By Dean Moses
Game: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Rating: E for Everyone 10+
Cost: $69.99
The Legend of Zelda has returned to Nintendo’s hybrid console in what could possibly mark the most anticipated release in the history of the Switch, selling 10 million copies in just three days.
Serving as a direct sequel to The Legend of Zelda: The Breath of the Wild that was released back in 2017, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom takes everything that made its predecessor great and somehow improves on it in every way. While Breath of the Wild became the first in the franchise to set protagonist Link loose in a vast, open-world, Tears of the Kingdom makes that open-world a toy for the player thanks to a new system that allows Link to construct useful items out of debris left scattered throughout.
Gameplay
Gamers are once again able to explore the vast lands of Hyrule and search the mysterious floating islands that have popped up in the skies above. It is up to players to master Link’s new abilities as they navigate the islands, new towns, and more all in an effort to uncover the dark gloom that is plaguing the kingdom. Link is able to create new weapons and craft ways to travel throughout the changing landscape, using abilities such as Ultrahand, which can pick up and rotate objects as well as attach things together to create pathways and bridges. Another skill is Fuse, which can be used to attach objects to whatever weapon Link is using, increasing damage and durability. Another ability players can use is Ascend, this allows Link to pass through solid objects above him, like ceilings, hillside mountains, and more creating a shortcut in this vast land.
Conclusion
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is the best of the franchise with its beautiful graphics, melodic musical score, and endless lands and skies to explore. There is a lot to do in this iteration, so when developers used the slogan “Explore, create, and discover,” they were not stating this lightly. There are so many interactions to be had with sprites in the towns and enemies to battle, and the creativity component allows players tools to engineer their own solutions to puzzles and enemies.
