Review — The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

A few years ago I played through Breath of the Wild and I thought it was an incredible experience and really loved the fresh take on not just the Zelda formula, but the open-world formula. I loved and enjoyed the new abilities, shrines, and combat, but it was my adventures following the narrative and discovering the world’s mysterious secrets that kept me engaged. When I felt those ran out, I praised the experience I had but considered my love affair with Breath of the Wild to be over as I moved on to other games.

Picking up Tears of the Kingdom, I certainly had my doubts going in. I was on the brink of Open World Fatigue after completing Cyberpunk 2077 and SpiderMan Remastered back to back. Not to mention the elephant in the room, the question we all were wondering: How can they possibly make a sequel to a game that is already a masterpiece? How do you innovate on borderline perfection?

It didn’t take long playing Tears of the Kingdom to have my doubts vanish as I realized that I was playing an impossibly fantastic game. And fantastically addictive. Tears of the Kingdom miraculously resolved gripes I had with Breath of the Wild that I didn’t even know or remember I had, and it adds so many extra meaningful and interesting mechanics, side quests, and whatever else to keep you occupied that it is borderline ridiculous. I cannot…