This review contains spoilers
I think my biggest issue with TOTK is, despite great effort being placed on iteration of BOTWs sandbox style design, the game puts a quarter of said effort into designing content the player will be coming across.
You never encounter anything in TOTK once, content is repeated ad nauseum to the point where a player can predict almost anything on the map after only experiencing half of it. I remember dropping into a chasm and being greeted by an apparently invincible mini boss that I had to run away from, it was a surprising introduction that still lasts in my memory of this game. However, further exploration reveals that the boss is the only unique boss across the entire map, cheapening the memory in retrospect. Going into a well then dropping down into a cave system hiding a shrine is great until you see this idea executed again and again, with the shrine always containing a free Light of Blessing despite the cave not being a challenge to traverse. The Depths and Sky Islands are the worst perpetuators of this idea. It’s fun to create Zonai devices or use Link’s abilities to reach new islands or traverse haphazard topography but the actual goal of these areas seems more like looking for something of interest rather than the game presenting you with something cool.
TOTK leans more towards a sequel that iterates upon the design and principles that many people praised BOTW for, but it forgets that BOTW works due to the novelty of exploration. Even years after playing the game all the way through, there are still moments and areas that I have distinct memories of for being surprising and unique. The Lost Woods, the Forgotten Temple, Eventide Island, Thyphlo Ruins, all these areas are ones the player only experiences once. Despite being almost three times the size, TOTK spreads itself thin with its ideas. There’s so much missed potential here, there’s so many ideas for combining enemies and dungeon mechanics to create unique challenges for the player to find in the world but the game is so content in taking the easy way out.
It's frustrating because the game shows bits and pieces of embracing these ideas. Battle Taluses are the best example of the game combining enemy types to synthesize something cool and memorable. Imagine if enemies wielded weapons more unorthodox than simple rock hammers or bouncy sticks, imagine if you encountered enemies in caves and they wielded magic wands with gems infused to the weapons. The best moment in the game was when I stumbled onto the Construct Factory by simply braving the storm on Dragonhead Island. The game shows that it can surprise you with something genuinely worth your time, and the best part was that it happened once and never again.
This game is bloated, but I still found myself wanting more? I can imagine so many creative uses of shrines and enemies that would apply towards a more endgame heavy challenge. Wizzrobes are almost non-existent in these games, why not use them to supplement larger enemies or have them buff enemies or change the weather mid fight? Why don’t scaled up enemies get more complex in terms of their mechanics and move set? I love the simplicity of the mini-bosses and how they act as mini-puzzles, but why aren’t there more of them?
The mechanics and ideas this game presents are fascinating to me. The open-ended nature of combat and puzzle solving combined with the exploration of an open world are such obvious factors for why these games have mass appeal. It’s so annoying to me that the game suffers from such obvious and preventable flaws that even I can propose easy solutions. The developers have a genuine 11/10 on their hands but they’re too afraid to truly take it that far.
You never encounter anything in TOTK once, content is repeated ad nauseum to the point where a player can predict almost anything on the map after only experiencing half of it. I remember dropping into a chasm and being greeted by an apparently invincible mini boss that I had to run away from, it was a surprising introduction that still lasts in my memory of this game. However, further exploration reveals that the boss is the only unique boss across the entire map, cheapening the memory in retrospect. Going into a well then dropping down into a cave system hiding a shrine is great until you see this idea executed again and again, with the shrine always containing a free Light of Blessing despite the cave not being a challenge to traverse. The Depths and Sky Islands are the worst perpetuators of this idea. It’s fun to create Zonai devices or use Link’s abilities to reach new islands or traverse haphazard topography but the actual goal of these areas seems more like looking for something of interest rather than the game presenting you with something cool.
TOTK leans more towards a sequel that iterates upon the design and principles that many people praised BOTW for, but it forgets that BOTW works due to the novelty of exploration. Even years after playing the game all the way through, there are still moments and areas that I have distinct memories of for being surprising and unique. The Lost Woods, the Forgotten Temple, Eventide Island, Thyphlo Ruins, all these areas are ones the player only experiences once. Despite being almost three times the size, TOTK spreads itself thin with its ideas. There’s so much missed potential here, there’s so many ideas for combining enemies and dungeon mechanics to create unique challenges for the player to find in the world but the game is so content in taking the easy way out.
It's frustrating because the game shows bits and pieces of embracing these ideas. Battle Taluses are the best example of the game combining enemy types to synthesize something cool and memorable. Imagine if enemies wielded weapons more unorthodox than simple rock hammers or bouncy sticks, imagine if you encountered enemies in caves and they wielded magic wands with gems infused to the weapons. The best moment in the game was when I stumbled onto the Construct Factory by simply braving the storm on Dragonhead Island. The game shows that it can surprise you with something genuinely worth your time, and the best part was that it happened once and never again.
This game is bloated, but I still found myself wanting more? I can imagine so many creative uses of shrines and enemies that would apply towards a more endgame heavy challenge. Wizzrobes are almost non-existent in these games, why not use them to supplement larger enemies or have them buff enemies or change the weather mid fight? Why don’t scaled up enemies get more complex in terms of their mechanics and move set? I love the simplicity of the mini-bosses and how they act as mini-puzzles, but why aren’t there more of them?
The mechanics and ideas this game presents are fascinating to me. The open-ended nature of combat and puzzle solving combined with the exploration of an open world are such obvious factors for why these games have mass appeal. It’s so annoying to me that the game suffers from such obvious and preventable flaws that even I can propose easy solutions. The developers have a genuine 11/10 on their hands but they’re too afraid to truly take it that far.