The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Review
Edited by D'Avion Middleton
Please note: The following article contains spoilers for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
To say that I was excited about The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, the highly anticipated sequel to 2017’s Breath of the Wild, is an understatement. I’ve been looking forward to this game since they announced it back in June 2019. On the night of its release, I got 3 hours of sleep because I was so excited and even joined Nintendo’s live stream for the game's midnight release. The same morning, I left my house early and waited outside Gamestop 45 minutes before its opening as I wanted to be the first person in line to get the game. I was. As soon as I got the game, I drove back home and played it for the rest of the day.
If you want a short version of my review, here it is: It was absolutely worth the wait —and the $70. The game is fun, innovative, and creative, and it serves as another high mark for The Legend of Zelda series and inspiration for future video games. I highly recommend you get it even if you never played a Zelda game before. There was a reason why the game became the fastest-selling Nintendo Switch game and played a role in Nintendo having high 1st quarter profits.
For the extended version, keep on reading!
Please note: Because of its length, you might not be able to read the full version in email format. To read the extended writing piece, you will need to read it in Substack. It is also posted on my blog, so you can check it out there as well.
Last Warning! Spoilers ahead for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
What I Liked
Plot/Story: Picking up a few years after the events of BOTW, Hyrule is slowly rebuilding now that Calamity Ganon is gone; however, it didn’t take long for a new threat to emerge. An expedition below the castle goes wrong when an ancient evil sealed for millennia has reanimated. This results in Link’s right arm and the Master Sword being severely damaged, Zelda vanishing, and the Upheavel being triggered, an event that brings chaos once more to Hyrule.
When Link regains consciousness, he finds he is in the sky and has a new arm. As the game progresses, you learn how Ganondorf/Demon King, the ancient evil that has been plaguing this iteration of Hyrule since its founding, is now back with a vengeance and has once again wreaked havoc on the kingdom. Link must conquer the Sky, Surface, and the Depths to end the Ganondorf/Demon King once and for all and figure out what happened to Zelda. To do so, Link must work with the people of Hyrule, contrasting from BOTW as it was a solitary adventure, whereas TOTK is about connections and teamwork.
We are introduced to three new characters in this game. Rauru —the ancient Zonia king who founded Hyrule and owns the right arm that sealed Ganondorf —was later given to Link and the Sage of Light. Sonia, the ancient queen, is shown to be a descendant of the goddess Hylia, confirming her familial connection with Zelda. Mineru, Rauru’s older sister, just like Zelda, is a scholar and waited as a spirit for years to help Link and fulfill her duty as Sage of Spirit.
To understand the story —and precisely what happened to Zelda — you must track down the memories, this time being in the form of Geoglyphs all over the kingdom. A contentious mechanic in BOTW, it returns in the sequel. While I didn’t take much issue with it, at least two weren’t needed. Regardless of how you feel about it, however, Nintendo gives us a strong story with exciting moments, such as Ganondorf transforming into the Demon King. The biggest surprise was how Zelda undergoes the forbidden dragonification act and turns into the Light Dragon to restore the Master Sword. That means there were two Zelda’s roaming around Hyrule for years: One as its monarch and one as a dragon roaming the kingdom in the high skies. Once again, Zelda made the ultimate sacrifice to save Hyrule.
I enjoyed much to the story, but the best was finally getting information about the enigmatic Zonai. I had many questions about them before the game’s release, thanks to watching many Zonai theory videos on YouTube. Their unique origin story finally provided some answers, and it felt great to learn that they played a crucial role in this iteration of Hyrule’s founding.
The King of Evil Makes A Grand Return
After 17 years since his last appearance in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Ganondorf returns to the series and does not disappoint. His character design as Ganondorf/Demon King is awesome, and he has not lost his evil touch during his hiatus. He is why Hyrule cannot have the eternal peace King Rauru and Queen Sonia hoped for when they founded the kingdom. Even when he was eventually sealed at the end of the Imprisoning War by Rauru, his evilness seeped into Hyrule in the form of Calamity Ganon and kept being the bane of the kingdom’s existence.
I enjoyed Ganondorf’s iteration in the game, and he proved that no one is better at being the King of Evil than him. My only quibble was that I wanted him to be more manipulative and cunning. He uses a puppet of Zelda to confuse everyone. Still, between showing up during the four “Regional Phenomena” and the “Potential Princess Sightings! Side Adventure” quests, it was obvious that this was not our Zelda. So by the time you got to the big reveal at Hyrule Castle that the whole time it was Ganondorf, it was more confirmation than shock. I was hoping after that moment, there was another way that, behind the scenes, he was still taking advantage of the situation; he didn’t. Despite that thought, Ganondorf’s return was triumphant, and I look forward to seeing his evilness in the next game.
