The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild launched on Nintendo Switch in 2017…
I received a copy of the game and a Nintendo Switch for my 21st birthday, from my father, that same month. It was a present I was so genuinely happy and excited for.
I played that game from the moment I opened it to the Sunday I had to go home.
My goal? To beat the entire game in Link’s underpants — a goal that I had to eventually give up due to a lack of Stamina when climbing the first Divine Beast… the elephant one that sprays water. I forgot what it was called…Vah Rutah or something like that.
I grew up a massive Zelda fan, from the moment I could play video games at two-years-old.
I would repeatedly play Ocarina of Time over and over — like a child does when they finish a movie… they restart it and play it again.
Every day after elementary, middle, then high school — Ocarina, Wind, Twilight — Over and over and over.
My obsession is Zelda. It was always Zelda. School papers and assignments with triforces, swords, shields, deku scrubs, ocarinas, Link ears…just completely covered.
Pots and pans, sticks, plastic swords and armor, spoons, had me running around my house rolling and flipping, telling my mom I didn’t want braces, because I’m Link, and he didn’t have braces!
My entire life has been Zelda.
My fucking WIFE has cosplayed as Link before.
My life is this series.
But the more and more I played Breath of the Wild throughout 2017 and 2018 — 215 hours worth — the more I realized how much I started to dislike it.
I realized more and more that Breath of the Wild felt more like a modern AAA open-world crafting game than a Zelda title.
See to me, Zelda has always followed that dungeon formula with unique bosses, cool items, and rewarding exploration. Breath of the Wild had an open map, but when you explored it, you were guaranteed a weapon that will just break, or a shrine you had to solve, or a korok seed. That was essentially it.
I remember finding a beautiful path through a mountain and I followed this crack through a wall, and I was so excited to see what it led to… and it was a shrine. That’s all. Another shrine. 120 shrines. Get buff, pull Master Sword, and defeat Ganon. With a quest map telling you exactly what to do and where to go. Ubisoft Towers all over so you can record your area. And weapons that break after two uses.
Fucking awesome game Nintendo great job thanks for this.
To me, Breath of the Wild was NOT a Zelda game, and arguing this with people online, especially other Zelda fans, led me to feel excluded and ostracized from a game series that I obsessed over my entire life. I was no longer allowed in the Zelda Club, because I hated the new “best game in the series”.
I got called a boomer for hating the changes and preferring Ocarina of Time. Hell, I’ve had to sit and read people mocking OOT for being overrated and outdated, while the game I couldn’t stand wins GOTY, changes modern day gaming, has every game compared and modeled after it, and received award after award.
It was the hardest pill to swallow, and I’ve felt chained down and isolated, like I’m raisin bran Ganondorf resting under the Hyrule Castle.
I turned to Dragon Quest XI, because it gave me such a feeling that I had been missing, and while I love everything about Dragon Quest, and I’m thankful for finding a new series that I love just as much as Zelda, it can never replace the 20 years I have.
I started telling myself I wasn’t a real Zelda fan because I didn’t like Breath of the Wild. I told myself I was an Ocarina of Time (and it’s models WW, TP, ALTTP, ALBW) fan instead.
But I liked what I liked. If you played Dragon Quest XI, you would eventually notice the similarities between Ocarina of Time and XI, too.
I just love Zelda, and when Breath of the Wild came out I stepped away from the series for what I thought would be forever, but that’s until…
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
When the leaks for the game came out, I immediately started sifting through every amount of datamines, videos, and screenshots I could find. What I saw completely changed my mind about the new Nintendo Switch game, and I started to have hope.
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I’m going to go into more details from here on, so if you don’t want to be spoiled please stop reading here.
I’m warning you ⚠️
Here are the things I’m excited for after watching 6 hours of gameplay and even playing for myself for about 40 minutes.
Weapon Durability / Fusing
The first issue I had with Breath of the Wild was the weapon durability. I think this was the main issue a lot of people had with the game.
In traditional Zelda titles, this was never a problem. You had enemies you killed in 2–4 hits and that was that. You always had your sword. The sword was Link’s trusty weapon and that was what made Zelda, Zelda.
Not anymore, though. You had to “git gud” now.
Git gud.
At a game you’ve been playing since birth.
You now had skill issues… at a Zelda game.
What…?
