The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Reddit take
AI summary of the Reddit excerpts below — not a quote
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is widely praised for its ambitious engineering and the creative freedom provided by its sandbox mechanics. While many users consider it a massive improvement over its predecessor with 'holy shit' moments and a deeper story, opinions are mixed regarding the reuse of the Breath of the Wild map and the quality of the new 'Depths' area, which some found repetitive or oversized.
Pros
- Incredible technical engineering that maintains stability despite complex physics systems
- Expansive open world with a 'massive' amount of content and activities
- Creative freedom through a solid set of rules and tools that 'set the player free'
- Engaging story and cutscenes that appeal to both long-time fans and new players
Cons
- The 'Depths' (underworld) can feel boring or over-scaled to some players
- Reused map from the previous title is seen by some as a failure in variety
- Performance issues on original hardware, including framerate drops and image blurriness
- Higher entry price point ($70) compared to previous Nintendo titles
Caveats
- Performance is reportedly significantly better on newer or alternative hardware configurations compared to the original Switch
- Hardcore fans of traditional Zelda formulas often find the BotW/TotK style less appealing
- The sheer scale of the world can be 'overwhelming' for some players
Best for
- Players who enjoy sandbox-style experimentation and physics-based puzzles
- Fans of Breath of the Wild looking for an expanded version of that gameplay loop
- Completionists who want a game with hundreds of hours of content
Avoid if
- You were already burnt out on the map and world-style of Breath of the Wild
- You prefer a more linear, traditional Zelda experience with unique, non-reused environments
This summary uses balanced time weighting with about a 122-month half-life. The evidence comes from a selection of 30 mentions with a median age of 426 days, reflecting a stable consensus since the game's release.
Sentiment
42 positive (55%) · 26 mixed (34%) · 8 negative (11%)
Trust + time weighted score: +47% · raw score 45%
What redditors said (10 of 76)
I played around 130 hours of TOTK on switch 2 and the experience is so much nicer than switch 1. I can count a handful of times the framerate dropped.
When Tears of the Kingdom came out, I sent my parents this article to show them that, yes, gaming is a perfectly mainstream entertainment medium
For me, the Fuse system fixed the weapon durability problem. In BotW, I rarely ever used any weapon apart from the basic moblin/bokoblin stuff... Meanwhile in TotK, that was not a problem for me. I had as many strong weapons as I had Lizalfos horns, and I had a lot of lizalfos horns, so why be stingy?
I still wonder how in the hell they made TOTK work so well without being janky.
Obviously, it's still a good game at absolute worst. But I can't help but feel down at the thought of what could've been. ... I'd swap the entire depths for like 3 more proper sky islands. Besides that, the reused map was a huge failure to me.
Parent context: I kept playing the game until I was a bit bored and then did the final boss. I made sure to do the stuff I was most interested in first, but there was certainly stuff I skipped for my first playthrough. I plan to do another playthrough some day, so I certainly didn't feel like I needed to do everything. I think a lot of people can't get over their completionist mentality, so they expect a lot of … Reply: *Tears* is nice in that there are all those different effects with the different sets, one more "playground" item to enjoy.
The final battles were **very** satisfying. I **had** to use **all** my stockpiled resources efficiently. I loved it. No more "finishing the game with a million unused Full Elixirs and Nuclear Bomb consumables."
It was hella fun. ... the final battles were **very** satisfying. I **had** to use **all** my stockpiled resources efficiently. I loved it.
It was hella fun. ... Myamoto's design philosophy of "a drawer full of playgrounds" seemed odd to me as a kid... As an adult, though, and playing these modern offerings, this philosophy really shrines, as *Tears* (and *Breath* before it) **let me do what I wanted to do in the game, then move on to the next "playground."**
The split between sky/surface/depths exploration feels like such a natural extension of open world design I'm surprised no one else has tried it before. I also feel like there's substantially improved enemy/combat variety
Compare
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