The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

9.5/10 – approx 130 hours

1/2026 Addendum:

This is undoubtedly a solid game, but time has not treated it that well in its long-term impact. A lot of what I remember is disappointment in how safe this game played it in some aspects, such as the progression of story and its visual design. Those might be basic criticisms, but there could have been more opportunity to make this game feel more distinct than Breath of the Wild in more ways than new mechanics. More enemies, storytelling that takes place in the present, more transformation in the world, more reason to use building. Plus I think it’s just plain truth that the new Champion abilities are flat downgrades outside of Tulin’s gust.

Review as written on 7/8/23

“THE LEGEND OF ZELDA. It’s a series so huge, you can’t help but say it all ‘wooooo’”

TLDR: This truly is a strong title, tending to annoyances from BOTW while quadrupling down on its triumphs, creating an enormously solid title and an unforgettable experience. Breath of the Wild was a landmark title (and one of my all time favs), and TOTK manages to make it look like a mere tech demo. That is sheer genius.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is one of the most important games to me. It made me fall in love with Zelda and open worlds, and opened my eyes to the beauty of thoughtful game design. From the exploration to the subtle storytelling through music and level design, the game was mind blowing. It had many gameplay flaws, but it was still such a fun game to revisit, and the announcement of a sequel in 2019 was unfathomable. A direct sequel? How could they possibly add onto this? If they fix the issues, what else is left to do?

Hoo boy.

Well, you know the drill: big game equals many MANY thoughts, so I will once again polish my turds and group my brain dump into categories.

Thought dump:

Improvements – BOTW’s exploration felt worthwhile, yet there was a nagging feeling that there could have been more to discover. A big letdown for many was the lack of any cave spelunking, and their prayers were finally added with caves and wells, now adding so much depth (wow) to the world and its exploration. Extremely happy about these.

Shrines are more numerous and more fun, they use physics in some of the most genius ways possible (mostly with how they even managed to get them working). Combat shrines are less annoying, though ones that teach basic skills are annoying for experienced players.
Bosses like Colgera and Ganondorf are a huge step up from 5 ganons in a row in BOTW. Even the less fun bosses are still cool callbacks, it’s nice to fight Gibdos and Gohma again
There now exists a way to limit the effects of slip during rain, thank Hylia. It’s limited, as you’ll still slip after a while or by jumping, but this new buff is most welcome.

Brand new – The Great Sky Island was a really fun starting area. The magic of being thrown into the deep end from the start has already been used with BOTW,but it still felt fresh here. For new and experienced players, you have no idea where you are and why, and you slowly learn the basics of the new mechanics present. It was a lot of fun and i’m already nostalgic about it.

Geoglyphs are really cool, more fun than memories, though the story is a bit porous, plus without a guide you’ll probably watch them out of order. I really enjoyed some of these cutscenes though. Especially since the player is a lot more involved in the events, as Zelda is sent to the past and even interacts with you when restoring the Master Sword. Zelda’s “draconification” left me speechless too (until the ending predictably reverses it)
New runes are incredibly fun. Initially I missed the remote bombs and stasis from the old game, but these new runes are incredibly intuitive and useful as you master them.
- Fuse immensely catalyzes the on-the-fly weapon switching of BOTW by fusing weapons with idle items, and intrinsic buffs can stack with certain weapons
- Recall is BUSTED, allowing you to rewind an object through time, including any path you set it on yourself. Anything can become a platform, and leads to many opportunities for cheese. It’s also fun to rewind enemy projectiles, or an object that you dropped on accident.
- Ultrahand is useful on its own and functions well, but the hidden Autobuild is amazing. All your previous builds are remembered for you, and you can bookmark them on top of finding blueprints throughout the world. This wonderfully incentivizes creativity and experimentation.
- Ascend is a lifesaver, literally built to make your life easy. Swim through any flat surface, including giant enemies.

– New armor is cool, inclusion of some of past game’s dlc content is nice. Glide armor especially is fun

– Quests feel a lot more fleshed out. Many essential parts of the game (some runes, great fairy fountains, travel medallions) are hidden behind these, making them feel worthwhile. Some optional ones like the Mattison quest feel nice and contextualize the world nicely, others continue from BOTW.

– Though limited, the sky is fun to explore. It’s mostly designed around quick stops, but there are many clever puzzles and interesting islands to discover. The depths are fantastic, with the darkness adding a new approach to how the player explores, where shooting a brightbloom seed reveals an unpredictable landscape. Wonderfully thought provoking, and the parallels to the overworld incentivize exploration further. The world’s genius comes into play with the flow that exists between layers, with quests requiring you to explore connected locations through all three layers to solve puzzles (labyrinths, entering Korok Forest, 4 eyed Bargainer statue), it feels so worthwhile and smart.

– Traditional Dungeons make a grand return and are very welcome. They take the terminal activation trope from BOTW and mix the traditional dungeon layouts and puzzles with free exploration. Spirit, Lightning, and Fire temples were the highlights of this, all were very clever and fun. Hyrule castle was nerfed a little, and Water and Wind were a bit too easy.

– Champion abilities are slightly different, allowing you to summon an avatar of characters to fight with you, and toggling their abilities via interacting with them. It’s a little clunky, but each ability has cool uses. I still feel the BOTW abilities were better implemented. Mineru’s especially was underwhelming, that mech is clunky.

– Funny Korok torture – the korok transport puzzles are fun little additions along with new and existing korok puzzles.

– to keep it brief, the final sequence is SUPER COOL! Puts BOTW to shame, which doesn’t take much, but they have learned from their mistakes.

Not so good – some zonai devices like gliders shouldn’t have durability. I get they wanted to add some thought into traversing the air but it’s just annoying.

Targeting system is still a little annoying, though honestly nobody in the industry has figured that out. It’s still too easy for it to get overwhelmed, and that can cost precious time during combat
Why do I have to fuse an item for every arrow I shoot? Why can’t I toggle on fusion for more fluid combat?
Fusion also adds a bit of menu-ing mid combat which can be irritating. There’s quick sorting that helps 9/10 but other times it’s clunky.
Why do I have to press a button to pick up rupees now? That adds absolutely nothing.
Some of the returning music, though still wonderful, could have been remixed, like how the Lucky Clover Gazette theme is a reimagining of the stable theme. Also where’s Kass? 🙁
We’re just not gonna talk about how all the Sheikah tech from BOTW is gone? Divine beasts, towers, shrines all just disappear without anyone mentioning it?
Completing the memories prior to the story makes the latter feel a bit frustrating to sit through, as you have to wait until much later until the characters acknowledge what happened to Zelda
there could have been a quicker way to toggle the champion abilities. said abilities have their uses but feel very clunky, less natural than botw. and i hate that they’re mapped to A
There can be severe frame drops, especially within grassy areas, or skydiving straight from the sky to the depths
Champion abilities are a bit of a let down, toggling and calling them could have been on another button

Above all, I wish the formula changed a little more. Forget the shared animations and sound, the gameplay feels a bit too similar, but now with more epic abilities. You still wander around finding shrines, learn the plot through flashbacks scattered throughout the world, and activate terminals in a dungeon to unlock a champion ability. You still slip down rainy surfaces, now less often. They did so much to blow BOTW out of the water, and even with all the amazing work the team has done, there could have been a little extra push to make the game truly feel special and distinct.