Earlier this year, the newest Zelda game arrived on Nintendo Switch. It's essentially the first direct sequel in the history of the franchise, following up on the excellent Breath of the Wild. In Tears of the Kingdom, the world layout is largely similar, many of the gameplay systems are the same, and many of the same characters return in the story (complete with memory of the things that happened in the previous game). Indeed, I'm hard-pressed to recall the last time I played an open-world RPG crafted as such a continuation of a previous game... perhaps decades ago, in the run of Ultima IV through Ultimate VII?
Tears of the Kingdom is able to pull off this sequel in spectacular fashion. One reason is, simply put, that Breath of the Wild was one of the most satisfying, engaging games I've ever played. The saturation of quests, the multiple related gameplay systems, the way it would breadcrumb you constantly into new activities, and the bite-sized nature of many of its puzzles (ensuring that nearly every play session would result in some accomplishment) -- it all made for a game that kept me coming back again and again. Simply by offering "more of the things you loved," Tears of the Kingdom starts from a strong place.
But Tears of the Kingdom also takes the "more" to heart in offering "more of the things you loved." A brand-new system allows you craft useful contraptions. The sprawling game world is now supplemented with a complete underworld area to match, a series of floating sky islands to take the game upward, and an enormous number of caves and wells you can explore on little side adventures. Puzzle-style gameplay is no longer as constrained to the shrines of the first game (though there are more of those too, of course, and as clever as ever); now you encounter dozens upon dozens of fun puzzles out wandering the world as well.
I will confess that Tears of the Kingdom didn't set its hooks into me as fast as Breath of the Wild did. There are so many systems at play here that the "tutorial section" that opens the game literally takes hours to play through. And given that much of it is teaching you things you may well remember from Breath of the Wild, it can at times feel a bit constrained. But when the game did ultimately open up, a few hours in, I was enthralled.
Much to my surprise, one of the things that grabbed me this time was the story. Narrative has never been the franchise's strongest suit, partly because each installment always remixes most of the same story beats. But this time around, it felt like a real effort was made to figure out how to give the character of Zelda some agency of her own within the established framework of the "save the princess" story. Her role here is surprising for longtime Legend of Zelda players, and the culmination of the story quite clever. I feel like the final battle of this game is going to stick with me far longer than any of the franchise's predecessors.
For months now, my husband and I have taken turns on our own Tears of the Kingdom campaigns, letting TV shows we usually watch pile up, not reading as much when we go to bed, and generally sacrificing all other leisure activities on the altar of Zelda. Now that I've beaten it, I'm beginning to play less (but not yet stopping; there's so much side content to explore!). I've watched a few movies that had been on the list for a while... I'm generally "coming up for (pop culture) air" again.
But I don't regret any of the time I've spent playing Tears of the Kingdom. Together with Breath of the Wild, it's been about the best "one-two punch" I've experienced playing video games. Another absolute grade-A experience.
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