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Starting off as more DLC for “Breath of the Wild,” “Tears of the Kingdom” morphed into a brand-new game. Keeping everything that worked from the first game and adding some new locations and some amazing new game mechanics, the new game is just as good (and possibly better than) its predecessor. However, this comes at a cost of feeling more like a remix instead of something truly unique.
It’s hard to say much about this game that I didn’t already say about the first one. But in a nutshell: The open-world gameplay allows for seemingly endless possibilities and the option to proceed through the game in just about any order the player wants. The early part of the game can be frustrating as Link can be killed pretty easily, weapons and shields are not very powerful and extremely fragile which makes combat something that feels like it should be avoided. However, once Link picks up some heart containers and some better gear, the fights become more balanced. While exploring the vast lands of Hyrule (not to mention the floating islands above and the Depths below) is one of the strongest aspects of the game, there is a bit of a feeling of that you’ve seen all of this before if you played BotW. But what made that game so special was the almost limitless freedom that you were allowed in most aspects in the game. Rarely was there just one solution to solving a puzzle or accomplishing a goal. This game takes that concept even further, with even more room for creativity, with the standout feature being the ability to construct objects and vehicles. While I didn’t take advantage of this as much as I could, you’re really only limited by your imagination.
The story is solid and has some really cool twists to the typical Zelda storylines. The biggest problem is that it kind of feels like just an alternate script from BotW, where this games zigs while that game zagged. And not only does the sage stuff pretty much sticks to the formula of most these games, players should pretty quickly figure out where things are heading and will be dumbfounded that none of the other characters can seem to put two and two together. (Which is even more glaringly obvious as far as Zelda’s story arc.) While the basic story can get fairly repetitive, it does wrap up just as you’re getting bored with it. For those who want to try to “100%” the game, strap in for a long ride. Not only does certain tasks like upgrading armor and tracking down Korak seeds seem to take hours of exploring and grinding out monster fights, it robs the sense of accomplishment you felt if did all this last game and now have to do it all over again and then some.
Overall, the game is probably better than the amazing first game, but it suffers from mostly being the same game…but better. The story is really cool but is somehow both original and redundant at the same time. Not to mention it kind of retcons some of the previous game and possibly the series as a whole.
****1/2 out of *****