Breath of the Wild was released at the end of the Wii U’s life and the beginning of the Switch’s, marking a brand new era for the franchise. It quickly because the series' best-selling title by over double of Ocarina of Time on both N64 and 3DS sales combined. It was a behemoth of a launch title for Switch that would for the next few years become one of the most influential and important titles to ever release. While it wasn’t perfect it had undeniable acclaim in its creativity and freedom that few open world titles have ever truly achieved. While fans were anticipating a continuation, we got a reveal that for the first time in a long while the next entry would be a direct sequel and we would eventually come to know this secretive entry as The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Now the question remains: is this a proper continuation in the legacy thatBreath of the Wildstarted?
The story here picks up an unmentioned number of years following the end of Breath of the Wild. Zelda and Link have been exploring Hyrule together and have found themselves under Hyrule Castle following ruins down. Along the way they find writing of the imprisoning war and mentions of an ancient race known as the Zonai. As they descend further they eventually find a mysterious light coming from a dark room and a mummified body in the midst of it. The body springs to life and in Link’s attempt to stop the dark power that spews from it, it manages to destroy the Master Sword and gravely damage his arm in the process. The two are flung off the ledge and Zelda disappears into light while a glowing hand manages to grab Link and save him from a dark descent below. Hyrule Castle is seen being ripped from the ground and powerful evil begins to spread quickly across the land.
Link’s adventure after his great fall begins on one of the many floating chunks of land above Hyrule known as the Sky Islands. He quickly discovers his arm has been replaced with the one that saved him due to his being damaged so fiercely in his last bout. Much like Breath of the Wild he awakens here and heads out to learn what’s going on and after visiting the new light shrines that have appeared he gains four main new abilities to give him a leg up in this dangerous new land. All of these new abilities can be activated thanks to the help of his new arm, and play an integral part in every facet of gameplay. The first of these is known as Ultrahand, which allows various materials to be fused together in order to make new paths or solve puzzles. Secondly there’s the Fuse ability that allows weapons or arrows to be combined with a variety of materials to strengthen them in combat. Fusing fire to an arrow will help it burn foes, fusing a rock to a sword will help it smash down things easier and so on. Thirdly there’s the Ascend ability which allows Link to pass through a ceiling or platform above him and come out on top, great for when Link is exploring caves or just needs to get higher. Finally there’s the Recall ability which can temporarily rewind the time of an object that has been moved, including large things thrown at Link that he can shoot back towards his foes. These four abilities act as Link’s main lifeline in exploration that become increasingly important when he comes into contact with Zonai technology.
The Zonai technology plays a major role in Links traversal in this new Hyrule and features crazy new technology he can use thanks to his new arm. These start simple with items like a fan that offer the ability to raise Link up or if attached to an object can move it in a set direction. There’s also wheels, flame emitters which act as flamethrowers, bombs, hydrants and more for Link to discover. The caveat of many of these items is that they’re not without limited use. They’re activated simply by hitting them, but their time available only lasts as long as Link’s new Energy Cell items which acts essentially as a battery. It can recharge over time or be refilled by Zonai charges, with Link being able to supplement his own power by finding actual batteries in order to help make his way across Hyrule. He starts with a single energy cell, but this can be upgraded further by trading materials in order to make himself nearly unstoppable. Most of the Zonai technology can be found while exploring Hyrule but Link can also find large machines that allow him to dump in materials and receive Zonai tech he can carry with him and use as required. They’re one-use and can’t be stored after they’ve been taken out, but in a pinch or difficult puzzle they can be life savers and worth grabbing along the way.
There are three main lands that Link can explore throughout Hyrule with the first and foremost being the Sky Islands. These scattered islands don’t take up much of the land above, but offer tons of ways to cross the sky and solve the various puzzles scattered across them. It’s where Link will mostly likely spend the least amount of his time, but it makes for a fantastic experience while sailing between areas. There are even areas that offer a lower gravity, making it fun to experiment with everything at his disposal to see how it reacts. There’s also great challenge in figuring out how to get up higher at times, challenging Link to test his skills and reach terrifying heights like never before. Those high above can also take an easy descent when landing in water or using the paraglider to land safely below.
The land of Hyrule below the clouds will likely look familiar to those who have played Breath of the Wild, but still wildly changed from the past few years. It’s honestly impressive that the team has managed to make the world feel both familiar but still new enough to invite eager exploration. It’s something that was commonly questioned when the sequel was mentioned as people were dying to know just how much the world has changed. Major landmarks and locations may be the same, but the world is littered with caverns and changed locations that invite Link to eagerly figure out what exactly is going on as the world has been covered with a terrifying Gloom that infects people and the powerful weapons he once used. Traversal by horse is still just as fun as it once was, and as a bonus those who have save data from Breath of the Wild even get to carry over the horses they had stashed away at their stable. Of course this just the second of the three lands Link can explore, and the third is perhaps the most terrifying to date.
