There’s one thing magical in regards to the first time you dive from the Sky to the Floor in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. That one second looks like an entire distillation of what made Breath of the Wild really feel so particular to so many – the liberty, the fun, and the scope are all captured completely as you careen to the floor of Hyrule. You’ll be able to see simply how huge the world is even earlier than you land, reminding you of simply how huge the earlier recreation was.
In some way, Tears of the Kingdom does the not possible and makes Breath of the Wild really feel like a proof of idea; it takes every part its predecessor does, improves upon each single side, and provides you much more freedom, an excellent larger world, and tons extra secrets and techniques to uncover. It’s frankly staggering and makes for a fully unbelievable expertise.
Tears of the Kingdom is a sequel to Breath of the Wild in each sense of the phrase. The core of the sport hasn’t modified. The fight is basically the identical, the Floor map is (at first look) equivalent, and even the construction begins off the identical. However although Hyrule might sound acquainted at first, as you are taking your first steps throughout the grassy fields, you’ll discover plenty of little variations. There’s a brand new city, new ruins, rock faces and cliffs look totally different, and there are risks round each nook. There’s simply sufficient right here to make trying round Hyrule a second time really feel recent. Nevertheless it’s additionally clear Nintendo has listened to among the minor criticisms many had of the primary recreation.
For one, there’s a extra prevalent story this time round. We’re not going to enter any element right here, however every area feels far more concerned within the overarching narrative, and new and returning characters all get moments to shine. Not each single goal follows the very same sample, both. Typically you’ll have to unravel some riddles, whereas others you simply must comply with a buddy. However each single thread results in one thing new and thrilling – and generally, to better heights and depths than ever earlier than.
From the sidequests to the NPCs and proper right down to the world itself, Tears of the Kingdom’s Hyrule, regardless of being the identical as Breath of the Wild’s, feels far more lived in. The sidequests are much more fascinating with much more memorable characters, occasions, and rewards, and there are lengthy quest chains that additionally assist level you in the precise course for the story, comparable to hinting at the place to discover a lacking merchandise. We’d be remiss to spoil any, however relaxation assured that Tarrey City is once more house to some of the rewarding of the bunch.
The Sky, the place you begin your journey, feels utterly totally different from the sprawling exploration-encouraging world of the Floor. Made up of small collections of islands which might be unfold throughout an enormous house, these home little puzzles and challenges. There’s an actual thrill to discovering a brand new island, whether or not it’s only a treasure chest or a difficult miniboss.
However there’s one thing the developer has been conserving near its chest – a sprawling, darkish underbelly hidden beneath Hyrule. Whereas far more sparse than the Floor, the Depths challenges your navigation expertise and survivability as you weave your approach round extraordinarily harmful enemies and puddles of black and purple sludge that inflicts Gloom, a brand new standing impact that briefly reduces your most hearts. We’re going to keep away from the apparent FromSoftware comparability, nevertheless it’s a nerve-wracking expertise and feels solely in contrast to anything in both this recreation or its predecessor.
Visually, Tears of the Kingdom builds on Breath of the Wild’s beautiful artwork type however, with this sequel being constructed for the Change alone, you possibly can spot all the additional element that’s been painted onto the world. Mountains are far more detailed, and there’s a greater variety of environments throughout the entire recreation, resulting in some actually stunning pictures, significantly within the skies above Hyrule. Some music returns from Breath of the Wild, however we’re delighted that there are tons of recent songs and preparations on this sequel, a few of that are completely beautiful and introduced a tear to our eyes. It made coming to this new, larger model of “house” that rather more particular.
Exploring any of those three maps is like opening a number of large toy chests and determining what to do along with your new instruments to get there. Your 4 new talents – Ultrahand, Fuse, Ascend, and Recall – crack open a world of prospects when it comes to fight, exploration, and puzzle-solving. By chance dropped a platform you’re attempting to set within the air? Recollect it. Can’t climb up a cliff overhang? Ascend via it. Can’t recover from lava? Use Ultrahand to take advantage of audacious Zelda-style monster truck ever. Or simply stick collectively some slate and wheels and accept that.
In some methods, Hyrule is less complicated to get round than ever earlier than, however these small modifications that we hinted at above imply there are sometimes new issues to circumnavigate utilizing your new toys. We discovered nothing extra liberating than seeing one thing on the bottom and understanding we are able to simply fuse it to any of our unfused weapons, shields, or arrows. Lizalfos tails look ridiculous however they enhance your weapon’s vary like a whip, and sure, you possibly can hit enemies with a beehive sword and it’s hilarious. Chuchu jelly is definitely helpful now, including elemental properties to arrows, whereas the plethora of monster elements can enhance your assault energy tenfold. The chances are bursting on the seams always, however in a approach that feels manageable.
