The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom Is An ALL-TIME GREAT GAME!

Well, the Game of the Year debate has just been ended. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has followed its most glorious predecessors with being easily the best game to come out in 2023 so far, along with being one of the best I’ve ever played.

Say what you will about Nintendo, but they simply never fail to disappoint!

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is arguably the best game to ever come out in the legendary Zelda franchise as it features EVERYTHING a gamer could have hoped to dream of, let alone expect, in a title of such magnitude. And, needless to say, it’s the obvious Game of the Year winner already.

How does Nintendo keep doing this? You’d think after 130+ years of being a company (yeah, Nintendo was founded in 1889), 40+ years in the gaming industry, and over 37 years working on the Zelda franchise, Nintendo would have slipped up with at least one Zelda game as the franchise because more “predictable” and “stale” in the minds of consumers as the years go by.

And, with Tears of the Kingdom’s (TOTK) predecessor, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (BOTW), already widely seen as one of the Top-3 (and usually the best) entry into the Zelda series, TOTK would wind up being the game that came up a little short given the familiar setting, characters, and plot. Right?

WRONG!

Despite breaking a tradition of the Zelda series as TOTK continues the story of this version of Link and Zelda, this game feels fresher and more robust than even Breath of the Wild.

As I said, the game is set almost immediately after the events of BOTW with Zelda and Link rebuilding Hyrule to its former glory after the defeat of Clammily Ganon.

However, as one might have expected, things take a sharp turn downhill almost immediately as Link finds himself in his usual position of rescuing Zelda from a “mysterious evil” (I’ll call it that for everyone who hasn’t played the game yet) as Hyrule experiences evil and misfortune once again.

Now, I’m really not doing the story justice with that two-sentence description, but the story and characters truly are fantastic despite the fact the game is a direct sequel.

Nintendo has added brand new enemies, villains, locations with the “mysterious evil” really affecting the world of Hyrule, while most of the BOTW locations have been dramatically changed (but not enough to make them unrecognizable…mostly) to provide a fresher experience for the player.

“So, we’re getting a new story with some new and freshened-up locations on the same exact world map. Sounds interesting,” some of you might be thinking right now. And, while that would be great in its own right, Nintendo has one-upped you in imagination. Actually, they two-upped you as the world map of TOTK is TWICE AS LARGE as the map of BOTW!

I’m not going to spoil how that is even possible given Hyrule is the common factor location between the two games, but just know that this game IS UTTERLY MASSIVE!

Oh, and you can also explore everywhere. Literally.

I don’t want to bog down this review with highly explained, detailed explanations of the brand-new mechanics added into this game as that would get to be a little monotonous and ruin the surprise Nintendo intended users to have, but I’ve got to point out how incredible the build/fusing mechanics mixed with the unlimited exploration is.

Using literally every single competent and item you see in front of you (whether it be logs, shields, pots, acorns, trees, plants, flowers, iron, metals, rocks, you name it, etc.), the possibilities of building rafts, modified shields, powered swords, traps, climbing devices to explore the many caves, crevices, islands, dungeons, etc. and fighting the numerous, creative (though slightly stupid) enemies.

It’s probably the most environmentally immersive and interactive video game I’ve ever played, which is the defining factor that separates this game above the likes of Elden Ring and God of War: Ragnarök.

Now, I’m not saying the story, characters, weapon/armor designs, or even the worldbuilding are better than those two games (as I think Elden Ring and GOWR are better in that respect), but the ability to build, climb, explore, and create whatever you want is unrivaled in the gaming industry.

If I had to say something I think is this game’s biggest weakness, it’s probably either the rather dumb enemy AI or the actual hardware of the Nintendo systems themselves. Nintendo really needs to update the Switch consoles or create brand new ones as I suffered a fair amount of FPS drops, missing texture issues, textures randomly popping in and then popping out, and even a rare crash or two.

This really isn’t a TOTK problem per say, but rather an issue with Nintendo pushing old hardware to the brink of overexertion with one of the most expansive, creative, majestic video games ever made.

Nevertheless, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is an utterly fantastic game that deserves to be played by every gamer at least once (even if you are a gamer that doesn’t like open-world games) for this isn’t a traditional “open-world, fantasy RPG” experience.

It’s a work of art in the video game genre, and it’s getting the incredibly rare 11/10 score from me.

Images Source: Featured Image: (Nintendo) (The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom – Official Trailer #2 – YouTube)

In Text Image 1: (Nintendo) (The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom – Official Trailer #2 – YouTube)

In Text Image 2: (Nintendo) (The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom – Official Trailer #2 – YouTube)

In Text Image 3: (Nintendo) (The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom – Official Trailer #2 – YouTube)