While Link is exploring Hyrule he’ll occasionally find a black and red substance seemingly oozing up from the ground. Touching it temporarily takes away some of his hearts making it terrifying to encounter, but what’s even more scary is that these oozes often have holes connected to them. It’ll take a leap of faith, but Link can descend into the land known as The Depths which lie in wait below Hyrule. This dark land is covered in Gloom which rips away at Link’s health, with the enemies there causing the same harm to his available hearts. Link has the option to try to explore the dark or he can use helpful items to light up his path along the way. Fortunately it will not be dark forever, as down there he can find helpful beacons known as Lightroots which as the name implies light up a portion of the world below. While much of the Depths may seem barren and empty, following statues will lead to buildings waiting to be explored and much of the land has hidden away treasure chests. Those who don’t have the Zelda amiibo will be thrilled to know many previously amiibo-exclusive outfits can be down here as well, which can be found through exploration or the occasional rare treasure map.
As mentioned previously, Shrines make a return in this sequel, but with a wholly new look that invokes much more mystery behind them. They can be found everywhere except the Depths and offer Link a Light of Blessing which can be exchanged for increased health or stamina once he’s obtained enough. They also act as fast travel locations to easily access points throughout the world. The puzzles in these shrines have seen a significant upgrade from Breath of the Wild with much more thoughtful puzzles and challenges. The basic combat challenges of Breath of the Wild have been cleverly replaced with ones that strip Link of all his items and he must rely on what’s available solely there in the shrine. Puzzles also feel much more entertaining and thoughtful with Link’s crafting abilities to combine items, often making confusing puzzles much more fun to solve with creative thinking. Of course shrines are the only thing to make a return, as proper dungeons from previous Zelda titles make a triumphant return this time around.
There are four major dungeons that act as the main story objectives throughout Link’s adventure taking part in the four familiar corners of the world. These involve meeting up with a character who is able to aid Link in his traversal through the dungeon using their unique abilities. The dungeons themselves are such a huge departure from the rather slow-paced and repetitive Divine Beasts of Breath of the Wild. Each one has a unique appearance with similar goals throughout each one. They offer wildly-creative puzzles that also allow for Link to completely bypass a lot of it and just fiddle around his own way using his abilities for some of the most clever dungeons to date. Each dungeon appropriately ends with a boss fight, which is a fantastic return to form with bosses that feel in line with Zelda history and aren’t the insane massive health sponges that were the blight Ganon creatures we previously encountered. The dungeons also just contain more combat and freedom instead of a pure focus on puzzles, something Breath of the Wild was severely lacking. By far this is the most creative Zelda has ever been, and it’s so important to what makes Tears of the Kingdom so special.
Crafting and creation isn’t new to adventure titles, but there’s something about Tears of the Kingdom that just works so much better. It’s not complicated by any means, in fact it’s simple to make just about anything with a little trial and error. The only limit is that there’s a finite amount of items that can be attached together, but it’s enough that most aren’t likely to run into it with their wild contraptions. The freedom of puzzle solution is what shines here, though, as there’s no wrong way to solve a puzzle and that’s extremely satisfying. There are times when some puzzles can be confusing, but more often than not it just takes a little messing around with items and mechanics to create a solution that perhaps was the truly intended way, or maybe an entirely new way thought up. There’s no wrong answers, but there’s so many possibilities and it makes it so endearing because of that. Want to attach a bomb to a shield in order to get a bomb-boosted jump up to a location? That’s a perfect solution! It might cause Link’s death the first couple times, but it’ll also be funny too. That’s part of the utter delight of Tears of the Kingdom is the funny situations and creative ideas that make it shine. There are a few moments of frustration to be had too, however, such as trying to reach high up places at times or what feels like a steep difficulty curve, but this can eventually be overcome later if not in the exact moment.
The music in Tears of the Kingdom is similar to Breath of the Wild. It’s not as bombastic as previous Zelda entries, but it has quite a few themes that stand out. Easily one of the biggest improvements is the sheer enemy variety. While Breath of the Wild stumbled with only a small handful of enemies, it feels like a slew of new ones have been added here to make every new enemy encounter exciting cause it’s just something that hasn’t been seen before. This also includes new overworld bosses and a handful of new objectives and collectibles to be found as well. Not all enemies are pleasant, in fact a few were terrifying to run into, but it makes for quite the exciting moment nonetheless. The visuals are still just as charming as the previous title, and performance is consistent across the board save for some times when Link is carrying a lot of objects or around a ton of explosions it can get iffy. It’s also a shame that the story, while fully enjoyable throughout, still feels a bit in the background at times instead of front and center. The item inventory is also massive and makes quick navigation annoying when wanting to fuse or combine things. There are hidden memories as well throughout Hyrule that can be found out of order, which makes some story bits feel disjointed at times and it’s a shame they weren’t just allowed to always be in order no matter how they’re found.
Closing Comments:
It’s easy to say without hesitation that Tears of the Kingdom is better than Breath of the Wild. It improves and adds to what was already a great title. It’s not a perfect experience through and through, but it lends to the creative side of the franchise with some of the best puzzle-solving in any adventure title to date. While it would still be nice to see a return to form of the shorter and more linearly-focused Zelda titles, it’s hard to deny the lasting impact that Tears of the Kingdom will have for many more years to come. It’s hard not to smile when trying wacky and crazy new things, and seeing Link blow up when he investigates a new object that turns out to be a bomb. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is a love letter to Breath of the Wild in the best kind of way and is well deserving of anyone’s adventuring spirit.
