Open World games are sure to be here for a long time, probably a videogame genre that will never die, sadly. Zelda needed to change after Skyward Sword, they were recycling the Oot formula for a long time and while I love Oot, it was getting tiring, that´s when Breath of the Wild came and not only it revolutionized the franchise but the whole Open World genre as well. Anyways, Breath of the Wild is a great game but in the chanching process, it felt to me like it forgot about some really cool things about the franchise in order to become an Open World game, that´s why Tears of the Kingdom is so great, it holds everything that made Breath of the Wild a great Open World game and mixes it with everything that makes The Legend of Zelda to be great.
I could first talk about the map, Breath of the Wild had a big world map already which is the same but with many changes through the world that it makes it feel as a new game, I was afraid because I didn´t want Tears of the Kingdom just to be a DLC but seems like there wasn´t any need to be afraid in the first place, the game does a great job to make you feel you are playing something new, despite they are recycling the same map and characters from the previous game, there are a ton of new things to do in the game, every town is changed at its own way and through the field you can encounter new kind of bosses and enemies which can be pretty hard to beat tho.
Apart from what I mentioned about the world map, there are actually two maps left: Sky and Depths. Alright, both the sky and depths has the same size vertically and horizontally speaking, so you could say the three maps are of the same size, I don´t know if you understand what I´m talking about that´s insanely long and big, it´s basically as if they tripled the map game and it´s even more amazing when you realize the dynamic between the maps are not the same, which means you´ll be doing different things on every map. Every sky island is a puzzle and most of the times you´ll be figuring out by yourself how to reach other sky islands and you know that´s they beauty of the game, Tears of the Kingdom never tells you how to actually reach the other sky island, it´s something you must figure out by yourself through the tools the game provides you, there is no correct way to reach other sky islands and that´s beautiful, you can reach them whenever want.
The Depths are probably the most Dark Souls thing you´ll find in a Zelda game ever, it´s a dark place which is absolutely hostile, in The Depths you´ll find the hardest enemies to beat plus the place is actually a little terrifying, this place has a great atmosphere which makes you feel like you are nothing. In this place, there is something called gloom, if this gloom touches you, you´ll be losing hearts, the thing is, once you lose a heart, you won´t be able to recover it unless you go outside in the surface or sky or eat some food that helps you to recover some hearts that are corrupted by the gloom, The Depths is a place filled with a lot of powerful bosses and enemies which are corrupted by the gloom as well, this place is insanely big, even more than the Sky Islands.
One of my biggest critics about Breath of the Wild were the Divine Beasts, in case you don´t know, they were the main dungeons in the game, not gonna say they suck but they were kind of a letdown to me, it´s understandable they can´t be as complex someone would like because of the Open World thing but it is what it is, in Tears of the Kingdom, not only they got rid of the Divine Beasts (thank God) but they actually brought temples back, I had a blast exploring these temples, they are kind of a mix between the design of a Divine Beast and a classic dungeon, I honestly think two of these temples are not that good but the rest is peak temple design, even the main bosses are great now, they were repetitive in Breath of the Wild and a lame design but in Tears of the Kingdom they solved it and now the main bosses are unique and feel like they have more personality now, not gonna say they are perfect but it truly is a step forward. I´ve got to say, not only temples are great, but the way to reach them is pretty epic as well.
Breath of the Wild had a structure which was about solving shrines and getting orbs, this way you can increase your stamina and hearts, said structure is back once again in Tears of the Kingdom, I felt a bit disappointed at first because I wasn´t in the mood of solving puzzles from the shrines once again but I loved it, I genuinely thing shrines from this game are a lot better than the ones seen in Breath of the Wild, they are better designed and I found them pretty difficult, like I had to use a lot of logic in these shrines, there were shrines where I actually got stucked like for 30 minutes, I personally loved these shrines, I completed 119 shrines in Tears of the Kingdom while in Breah of the Wild I just managed to do like 70, it helps a lot that they dont feel repetitive as they were in Breath of the Wild.
There are for new abilities plus one which is hidden through Hyrule, I just don´t want to become this review a guide on how to use them so I´ll review them as quick as I can. There is Rewind which is a pretty neat ability that allows certain object to travel back in time, Rewind still amazes me these days, one thing is to see it and other thing is to play it. Next thing is Fuse which is pretty mindblow, you can fuse everything on the game to your weapos, shield or bow, it´s amazing, I mean, not the first time we actually see this kind of mechanic, but yeah, first time it´s well done like this, the number of combinations you can do in the game are just insane and the game is always inciting you to be creative and curious and that´s cool. For example, the hardest some monster is, the better materials it´ll drop, so we can fuse whenever material it drop to us to our weapon and we´ll got a really powerful weapon, you see, it´s a great way to make you feel rewarded for defeating dangerous foes.
Ascend is another one, it basically allows you to literally ascend any kind of surface, let´s say you are on a house and you just don´t want to climb it, well, you can use Ascend to get to the ceiling, that´s just an example but you can just Ascend everything if the surface allows you to, it´s amazing, I though a game mechanic as Ascend would break the game and I´m spechless because it doesn´t, it´s amazing how the game actually doesn´t break anytime, the Ascend ability is pretty useful but still you´ll have to climb, it´s just an easier way to reach some destinations. Last ability I want to talk about is Ultrahand, it literally lets you to build anything you want, the limit here is your imagination and that´s nuts, you know, I really don´t like these games where you are supposed to construct things, I can´t stand Minecaft and well, I was afraid that this ability would be boring to me and nothing further from reality, building things is so much fun, it´s so addictive, and it doesn´t feel complicated at all, everything you think you can just build it and it´s impressive, you can just drive through the sky with machines you build by yourself.
Personally, I think The Legend of Zelda has a great and big lore but their games don´t have the most well elaborated story, this may vary because of some games like Majora´s Mask but even so, I don´t think it needs it to be honest so I don´t understand why there is so many people suddenly claiming for a Zelda with a great story as if previous game had the best story of all time and it wasn´t like that, just my opinion though. I know that for what I said you would think that I´m going to say that the story is pretty bad and it doesn´t matter because is Zelda, and no, actually, I think the story actually well elaborated, it can get confusing from times to times and I think it´sthe first time that I feel so connnected to Link and inmersed on the plot and the characters, I actually shed a few tears through the story and that´s something only Ocarina of Time has been able to do so (mainly because of nostalgia), not gonna say it´s a perfect narrative but the way it made me feel inmersed was magic, it´s the first time that I actually care THAT much for what´s happening to Zelda or maybe other characters.
The same way, I think side quests are better than in Breath of the Wild, mostly because many of them are actually interesting, some side quests can give as a reward even more lore from the game which is great. There are new side quests which serves as side stories, not gonna lie, they are not as great as you would find in Majora´s Mask, at leat, I´m talking about the ones I did and managed to complete, still, can´t deny I had a great time completing these side adventures, most of them are really nice.
In summary, Tears of the Kingdom upgrades everything that Breath of the Wild did and in the way, it manages to save all of these things that were lost, things that impregnated the franchise from its beginings, I think there is no definitive Zelda game as every game is great by itself, but I´d dare to say that Tears of the Kingdom is the most close we´ll get to a definitive Zelda, at least for now.
All of the screenshots were taken by me