Of all the new talents, Ultrahand is the one you’ll be utilizing probably the most, and whereas it feels a little bit clunky for the primary few hours, the sport encourages you to observe sufficient that it quickly turns into second nature. For those who’re not probably the most inventive individual, you don’t want to fret, as you’ll all the time discover gadgets mendacity round that trace at what you possibly can construct, or use the unlockable Autobuild talent which logs your earlier creations and permits you to recreate them through the use of the mandatory supplies in entrance of you. You’ll be able to go for easy options or probably the most elaborate builds to unravel just about every part. Did we use Ultrahand to stay a rocket (a Zonai System, a one-time merchandise that you need to use to assist your Ultrahand constructing) to a Korok’s backpack? In fact we did. However you could possibly additionally make the world’s largest slide and a little bit kart on your Korok buddy to trip. Most likely.
It typically feels just like the sky’s the restrict in Tears of the Kingdom, though there are restrictions in place to cease issues from feeling overwhelming. One factor that particularly helps is that the sport is mostly much more difficult than Breath of the Wild. There are heaps extra enemies on the map, typically present in teams – and so they’re not shy about ganging up on you, both. Many new enemies require brand-new methods to take down, and returning ones have stronger variations. And whereas weapon sturdiness is again, monsters drop tools so regularly that it felt even much less of a problem right here.
We died quite a bit, particularly in the beginning of the sport, however we love that we had to consider our strategy extra fastidiously with every encounter. Fuse turns out to be useful to deal extra harm or freeze different opponents as we try to take out the extra harmful ones. And generally, when an archer was sniping us, we’d sneak up on them through the use of Ascend to get to the highest of a tower on the snap of a finger. So although the world is at our fingertips due to our new expertise, the problem tempers them and prevents them from changing into overpowered.
Going again to the story, some locations make use of those talents – together with a regional ally who you’ll must utilise to progress – greater than others. Extra traditional-style dungeons make a return in Tears of the Kingdom. All of them are visually distinct, with distinctive bosses and puzzles to unravel, and so they handle to mix the open nature of BOTW properly with these basic multi-floor dungeons of the previous. They’re not fairly the enclosed, linear type of Ocarina of Time or Twilight Princess’ personal, per se, however they’re a marked enchancment over the Divine Beasts and a variety of enjoyable to get via.
For these extra bite-sized puzzles, Shrines make a return too, however there’s much more selection this time round. Fight shrines are largely gone and changed with both tutorial-style ones that educate you easy methods to utilise throwing gadgets successfully or sneak assaults or challenges which strip you of all your armour and weapons and pressure you to begin from the fundamentals and use your new expertise to defeat some Constructs. A number of the options had us scratching our heads for some time, but when there’s one factor Zelda nails for us, it’s the satisfaction of progressing and understanding. Even when generally our answer was simply to construct an enormous bridge.
The puzzles really feel extra organically built-in into the world as nicely. There are tons of cave techniques in Tears of the Kingdom that home some moderately unsettling enemies and/or goodies, and these little networks can typically really feel like miniature dungeons. The Sky is actually one huge puzzle as a result of it makes you consider easy methods to progress or get round, however there are additionally little challenges that unlock extra Shrines or that encourage you to create options to defeating among the new overworld bosses.
Truthfully, we couldn’t get sufficient of travelling between all three maps. Our curiosity felled us within the underground a number of instances as we tried to tackle more durable enemies, however as we bought stronger and accustomed to the tough world under, that satisfaction of lastly taking down a monster was thrilling. The distinction between the Sky, Floor, and Depth is refreshing, with all three bringing totally different types of gameplay, visuals, and music to the desk, however they by no means really feel indifferent from each other. And all three maps are seamless – there are not any load instances as you leap from the Floor to the Depths, or as you shoot your self from the Floor to the Sky.
Given this, it’s evident that Tears of the Kingdom is pushing the system to its limits. The body price is capped at 30FPS each handheld and docked, and for probably the most half, the sport stays round or simply under that. Throughout elaborate Ultrahand builds or busy fights and places, efficiency can dip to the low 20s (and even decrease) pretty regularly. It’s not vastly disruptive, and it didn’t really feel any worse than Breath of the Wild – significantly after Nintendo launched a pre-launch patch throughout the overview interval – nevertheless it serves as a staunch reminder of the now-six-year-old console’s limitations.
Nonetheless, it’s fairly wonderful that this complete world has been squeezed onto a little bit Change cartridge, and people efficiency points did not have an effect on our enjoyment in any respect. Whether or not we had been standing on an island excessive within the sky, gazing down via the clouds because the solar set throughout Hyrule, or plummeting via these skies because the blood moon rose, we fell in love with the open world of Hyrule yet again.
So, is Tears of the Kingdom higher than Breath of the Wild? That’ll be down to private choice, however we are able to assure that you will adore this when you cherished its predecessor. Tears of the Kingdom recaptures that magic in new and thrilling methods whereas bettering upon and sprucing nearly each side. This is a gigantic, breathtaking sequel, and a really particular online game.