Gameplay
Returning: Many gameplay mechanics transferred to TOTK, such as shrines, the Blood Moon, and the breakable weapons. But there have been many additions as well. Here are a few:
Zonai Devics: The biggest and most exciting gameplay mechanic introduced in TOTK is Zonai devices. Created by the enigmatic Zonai, these devices can be used to build vehicles and weapons and be attached to your armory. You can make cars and airplanes to traverse Hyrule instead of just going by foot or horse. You can attach a rocket to your shield to make a rocket shield! Or, if you're sadistic and cruel, you can create machines to torture the Koroks, the cute little wooden creatures. This is the first time you can do this type of creation in the series, and it's crazy, and I love it. As you can imagine, players have used this mechanic to create innovative and insane designs. I can only imagine Nintendo might start regretting giving us this mechanic; however, series producer Eiji Anonuma anticipated it to happen. While I haven’t made any outrageous inventions, others certainly have.
Hand abilities – Due to Link’s arm being fatally damaged by Ganondorf and being replaced with Rauru’s arm, he now has new abilities called Ancient Powers. There are five altogether, but you’ll most likely use Ultrahand, which allows you to move objects or stick them together, and Fuse, which allows you to attach any items to your weapons.
Map: You have three maps to explore in TOTK. The Sky, where you start the game, has scattered floating islands, some of which were on the surface at one point. The Sky only inhabitants are Constructs, which are TOTK Guardians who cannot tell friend from foe. The Surface might look the same, but it’s not. Many landmarks have been upgraded, and now, with the appearance of caves. And the Depths act as a literal dark mirror of the Surface. The Depths is the most fascinating map to explore because you have to light up your way to see, and it’s also the place that evokes the most horror in the game. To access the Depths, you must go through one of the many chasms created because of the Upheaval.
Boss Battles: All the boss battles in the game were also excellent and a needed upgrade from BOTW, especially the final battle with Ganondorf. You fight him in three phases, the first two being one-on-one swordplay and the final phase with him transformed into the Demon Dragon. I enjoyed these battles over the ones in BOTW.
What I Didn’t Like
While I enjoyed the story, some parts felt incomplete. After the release of BOTW, many fans were theorizing about the origins of the Zonai, as Nintendo left vague hints about the race. It got to a point where if Nintendo didn’t have the Zonai play a significant role in TOTK, many would have been disappointed.
While they played a prominent role in the game (we see two people of the Zonai race, all of the Zonai devices, and we get their origin story), we still don’t know much about them. It’s still a mystery; even with the information we get about the Zonai, we have more questions than answers. For example, in the memory titled “A Show of Fealty,” Ganondorf, while pledging false allegiance to King Rauru and Queen Sonia, says that the mystic and great Zonai once graced the land long ago. Yet, somehow, there are only two Zonai left. What happened between them coming to the Surface and the founding of Hyrule that left only two people of the race surviving? Their story just felt incomplete. And with Eiji Anonuma and Hidemaro Fujibayashi (BOTW and TOTK’s director) telling us that they have no current plans for DLC, it leaves a giant hole in the Zonai’s history. Hopefully, Nintendo will address this in the future.
Furthermore, in the cutscenes with the four Sages after beating the temple's bosses, they were the same. No new information was given about the storyline. It was essentially the same scene with each Sage explaining what happened during the Imprisoning War and Zelda coming to them explaining that they need to help Link and their descendant when the time comes. The first time, it makes sense because you need to explain what happened. But four times!? I initially thought that somehow Ganondorf manipulated these moments, which would explain why we saw the same one repeatedly, but that didn’t happen. So, I don’t understand why we saw the same cutscene. They could have used those scenes with the Sages to tell us what happened before or after the Imprisoning War or what the Hyrule was like. Something that could have added to the story.
Miscellaneous: There were also minor things, such as the erasure of the Guardians responsible for the destruction of Hyrule and traumatizing players in Hyrule, no Kass, and not much of a connection between BOTW and TOTK. There are some easter eggs about the events, but not much else. You don’t need to have played BOTW to understand TOTK. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I would have liked a little more connection between the two.
Conclusion:
Overall, Tears of the Kingdom was a fantastic sequel to Breath of the Wild. The story was great, and the gameplay was outstanding. There were some hiccups, but nothing major prevented the game from being excellent. Many doubted that Nintendo would be unable to top BOTW, but they were wrong. It improved on BOTW in most aspects. And with a 96 rating on Metacritic, which is one point less than BOTW, I think it’s safe to say it was a hit all around, and everyone who worked on its development should be proud of themselves.
I have to admit that TOTK came when I needed it most. I was in a depressive state and looking forward to the game coming out because I had no doubts that it would be great. So I was very excited when I got the game and played almost every day as it brought me out of that, even if it was temporary. So, regardless of what everyone else thinks, this game will always have a special place in my heart and be a gift.
Additional Links:
https://zeldawiki.wiki/wiki/The_Legend_of_Zelda:_Tears_of_the_Kingdom
https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2023/05/zelda-tears-kingdom-aonuma-fujibayashi
Hello everyone! I finally completed my review for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom! It took longer than I expected, but I finally got it done. I apologize for the lateness.
Until Next Time,
Monique 🎮
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