Congratulations. People who started with the Switch are now mocking you because you don’t like weapons breaking.
Stupid bitches.
Anyway. If you hated weapon degradation, I’m here to tell you that the Fuse mechanic in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom absolutely changes the game. In fact, it almost completely removes the issue entirely.
I am not kidding. The first time I got to experience Fuse, I forgot I was even mad at Breath of the Wild.
You will always have weapons and items to fuse. So it essentially becomes a fun part of the environment, part of the game, that you don’t notice is a problem.
Sure, you can’t just play the entire game with one sword, which sucks, and it doesn’t feel like Zelda, but the Fuse mechanic really is fucking cool. You can fuse basically anything.
I really think the Fuse ability was my favorite thing about Tears of the Kingdom. In a pinch, you can fuse a weapon about to snap, and it becomes bigger, stronger, and lasts longer. It is a simple concept that basically fixes the original issue I had. It was a great “repair system” idea from Nintendo, and it lets you be so creative.
The Fuse ability makes Tears of the Kingdom fun and explorative. It makes it better than BOTW because it makes you want to explore and fight enemies.
When a treasure chest gives you a weapon now, it’s useful. Instead of feeling like you wanna hold onto it because it will break, you feel like you can use it immediately because you can fuse it!
And when you see a powerful enemy out on the field, you can go fight it and take its weapon. It’s an extremely fun and rewarding experience and an excellent way to still keep the core formula of Breath of the Wild while also adapting to the nitpicks many people had with the first game.
The Map
I’ve already had a few comments on my Twitter post telling me it’s the same map, why would it be different and worth $70?
Well, I’m here to tell you that it’s NOT the same map.
Not at all!
At its core, it may seem like it reuses the exact same map and assets that the first game uses, but I’m here to debunk that bullshit right here.
There will be MAJOR spoilers so please look away if you don’t want to know…
Final warning ⚠️
Tears of the Kingdom is bigger and better than Breath of the Wild.
Tears of the Kingdom features THREE whole maps.
First is the sky islands, the second is Hyrule Field, which does not feature the same exact map as BOTW, and finally there’s an UNDERGROUND section.
Hyrule Castle raises into the air at the beginning of the game, and when I got to play, I went to explore the castle. When I ran underneath Hyrule castle, I accidentally fell under it through a gaping hole… and what I discovered was an entirely new area fully loaded into the game. It was incredible, and I can’t wait to fly down there with the paraglider when I get access to the full game on Friday. I died when I landed down there and had to quit playing due to life circumstances, so I’m really stoked to see what’s down there.
But see? Do you see? Tears of the Kingdom has much better exploration. It makes you want to see what’s around the corner. In this game, you don’t know what you’re going to find. And that has a complete one-up over the prequel game.
The map is massive, possibly even bigger than Elden Ring, with 3 layers to explore. I can’t wait to explore every bit of it.
And I hope that makes you excited too.
Loading Times and Processing
Tears of the Kingdom loads fast and plays smoothly.
I know this sounds crazy, but yes. It loads and runs extremely well for a Nintendo Switch game.
I was surprised. The entire game is one big map. Going from one area — sky, to ground, to underground, is seemless.
If wall-shimmy is modern day AAA loading screens, then sky-falling and ascending through ceilings is Nintendo’s loading screens, and that’s so smart and intuitive!
When I fell through Hyrule Castle’s hole, the entire area underneath was already completely loaded and visible. Which was fucking INCREDIBLE.
There will be major frame drop issues when you use your Ultrahand, but that was the ONLY noticeable issue. Paragliding around, fighting in combat, or running and warping through the map was all flawless.
You will be surprised, too.
WARNING MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW
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Dungeons & Shrines
There are 5 elemental themed dungeons and 151 shrines.
I have not had the opportunity to explore dungeons yet, but I will get to today.
Shrines are now bigger, and feature the return of an old friend
the Small Key!
Yep! Small keys are back! And you will use them to unlock doors in these massive shrines.
Shrines still play similarly, but the puzzles are more complex and your reward is a “Light of Blessing” which work exactly like Spirit Orbs.
I like the fact that Nintendo listened and added traditional dungeons and bosses, but I don’t like they added even more shrines. I am excited that shrines will feel more “dungeon-like” now, though, with small keys! Plus, whatever weapons and armor you find will surely be more useful.
