The newest game in the Zelda franchise “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom” is now on the Nintendo Switch! The last main entry in the long-running Zelda series was “Breath of the Wild,” which debuted a whole six years ago. All that time in between has led to fans’ excitement reaching heights almost never seen before, but it’s safe to say that “Tears of the Kingdom” lives up to the hype.
Things kick things off encouragingly by immersing the player back into the familiar world of Hyrule. The game is beautifully rendered, on a map filled with varied landscapes. Visually it resembles its highly regarded predecessor but distinctly has an upgraded look. Because “Breath of the Wild” was made for the previous console, the Wii U, it looked a little underpowered on the newer Switch. This sequel has been specifically designed for the Switch, and as such, takes full advantage of the newer hardware.
The huge open world preserves the first thing gamers think of when Zelda comes to mind – exploration. Following an early game section set in a series of islands, as Link you can go virtually anywhere in the game’s expansive map. But that ambiguity isn’t overwhelming like you would think, it gives the player a huge amount of choice. There are many avenues to pursue, so there’s also plenty of agency for whatever direction the player decides to go.
Throughout your journeys through Hyrule, Link will have to climb, run, fly, and of course, defend himself from a multitude of creatures. Weapon durability is back, but this time it seems more weapons are dropped by enemies, so it doesn’t pose as big of an annoyance as before. Quite simply it’s fun to hit baddies with sticks, but there’s more to it than that as well.
Link has access to a whole host of new powers that are great fun to discover and play around with. Ultra Hand is practically a game changer, manipulating environmental elements to craft objects to help you in Link’s quest. Fuse allows the crafting of new weapons from the ones you collect through the game, and Ascend is an awesome ability that combines flying and phasing through solid matter. My favorite is Recall, which lets you rewind time with specific objects. I love applying it to objects enemies throw at you since it launches them back from whence they came! But it also proves useful in puzzle-solving. And speaking of which, discovering these powers often includes a puzzle, making the acquisition of each of them feel so rewarding and earned.
Those elements, along with the large map, open the story and world up in a way that brings you back to your childhood, adventuring around your local forests. Series creator Shigeru Miyamoto said he came up with the idea for the Zelda games by drawing on his experiences as a boy, exploring caves near his home. That sense of adventure has always been a constant in the franchise and is a key piece to this installment as well. Even after playing for hours you never know what is lurking around each corner.
The end result is another excellent Zelda adventure, featuring fun yet simple action gameplay that anyone can pick up and play. It’s a nice combination of old and new, with the familiar exploration we all love from the series alongside a few new surprises in character power-ups. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is available now for the Nintendo Switch.
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* IttyBittyAtlas was sent a review copy of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom by Nintendo. However, all thoughts and opinions are our own and in no way influenced by compensation or suggestion.
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