The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Preview (Nintendo Switch)
~by Rontro (June 2023)
Score: 9.5/10
Back in 2017, Nintendo put out a game that became a phenomenon. It became the game of the year for that year and completely changed the face of an entire franchise. What game am I talking about? The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild!
Breath of the Wild took exploring Hyrule to an all new level. No longer were you constrained to one or two paths through the game. You had complete freedom to tackle the game in any way you saw fit.
Could Nintendo do it twice, using the same map, and make it feel fresh and new again? I’ve been playing The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom for around 30 hours now and the answer to that question is a huge YES! Exploring really does seem fresh and new, and this is due to many reasons.
The game opens up to an amazing cut scene of Link and Zelda exploring a cave system that had been discovered under Hyrule Castle. Some craziness happens and Link is knocked unconscious. When he comes to, Link finds himself high above Hyrule on a floating Sky Island. From the very start of the game, I was already exploring a completely new area.
This Sky Island will stand in as the new Great Plateau. You spend the first couple hours looking for 4 Shrines to gain your new abilities: Fuse, Ascend, Recall and my personal favorite, Ultrahand. There is a fifth ability that you can gain later in the game, but I won’t spoil that here. The entire game is built around these abilities, much like in Breath of the Wild.
Let’s talk about Ascend and Recall first as they are probably the quickest to discuss. Ascend allows you to literally swim through solid objects. Down in a cave and can’t find your way out? Use Ascend and you’ll find yourself back on the surface of Hyrule. As for Recall, you can pull a Prince of Persia on an object and rewind it through time. This has many uses such as sending borders back at enemies who rolled the boulder down the hill at you. There are also stones that fall from the Sky Islands that can take you up to them by using Recall on those stones.
Next up is Fuse. This is a fun ability and allows you to create many different weapons. One of the most frustrating things about Breath of the Wild was the durability of gear. Durability is still a thing, but everything seems to hold up better than before. Once they do reach the point of breaking, you can Fuse this weapon with many objects throughout the world which resets the durability of that weapon while also increasing its damage output. This ability allows for some pretty interesting combos.
The puzzles inside the Shrines are all new and creative. I have had more fun solving these Shrines, than I did in Breath of the Wild. I found myself getting frustrated at the Sheikah Shrines at times, but I have enjoyed most of the Zonite Shrines, save a few that are a specific type.
I mentioned earlier in this article that exploring felt fresh and new despite the same world being used. I’ve already touched on one reason, the Sky Islands, but there is so much more than that. Cave systems are now a thing and there are so many to explore. Some are small, but then there are others you may be exploring for hours. All sorts of interesting things can be found such as new enemies and a new collectable. I won’t say what it is here. You’ll just have to play it yourself.
Underneath Hyrule, even deeper than the caves and caverns, is an entire new world known as the Depths. The Depths are eerie and completely shrouded in darkness. You’ll make your way through the Depths, lighting up the area using items. Under some of the Shrines from the surface is a tree root. These can be activated to light up large portions of the Depths and unveil parts of the map, much like towers. You’ll also find new enemies, items and collectables not found anywhere else.
Dungeons also make a return. They’re a little closer to your traditional Zelda dungeons, but still slightly miss the mark. They still feel much like a Devine Beast from Breath of the Wild. I’ve only completed the dungeon in the Rito’s area, but I found myself running around looking for five devices to activate. Luckily, at least in the one I’ve completed, there was no manipulating the dungeon itself.
At the end of each dungeon is a boss. This time around, boss battles seem unique, unlike the Blight Ganons from Breath of the Wild. I’ve only fought one boss, but I’ve been informed by a former coworker at Gamestop, that each is unique. The first boss I fought was a lot of fun, but was quite easy. I managed to take no damage the entire fight.
There are so many new and returning enemies in Tears of the Kingdom. There is even an enemy returning that we haven’t seen since the original Legend of Zelda, the terrifying, gargantuan, three headed dragon; the Gleeok!
Overall, I think The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom completely blows its predecessor out of the water. To say this is Breath of the Wild 2.0 is doing this new game a major disservice. It may share the same engine and graphics aesthetic, but Tears of the Kingdom really stands out on its own. It’s becoming one of my favorite, if not number one, video games of all time. Mind you, this is my first impression after only 30 hours and I have so much more game to play. I won’t put a score to this just yet, because I could say it’s a 9.5 now, but who’s to say that after 200 hours, it doesn’t end up a 10 or completely tank to a 4 or 5. Highly unlikely, but we’ll see.