Well, it was certainly a massive undertaking, but I’ve finally completed Tears of the Kingdom. Or, rather, I’ve beaten enough to be satisfied, and now I’m hopping off of this crazy ride.
And that’s sort of the thing, isn’t it? There’s almost too much to do in Tears of the Kingdom, that in order to stop yourself from going crazy, you inevitably just have to throw in the towel and decide when you’ve played enough. Yes, I know people have already 100% completed the game, but it took them over 200 hours to do so, and I don’t have that kind of time or dedication lying around! If you want to go out and find all 1000 Korok Seeds, be my guest!
But, I’m getting ahead of myself. Completionist nightmares aside, how is the game?
Pretty great, actually, which is somewhat surprising coming from someone who truly didn’t like Breath of the Wild all that much.
In fact, Tears of the Kingdom fixes so many of the issues from Breath of the Wild that I’m almost tempted to recommend it to people who might’ve had the same misgivings with the first installment as I did. The combat is expanded through the use of new powers and fancy Zonai devices (you can construct giant tanks and destructive mechas, for crying out loud), there’s significantly more varied landscapes to explore (like sky islands and the haunting Depths), and the storyline is an improvement in terms of characterization, scale and stakes, and length.
Most of all, the biggest praise that I can give Tears of the Kingdom is that it’s just plain fun to play, and quite addicting too. There truly feels as if there’s something magical to uncover around every corner, and that there’s always something different to do if you’re bored of what you’re currently committing to.
You can explore dark forests, distant sky islands, and underground labyrinths. You can hunt animals, grow crops, snatch bugs out of the air, and forage for cooking ingredients. You can track down and upgrade new armorsets. You can complete well over 100 side quests, many of which being surprisingly involved. You can fight foes head-on, or stealthily dismantle enemy fortresses with sneaky strikes. You can pursue the main dungeons and champion storylines, or solve the hidden mysteries of the Zonai across all four massive regions of Hyrule.
I often found myself heading in one direction, only to get distracted by something interesting that pulled me off the road, which then inevitably lead to another discover, and then the realization that three hours had passed and I was on the complete opposite end of the map from where I said I wanted to go. It’s an incredibly fun and addicting game, for sure!
And yet, it still isn’t the direction I want the Zelda series to go in, and I’m saddened by the confirmation by the developers that this is the new model to follow for the series.
Whenever I think of Zelda, I will always and forever think of incredible but relatively contained (20-30 hours) single-player adventures that beautifully meld story and exploration into one unforgettable journey. Games like Twilight Princess, Skyward Sword, and Wind Waker will forever be the pinnacle of Zelda to me, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. Being an addicting and expansive open-world game is one thing. Being a genuinely fantastically made game is another.
Even with the improvements, combat is still wonky, repetitive, and frequently boring. The story is hardly an improvement over Breath of the Wild, and the fact that you can discover the cutscenes in any order absolutely butchers the emotional weight and surprise twists of many scenes. Ganondorf is barely in the game despite being the big baddie, and the final boss (the last phase specifically) is another letdown. Weapon durability is still a useless system that adds nothing, even if its marginally improved since the original.
Once you reach the halfway point of the game, the rewards from further exploration begin to diminish, sharply reducing your desire to keep playing beyond the main story. The obtuseness of certain quests and secrets is draining to figure out without a guide. The tutorial (while mechanically amazing) is a bit too long for repeated playthroughs and speedrunning. The music is solid, but not astounding apart from a few tracks. A plethora of repeated content from Breath of the Wild (yes, I know it’s the same world) is still a bit eye-raising.
Look, I’m not a lunatic. Tears of the Kingdom is obviously a mechanical masterpiece and a great game alongside that. It just isn’t the Zelda cup of tea I’d like to be drinking, even if it is filling enough to keep me happy for now.
7.5/10
The Contrarian Corner 