One thing became clear early on in my time with The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom: I am simply not creative enough for this game. This was crystallized the first time I tried to create a machine to easily fly from one Sky Island to another.
Using the hot air balloons that dot the landscape, I dropped a few Flame Emitters I had from a recent trip to a Gacha Dispenser. Thinking that I could use the flames to propel myself up like a rocket (not realizing at the time there were literal rockets in Tears of the Kingdom), I attached four to the underside of a wooden platform. I realized that I might not need the balloons themselves as a result of using the flame jets to propel myself instead, I scrapped attaching the balloon itself, instead opting to just use the platform to raise myself to the island above me.
Instead what happened was the flame jets shot into the ground of the island, setting the grass around me ablaze, destroying the wooden board that was to be my riding platform, and killing myself in the inferno.
It was magical.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is a very different Zelda game than others in the series, even compared to 2016's excellent Breath of the Wild. While most Zelda titles bring new mechanics and an overarching theme that those mechanics tie into, such as Link's Wolf Form in Twilight Princess or the iconic Ocarina of Time in the aptly named The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Tears of the Kingdom adds so many new and interesting mechanics on top of each other it's a testament to the devs at Nintendo that the game - and the Nintendo Switch - doesn't simply buckle under the weight of it all.
Set after the events of Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom starts off with Zelda and Link exploring the ruins underneath Hyrule Castle. Attempting to explore the depths of the world after the Calamity Ganon wreaked havoc on Hyrule - especially the source of a new Gloom that has taken hold in the Kingdom, the duo come across a major discovery: the Demon King defeated in a war long past was being held in Stasis under the castle.
Held there by the power of Hyrule's long-lost Zonai race, the Demon King Gannondorf is awakened, spreading the Gloom further, corrupting both the Master Sword and Link himself. The Hero of Time is kept alive barely because of the power of the Zonai, and in the process nets himself a new arm for his troubles.
Gone is the Sheikah Slate from Breath of the Wild, instead replaced with the streamlined Purah Pad which acts as the map, camera, and adventure guide. Instead of using the Pad to interact with the world as we saw in Breath of the Wild, Link instead sees his newly found arm equipped with the powers of the Zonai, with the ability to stop and reverse time, Ascend through rock to get to high places, and even fuse items together to form everything from a shield with a boulder strapped to it to that ill-fated flying platform.
What Doesn't This Game Have?
One of the insane aspects of Tears of the Kingdom is the sheer number of systems this RPG has. Normally, as I mentioned before, each Zelda game adds something unique that comes to define that entry in the series. For Breath of the Wild, we started to see how multiple systems and mechanics could define the RPG. One can make the argument that the Sheikah Slate and its myriad abilities set the tone really early for players. And you aren't wrong. Skill such as the various Bombs to the magnetism that defined so much of the gameplay really shook up what made Zelda feel great compared to previous entries.
But then you had the Glider and the new full open world that could be explored. Zelda has always had its overworld that was explorable, but not like this. Climbing, swimming, gliding, riding - every nook and cranny was accessible.
Tears of the Kingdom takes those great concepts from Breath of the Wild and just makes them feel like they were mere proof of concepts. The Zonai skills Link has access to are reminiscent of the skills from Breath of the Wild, but feel more refined. Instead of only interacting with metal moveable objects, pretty much every item is interactable with the Ultrahand ability. Not only that, but that ability can fuse those items together, allowing for some incredible puzzle-solving in the new and improved Shrines that dot the landscape.
It's forced me to think so differently in Tears of the Kingdom than I normally would in a game of this nature. Before while the physics puzzles were pretty good in BotW, they never required me to ponder whether or not I'd have to build something to accomplish the task. One Shrine required me to build platforms that could grind on long rails throughout the Shrine.
It wasn't as straightforward as just dropping a platform on the rail and hoping for the best. Instead, I had to think about how the weight of the platform would shift during a turn, whether or not one area where it would have to jump from one rail to another whether it would simply bounce off the second rail. It requires a lot of lateral thinking that really gives me a sense of accomplishment when I get it together in the end.
That's just Ultrahand and its built-in fuse ability. Link can also fuse weapons together - which makes sense since every weapon in Hyrule for the most part has been decayed by the Gloom covering the land. From fusing rusty swords with giant boulders to attaching a flame emitter to my shield, it creates some interesting combinations in any situation.
I'll admit, when I first saw this in the gameplay reveals, I was a bit nonplussed. I thought the idea of running around with a stick with a giant boulder attached to it was ridiculous - and it is. But it's so useful, especially now that Link doesn't have instant access to bombs. Breaking through craggy boulders or crates is easy now, and more often than not, I've got one sitting in my inventory for just those purposes.
However, I think everything made sense the first time I attached a Keese eye to an arrow. Being able to effectively create a heat-seeking arrow in Zelda was game-changing.
Now, when trying to take out far away enemies, if I was having trouble aiming thanks to the framerate or the stick being too sensitive despite adjusting it in the menu, just slap a Keese eye on and let it fly. Better yet, an elemental Keese eye will give it all those properties as well - so it's fun to send an electric Keese eye into a group of goblins, knowing they will all feel the sting of its impact.
There is so much in this new Zelda that feels it could stand on its own. Take the Ascend ability. Being able to just zoom up cliff faces with this ability makes moving around the map so much easier - and it allows for some great ways to get the jump on an enemy camp. Strapping a minecart onto the shield using Fuse gives Link not only another way to shield surf, but also rail grind on the many sky island chains pretty conveniently.
What makes it all so impressive is that nothing buckles under the weight of anything. It all just...works. And it works as it naturally would. The physics simulation on display here is world-class and it seems like the developers took their time to really think of everything a player could think of, and then made sure it was in Tears of the Kingdom somehow. It's an incredible achievement.
There is still so much to do
I've put about 20 hours into Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom since launch, venturing through the Sky Islands, Hyrule and even exploring some of the Depths below the world. If you've played Breath of the Wild much will be familiar. Link still can attack all the same ways as before and weapons degrade just like in the first installment. It doesn't feel as bad this time around, though, knowing that at any moment I can make a sword with a Zonai Construct Horn and a Stick, but it's still there.
Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom brings back the dungeons and temples we know from the series and I've completed the first of four major weather anomalies Link needs to investigate before confronting the Demon King. So far I'm enjoying my time, and we'll dive in a bit more about those temples and the story in our next review in progress next week.
There's so much left to do, yet nothing feels insurmountable. On the contrary, it all feels exciting and refreshing to be riding Epona through Hyrule Field once more. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is the first game in a long while where as I play it time seems to melt away. And I can't wait to have it melt away more in the coming days.
