for instance, to the shield to create a cloud of smoke. The effects vary per fusion, but bomb arrows are back and they are great for wiping out enemies. It’s so simple, but Fuse just works.
Ascend is another wild power, that allows Link to reach places he’d normally have to climb to. Simply activate the power and shoot through the top of the cave. It makes rainy days less daunting, and the fact that it started out as a debug tool is wild to think about. It’s a great power and makes travel that much quicker.
But besides the gameplay, Tears of the Kingdom’s story opens up in a great way, with Link revisiting the Zora, Goron, Rito, and Gerudo. Each of the tribes has a sage that is important to the game, though this time luckily they aren’t dead, and Link can see them again. The tribes are each affected once again by some trouble and Link must head to the four dungeons to figure out what is wrong, with the new champions following Link to the dungeon and using their abilities to help Link on the way. Tulin for instance can send Link forward on with wind, and Riju can unleash a powerful blast of electricity.
The dungeons can be taken on in any order, but some might be harder, at least at first. It’s simply based on the amount of heart, weapons, and strategies the player uses. The dungeons might not be perfect here but they are more interesting than the divine beasts in Breath of the Wild at some points.
What is amazing is the boss fights in this game, as they fit the new champions well and show off their skills. It’s always cool to see what kind of fights the series will bring out, and Tears doesn’t disappoint. I think I did enjoy every single boss fight, and in some games in the series, I’ve definitely had issues with some of the bosses.
It is also awesome that the characters are once again at the forefront, and seeing characters from the last game is great. Though some of the characters seem to forget Link, which is a weird story choice as this is a direct sequel. Some of the characters of course change too, as the kids are often depicted as older and couples may have new kids. Purah is now depicted as she was in Age of Calamity, which is a nice touch, as in the last game she was depicted as a child. I appreciate the continuity push, but the characters should have never forgotten Link.
Traversal in Tears of the Kingdom is also improved. In Breath of the Wild, the player would ride horses, and while the horses return, the Ultrahand changes things up. Players can craft vehicles to get around the vast map. They can use all sorts of components to build the rides they imagine, and again, creativity is a big part of this game and can change how players achieve their goals.
The player must also complete Zonai shrines, these trials force Link to use the abilities he’s gained. Many require a vehicle, and some are quite challenging. It’s always interesting to see what is required here and to find a meaningful way to complete each challenge.
Dotted around the map are gacha machines, where players can purchase an assortment of parts. It’s an effective use of Zonai charges and once the player knows where to go they can always obtain the parts they need. Players can obtain as many parts as they want if they have the charges, and creatives might really want to have a lot of them.
Link can effectively fly over the map, which is incredibly useful when there’s lava or in the Depths. Again it’s a wonderfully creative idea and leads to many different styles of play. I always find creativity to be a boon to any game, but Tears uses it exquisitely.
The Koroks are also back for the game and with 900 to find it’s once again time to explore. I think having Koroks to find could be a little tedious to some, but it’s an important part of this world and gives players even more content. They have become an expected part of the games and it will be weird if a future game lacks them.
The music in this game is great and has some of the best songs I’ve heard in the series. These include some amazing callbacks to older boss themes and other songs and it is a magical thing when games become so powerful that music returns and Zelda is no stranger to that. The voice acting is also quite good and I enjoy that Nintendo has decided to include voice acting because it shows growth. After all, if you have a cinematic moment and can have voice acting it can add to the game and Somersett’s Zelda is a perfect reason for that, as her Zelda voice is pretty iconic now.
Tears of the Kingdom is a fantastic game. Even without DLC, it offers infinite fun, for anyone. It’s a game that can be played in a multitude of ways and could be explored for hours. Like BOTW, I expect it to be played for years to come, and that people will always discover new things. Ganondorf is back, will the player help Link take him down?
Disclaimer: A review key was provided