The Story
Warning, again, major spoilers for this game ⚠️
The story in Tears of the Kingdom is way more prevalent and important than in Breath of the Wild.
In every sense of the way, this game is bigger and better than Breath of the Wild was. Which is crazy to me considering they’re both on the same consoles.
That’s what 6 years of prep gets you! Don’t rush Starfield!
Anyway, yes.
The game will boot directly into story cutscenes, almost like a prologue like Majora’s Mask and Twilight Princess had.
Link will start out fully equipped with the Master Sword, full life bar, and champion tunic.
Link and Zelda will make their way down a labyrinth under Hyrule castle where they will encounter the demon king.
Zelda and Link will be attacked and Zelda will fall off the cliffside.
Link will be saved by the Ultrahand and it will be bound to him. He’ll lose almost all of his hearts, get “Castlevania’d”, and wake up in his undies atop the sky islands.
This is the beginning of the game and the tutorial, where you’ll learn to fuse, recall, ascend, and build makeshift rafts and crafts.
Voice acting is much better and used more often, characters are better and have more personality, and the game just looks and feels overall amazing. I had to audibly say to my friend, “this is a fucking Zelda game”. Because it just felt so crazy to watch.
Seriously, the introduction of the game is incredible. You’re going to love it.
Gameplay & Exploration
Finally, I’m going to touch on a few things that I need to address.
Gameplay is important to me because Zelda is a video game. If I wanted to read, I’d read a book, and if I just wanted to watch a movie, I’d play a PlayStation game.
I care about playing video games. And in my video games, I want to play a game with good gameplay.
Now, does Tears of the Kingdom have that?
… yes and no.
Tears of the Kingdom features the core gameplay that Breath of the Wild had.
Your weapons will still break. Your stamina bar will deplete when climbing. You will still slide down mountains and cliffs when it rains. And to make matters even worse, you now have to spend time building rafts and crafts with Ultrahand. And to get those parts you have to kill specific sky island enemies and play pachinko slots to get crating parts.
To fuse weapons you have to press specific buttons that take time. To use monster items to fuse to your bow, you have to menu them every time. After 300 hours, this WILL become tedious, and that’s honestly one of the more nitpicky things I had about the game.
But everything else I’ve experienced has been mint — A1. Perfect.
But yeah, using Link’s new abilities will definitely become tedious and redundant after many hours of gameplay, and there will honestly be no way around it. You will be crafting and fusing and recalling and ascending the entire game, and that’s something you’ll have to be okay with.
I didn’t have too much hands-on experience with the exploration, but I understand now that with heavier story elements, new surprises, bigger map(s), 151 shrines, and 5 dungeons, you’ll have plenty to discover and explore.
Caves lead to various enemy types, and (SPOILER WARNING) there are many new enemies in the game that all drop unique crafting/fusing material, and you can completely fall through cracks and end up in an entirely new area. Ascend Ability helps you reach new heights instantly which helps with traversing terrains.
Every inch of the map will lead to something completely new, and to write the game off as the “same map as BOTW” or “$70 DLC” is simply a fool’s journey.
This game is nothing like Breath of the Wild, and unless you’ve seen it, touched it, felt it, heard it, and played it… you simply have no idea.
You aren’t ready.
In conclusion, I can’t guarantee that, if you hated Breath of the Wild, you’ll instantly love Tears of the Kingdom.
But I will say, as someone who hated Breath of the Wild, I did enjoy my experiences with Tears of the Kingdom so far.
Yes, you will have 151 shrines. Yes, your weapons will break. Yes, you will slide 25ft down a cliffside due to rain. But in the end, Nintendo listened to every bit of negative feedback and made a better game.
Tears of the Kingdom is not going to be Breath of the Wild. It’s going to be a bigger, better, and more expanded upon experience that will manage to sway even the most hard-headed hater in the world
Me
and it will make me a Zelda fan once again.
Below I’m going to post a couple more spoilers for you
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- Link will hum classic Zelda tunes when he cooks food now.
- * Every classic Tunic can now be found through exploration and now no longer require amiibo
Thanks for reading. If you’re a Nintendo Ninja, I’m sure we can get along on Friday when I pay $70 to legally play this on my Nintendo Switch.
:)
I hope everyone enjoys this game.
Long live The Legend of Zelda
