Well, Nintendo’s only gone and done the impossible; outdo Breath of the Wild. That’s quite an impressive feat to accomplish, as that game set a new standard for what an open-world game could be, with a vast landscape that was truly exciting to explore, boasting what felt like an endless amount to discover. Tears of the Kingdom doesn’t reinvent the wheel, it enhances and capitalises on what made the first game so exciting, while adding a huge amount of extra depth to the world of Hyrule, gameplay mechanics, and cinematic scale. 

Tears of the Kingdom takes place a few years after the events of Breath of the Wild, with the Calamity successfully subdued, and Zelda free once more. It would seem Hyrule’s doing pretty well for itself. That is, of course, until a mysterious gloom rises from the depths, corrupting the land and plaguing those who come into contact with it, and when Link and Zelda investigate the source of the darkness, they discover none other than the Iconic Demon King himself, Ganondorf. Separated again from Zelda, Link explores a newly transformed Hyrule, revisiting allies and towns while searching for the Princess, and finding a way to stop Ganon once and for all.

The return to Hyrule allows players to once again feel the true freedom of exploration that we all no doubt felt when playing Breath of the Wild for the first time. With a remixed land, updated areas and brand new threads to pull at, we once again get to experience one of the truly greatest open worlds ever conceived in gaming. It’s not just the lands we know from the previous game though, as new islands in the sky, countless caves to descend into, and a third primary location that I won’t spoil, make the game feel like an entirely new experience, one that not only stands alone from BOTW but surpasses it entirely.

Now iconic locations such as Gerudo Town, Zora’s Domain and Rito Village all make a return, but are experiencing the effects of Ganondorf’s awakening, dubbed “The Upheaval”. The Zoras are plagued by murky water, Gorons by a form of mind control, and others are affected by adverse and dangerous weather phenomena. These new situations not only allow for deeper exploration of these areas and an enjoyable reason to return to them but also allow the already introduced characters such as Sidon and Riju the opportunity to grow. In Tears of the Kingdom, these returning and new characters serve a greater purpose narratively, and are even utilised as allies in combat, each having unique abilities to offer up to Link. The narrative and character-driven elements take a more prominent role in this game, with the inclusion of the classic Zelda group known as Sages playing an important part in defeating Ganondorf. If the amount of significant characters ever gets too much to keep up with, the stylish new Character Profiles can keep you in the loop.

Hyrule wouldn’t be nearly as exciting to explore if it weren’t home to as many monsters and enemies as it is, and most threats return from Breath of the Wild (rest in peace Guardians), but it’s really the new enemies’ creative design that shines through. Sure, nothing quite beats the thrill of fighting a Lynel, but the Bokoblins have a dad now! Boss Bokoblins will command a small fleet of their adorable underlings, Horroblins stalk the ceilings of the newly explorable cave systems, and Aerocudas will pick up enemies like the Lizalfos to drop on you from the sky. Zelda classics such as the disgusting sludgy Like-Likes return, and terrifying free-roam boss encounters with the three-headed Gleeok make the threat of Lynels seem rather tame. These newly summoned enemies from the Demon King fit in perfectly with the already great array of enemies on display. 

While we’re on the subject, I didn’t realise how much I’d missed Ganondorf (the guy, not the calamity). Other classic gaming villains like Bowser and Eggman have made numerous appearances in new entries to their respective series, but the Gerudo King himself hasn’t appeared in a new mainline Zelda game since 2011’s Skyward Sword, and that wasn’t even really him but a precursor named Demise. The internet had a field day when images of the topless Gerudo were released alongside a recent trailer for the game, but I was more excited by the fact that Critical Role’s head honcho Matthew Mercer was voicing him. Having someone who’s a true fan of the series portray such a badass is great, but what’s even better is how good Ganondorf’s portrayal ends up being in-game. Through flashbacks and memories, we see just how manipulative, evil and downright terrifying he can truly be, and one specific scene involving the Demon King’s rise to power absolutely floored me.

While abilities from the previous game like Cryonis and Stasis are gone, the new abilities such as Rewind and Fuse present a jaw-dropping amount of creative options. Using Link’s new Ultrahand ability, you’re free to create vehicles for land, sky and water travel, as well as use a variety of tools to solve physics-based puzzles, and generally mess around with. The best thing about these new abilities is that if you think something might work, it usually does, like when I fused a cannon to my shield, making a rocket launcher, which was almost as cool as attaching a cart to it to create a skateboard instead. Fusing items to swords, bows and shields is how you get the best weapons and every enemy in the game drops something you can use, like a Keese eyeball to make homing arrows, a Talus heart to create rock-smashing hammers, or even the horn of a Lynel to forge incredibly strong swords. While they still break pretty often, creating your own mix-and-match weapons feels a lot more satisfying and customisable compared to the previous game.

Temples are back baby! While I didn’t hate the Divine Beast dungeons in BOTW, they did leave a lot to be desired, especially when it came to the lack of differentiating themes and most prominently the cut-and-paste design of the Boss fights that for me, were a huge letdown. Tears of the Kingdom brings the thematic temple concepts from older titles such as Ocarina of Time, and condenses them into what feels like better versions of the Divine Beasts. They’re not huge, and they don’t take too long to complete, but they are a lot more memorable than the last game, not least thanks to the unique and creative boss designs, with some nods to previous Zelda boss favourites like Gohma and Koloktos.

