Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Review
Welcome to Hyrule, a land filled with hope and promise, that is until a dark presence starts to stir underneath Hyrule Castle. Princess Zelda and her always present swordsman, Link, go to investigate what could be lurking down there to discover a mummified man being held by a glowing hand. It is when they take a closer look that things go sideways, and backwards (at least for Zelda) and the game truly begins. There’s also the part about the Master Sword being rendered completely useless, but it’s the start of the game, so try not to worry too much?
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom takes you back to the Hyrule that you ran around forever in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, but this time there’s a different story to follow. You will have to uncover the ruins that float in the sky, you will have to delve into the treacherous depths filled with Gloom (a substance that will steal your health away). You will need to find the Great Sages to help combat the evil that has once again been released into this world. You’ll also get to deal with your ever-breaking weapons for yet another round (at least most seem to last through a round of combat).
I’m not going to lie, this is a game that is going to take a good amount of time to conquer. There’s definitely tons of side quests that, in my opinion, are essential if you want to stand a chance against what waits for you at the end of the game. I’m not sure exactly how many hours I put into this game but I have a feeling it would be close to 100 hours. That’s how much content this game has.
In this version of Zelda you’re going to be given a set of abilities that will help you conquer different parts of the game. You will be given the ability to lift certain objects and connect them together. You will be given the ability to reverse time on some of the objects that you will interact with. You will have the ability to ascend upwards through many obstacles (rocks, ceilings, etc). You will have the ability to fuse certain objects into your weapons or shields. There are other abilities too, but these are the ones that you’re going to be using the most. I highly recommend that you constantly fuse something to your weapons, not only does it help with durability but its strength will also increase.
I will fully admit that there were certain pivotal moments in the game that I thought I was ready for but ended up getting destroyed by what I had to face. I will give everyone a helpful hint as soon as you have the ability to start the Great Fairy subquest(s) do them all. They are the beings that can unlock your armor’s full potential, and they also make you feel like you're a genius for constantly picking up those bugs, enemy parts, ore, etc that have been accumulating in your inventory with nowhere, really, to go. You might not be invincible after getting your armor upgraded, but you’re going to feel a bit more secure when it comes to having to constantly change armor sets to deal with the environment or the weather while battling enemies.
I will fully admit that I have NOT defeated every Zelda from start to finish, and yes that includes the games I’ve attempted to play, but I was dead set on seeing the ending to this game. For those who play the game you’ll understand one of my driving reasons when you collect all the dragon tears (a quest that helps fill in a lot of blanks), and having put so much time into this game I felt that I had to see those ending credits.
It's an amazing, well crafted game that I think doesn’t surprise anyone. There’s not many Zelda games out there that people are impressed or proud to have played. Honestly this is now one of my top Zelda games of all time. I poured my blood, sweat, and tears into this game and in the end the game didn’t disappoint. Sure there were frustrating moments, and there was also a big lull in progress at one point during my playthrough, but overall this game is worth playing, it’s as simple as that. If you have a Nintendo Switch, this is something you need to have in your game library.