I Was Scared For Tears Of The Kingdom, But Why? Future Of The Zelda Franchise

The legacy of The Legend of Zelda franchise is a behemoth in the gaming world, with every entry an innovative fresh start, an element that has kept the series so relevant. If the cartoony style of toon link to highlight the child-like self-discovery adventure Windwaker didn’t vibe with you, they proceeded to change things up in Twilight Princess in its dingey coloured landscape and serious themes to convey the impending twilight. There is something for everyone in terms of gameplay, style and story, it’s this lack of consistency that is genius in welcoming a vast new audience and also keeping old players invigorated, which is why I held my breath when it came to the announcement of Tears of the Kingdom. We had never technically got a sequel to a Zelda game before, the closest being Oracles, but this was a mainline title, a title that was produced every few years. This arguably diminished my excitement as I realised that that Nintendo could be going down the route of riding the BOTW hype train.

Don’t get me wrong, BOTW is my favourite open-world game of all time. It changed how I viewed the capability of this genre, as I realised pretty graphics paired with a sense of emptiness wasn’t good enough. Nintendo innovatively used a carrot and stick method when it came to exploring Hyrule as every area you explored, there was always something in the corner of my eye tempting me to go see what it was. This created addiction in uncovering what the world had to offer, from simple Korok seeds to ruins. BOTW was also designed to be a Wii U game, a console with vastly limited potential compared to Sony and Microsoft, but it still managed to top all their games due to its relentless creative freedom. It truly was open to whatever you wanted to do and see. With all these positives I can see why Nintendo wanted to capitalise on this perfect game, everything was perfect so why not just build on it? However this building process, I hoped would create a new world, an instalment that felt new, so did it?

Now it seems like I’m building up to finally say I hate TOTK, give the hottest take of the year. But nah, I actually loved this game and truly think it expanded and provided the definitive version of these two games. What I think helped in making Hyrule feel so new was 1. The time between the games (I played BOTW back in 2019 so it seemed like a fond distant memory) and 2. The sandwich of worlds (yes I think we are gonna use a sandwich metaphor). Exploring an old Hyrule felt like a perfect mix of wow look at that, and aw I remember this, a mix that allowed for intrigue and nostalgia. My absolute favourite new element of this game were the caves, as this epitomised what BOTW did so well in using the carrot and stick. These caves would open up little dungeons with their own puzzles, quests and loot to plunder. Its these new minute details that keep you addicted. The aforementioned sandwich of worlds alludes to the sky and the depths. Two new completely different areas to uncover that mirrored Hyrule. Whilst the sky lands were massively marketed and focused on as the ‘gimmick’ of TOTK it felt lacklustre compared to the hidden depths. The sky, like the caves provided titbits of puzzles and shrines to complete, they were more like an oh nice when you jumped from a location tower and served as a minor distraction. However, the lack of stuff to do reduced it to how excited I was for the caves. However, completely hidden from all marketing was the depths, a complete new world underneath Hyrule that served as a mirror for above. Where a shrine would be there would a lightroot, a goddess statues into a bargainer statue. These parallels achieved the same otherworldly excitement I got when I had first discovered Hyrule in 2017. The depths are not nearly as detailed the above, but the constant enemy camps, light roots and depth specific loot to get what definitely a fantastic surprise.

Another expansion on the creative freedom of BOTW were the new abilities, which completely changed the way people played. The ability to merge any object together wasn’t something I completely vibed with because my cosy little brain got frustrated with how clunky it could be at times, and I didn’t have an engineering bone in my body. Most shrines was me using a bomb shield, piling objects to make a mess I could climb or spamming ascend until it worked. However I appreciate how amazing these features are. To be able to customise your entire combat experience by merging weapons and using buffs resembled JRPGs, and being able to create vehicles and monster killing machines resembled Minecraft-like games. This blend of genres and potential opened Hyrule back up as a sandbox with persistently beautiful graphics. Nintendo has done it again in regards to keeping the gaming world fresh with ideas, and with how many hours I poured into this game in its opening week, I cant be mad in this definitive version of my favourite open world game.