Now, here’s my major gripe with the game and what, for me, holds the game back the most. There is a glaring narrative issue with Tears of the Kingdom, specifically with the main quest to Find Princess Zelda. It fuels the investigation into every corner of the game and is talked about by everyone constantly, and yet, from a very very early point in the game, you are allowed to find out, through a separate, memory-based questline, exactly where Zelda is and what she’s doing. The reveal itself is a pretty insane plot development that I won’t spoil, and the rest of the questline is honestly one of the coolest elements of the entire game, but once Link finds out this very important bit of information, the game essentially ignores the fact that he, and by extension, the player, knows what has happened to Zelda. Characters will continue to search for her, red herrings will be knowingly followed, and only a single other character seems to be in the loop as well. This option for which order you complete things breaks the entire plot of the game and, at least to me, ruins the immersion in the game’s world and storyline. Simply having the player discover these memories later on, or having Link simply tell the other characters in the game, would solve this glaring oversight easily, and yet it is still in the game. You can still go and help out the other places in the game, but the reason could be to just be a hero and not search for leads on Zelda, as you already bloody know where she is.

This is why I’m a bit confused at the huge amounts of 10/10 reviews of the game. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a magnificent game which will surely be a contender for Game of the Year, but it is far from perfect, few games are. I’ve only ever reviewed one game, God of War: Ragnarok as a 10/10 game, and that’s because I simply could not fault it in any area, personally. But with the plot driving this game so easily broken, alongside a collection of other problems, it’s a bit much that people are calling it a perfect game.

A thing a lot of people, including myself, will be excited to discover the armour and weapons that callback to previous entries in the series, and while a lot of them are new to TOTK, and are rewarding to discover, some of them were found as DLC items in Breath of the Wild. Their inclusion in the game is fine, and I don’t mind seeing them again, what I do mind however, is an item being a reward to a lengthy sidequest, when in the previous game, it was just in a chest. It’s a little disappointing and less motivating to traverse multiple labyrinths and puzzles just to be given a hat I picked up in the last game, and perhaps not enough people played the great BOTW DLC, so the devs thought they could just reuse it as a reward, and I get that, it just would have been infinitely cooler if this was the first time seeing all these items.

The narrative issue and the DLC armour complaints are things that many people won’t experience or have a problem with, depending on their playstyle and personal stance on the topics, but with the game being a return to an existing world, a few players may be a bit more annoyed at repeating certain things. I personally love filling out the compendium again, but I can see why players would be a bit miffed to be presented with the same lengthy task they may have sunk hours into prior. The repeating quests aren’t nearly as bad as I feared they could be, but there are definitely some copy-and-paste quests from BOTW that feel less like callbacks and more like requirements to have almost everything from the last game present in this one. Another issue, like the narrative problem, revolves around the choose-your-own-path mechanic, and finding shrines in whichever order you’d like. The issue of several shrines being tutorials that you can find fifty hours into the game was a problem in BOTW and is still a thing in this. If it’s supposed to be a tutorial then players should be clearly directed towards them, rather than just be scattered in with the rest.

Now I’m past the gripes, I can go back to gushing. The memories, similar to how they worked in BOTW, showcase some new characters and their importance in a dramatic storyline. The continued development of Zelda’s journey, shown through these scenes, is an engaging and exciting one with memorable moments and voice-acting performances across the board. It’s a shame really that a lot of the coolest story beats in the game are through these memories, where in a way, it might have been a cooler game to play through than the questline Link embarks on, but hey, I’m sure the Imprisoning War will be further explored in another Hyrule Warriors spinoff game.

The game manages to eclipse and outshine pretty much every element from the prior. If you enjoyed the brief house-owning aspect in BOTW, then you’ll love the expanded freedom of homemaking in TOTK, the Yiga clan attacks are more creative, sometimes being entire sidequests made entirely to ambush Link, and Koroks are somehow more adorable and can be driven around to meet up with their lost friends. If you’re a soundtrack fiend like I am, you’ll enjoy the nods to older themes from the series, as well as some absolutely jaw-dropping original compositions, courtesy of composer Manaka Kataoka, whose awe-inspiring score makes some moments feel downright breathtaking. A particular moment being the entire final boss encounter and all that leads up to it, which if I’m being honest, makes every aspect of the BOTW’s final boss look shoddy by comparison, and left me with a stunned feeling I haven’t felt since Ghost of Tsushima’s dramatic climax.

Despite some gripes and nitpicks, Tears of the Kingdom is a truly incredible experience. Its heavier focus on characters, plot, and world-building may sometimes conflict with the non-linear layout, but the increased levels of excitement I got from its dramatic approach are undeniable. We all knew it would be an incredible game, and to no one’s surprise it is, but I think what makes it especially unique is its ability to make an already huge world feel double the size, which in terms of places to go, is quite literally the case. It’s another gem in possibly the most consistent and iconic series in gaming and is another reason why this year might just be an incredible one for video games.