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PC - Switch - PS4
I reserve 5 star ratings for games that had an objectively big influence in gaming/pop culture, in addition to being a personal favorite of mine.
PC - Switch - PS4
I reserve 5 star ratings for games that had an objectively big influence in gaming/pop culture, in addition to being a personal favorite of mine.
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This review contains spoilers
I know I am in the minority of not loving this game. Unfortunately this game threw away everything I loved about the previous Zelda titles that I played. It added some new things which I liked, and even though I can see that there is a lot of love and effort put into this game, there is just too much sorely missed when I compare this game to previous titles like "Ocarina of Time" or "Twilight Princess" - the two games I have completed in this franchise.
What I missed from previous titles:
- Big dungeons with unique looks, vibes, music, bosses, interesting and varied puzzles, etc.
- Level design outside the dungeons. One of my favorite parts of BTOW was the Yiga Clan Hideout, more of this would have been cool.
- Items.
- Good story. I mean the memories would have been so much cooler if something ACTUALLY happened in them, and characters with real growth. I mean compare the cut-scenes in this game to the cut-scenes in Twilight Princess.
I must admit I am very biased here, I typically do not enjoy open world games. I don't know why, I just always feel like I just wanna progress the main story - however, I liked Elden Ring very much, which shows that it is possible for me to like open world games when done a certain way. Plus I played Elden Ring before BTOW, which I realize now was a mistake.
Let's start with some brief positives:
- The artstyle.
- The main locations of the different races are cool.
- Gearset variety.
- Sound effects.
- Parts of the exploration - finding the master sword, labyrinths, side stories, map size, the trial Island, etc.
- Many parts of the combat - elemental damage, flurry attacks, reflecting guardian lasers, shooting arrows in slow motion, etc.
- Cooking system.
- The first few hours.
General negatives:
- Exploration was repetitive and boring AF after a while. The reward for exploring was a Shrine or Korok 90% of the time, and all shrines had the exact same style and vibe, and a very underwhelming reward.
- Weapon durability SUCKS. At least make them more durable or give us a way to enhance their durability (then probably make weapons a bit more scarce) so that when you finally find a good weapon, it's not gone in 10 swings. A good durable weapon in a more scarce world would have made for much more rewarding discoveries than another fucking Korok seed or a shrine.
- Horse riding is absolutely dog shit. I didn't even bother to use my horse for 90% of the game. A small ledge will stop the horse completely, and you can't summon the horse anywhere by whistling like you did previously. I can't help but compare this to how it's like to ride in Elden Ring. Although I understand it's not supposed to be as OP since you can climb and glide, so it's not the end of the world.
- Stamina sucks.
- Story was meh at best. The memories cut-scenes were uneventful to say the least. Pretty much the only reason I felt anything when beating the game was because of nostalgia from the other games.
- All of the Divine Beasts were also in the same artstyle, vibe and music. Same shit every time: Find terminals, kill Gannon. The puzzles and immersion was extremely underwhelming when compared to dungeons from previous titles.
- Sheikah slate abilities felt lacking compared to previous titles' variety of items. It also made exploration feel more repetitive, since you had a smaller pool of possible tools to choose from when faced with puzzles. Also the fact that you unlock all of them at the beginning (and no more) negatively effects the exploration for me, as another potential reward is lost.
- The tempo of the combat was constantly ruined by pausing the screen to equip a new weapon/shield because they broke.
- Although there are things about the combat I liked, I didn't enjoy it enough to take out every enemy base I saw - many times I just avoided them. The rewards were usually underwhelming as well.
- Sometimes I would find the movement and controls to be clunky. Like how you sprint with B and jump with X, so if you wanted to sprint and jump you had to press X with your pointy finger or do a weird move with your thumb. Or sometimes Link would do clunky movements which ruined certain small margin jumps, etc.
- Too much of the map just felt empty and not worth exploring to me. In Elden Ring or even Baldurs Gate 3 it felt like everything was worth investigating, because you never knew what you would find, and the combat was actually fun to engage with just for the hell of it. I realize it might not be fair to compare a 2017 game to 2022 and 2023 games, but those are the best examples of open world and exploration that I can think of. But if the same problems exist in Tears of the Kingdom I know it's not a time of release thing, but a design philosophy thing.
I had a lot of negatives to say, but I can't deny that BTOW is a good game. It's just not great to me - based on my experiences with previous titles and more recent open world games I actually liked.
What I missed from previous titles:
- Big dungeons with unique looks, vibes, music, bosses, interesting and varied puzzles, etc.
- Level design outside the dungeons. One of my favorite parts of BTOW was the Yiga Clan Hideout, more of this would have been cool.
- Items.
- Good story. I mean the memories would have been so much cooler if something ACTUALLY happened in them, and characters with real growth. I mean compare the cut-scenes in this game to the cut-scenes in Twilight Princess.
I must admit I am very biased here, I typically do not enjoy open world games. I don't know why, I just always feel like I just wanna progress the main story - however, I liked Elden Ring very much, which shows that it is possible for me to like open world games when done a certain way. Plus I played Elden Ring before BTOW, which I realize now was a mistake.
Let's start with some brief positives:
- The artstyle.
- The main locations of the different races are cool.
- Gearset variety.
- Sound effects.
- Parts of the exploration - finding the master sword, labyrinths, side stories, map size, the trial Island, etc.
- Many parts of the combat - elemental damage, flurry attacks, reflecting guardian lasers, shooting arrows in slow motion, etc.
- Cooking system.
- The first few hours.
General negatives:
- Exploration was repetitive and boring AF after a while. The reward for exploring was a Shrine or Korok 90% of the time, and all shrines had the exact same style and vibe, and a very underwhelming reward.
- Weapon durability SUCKS. At least make them more durable or give us a way to enhance their durability (then probably make weapons a bit more scarce) so that when you finally find a good weapon, it's not gone in 10 swings. A good durable weapon in a more scarce world would have made for much more rewarding discoveries than another fucking Korok seed or a shrine.
- Horse riding is absolutely dog shit. I didn't even bother to use my horse for 90% of the game. A small ledge will stop the horse completely, and you can't summon the horse anywhere by whistling like you did previously. I can't help but compare this to how it's like to ride in Elden Ring. Although I understand it's not supposed to be as OP since you can climb and glide, so it's not the end of the world.
- Stamina sucks.
- Story was meh at best. The memories cut-scenes were uneventful to say the least. Pretty much the only reason I felt anything when beating the game was because of nostalgia from the other games.
- All of the Divine Beasts were also in the same artstyle, vibe and music. Same shit every time: Find terminals, kill Gannon. The puzzles and immersion was extremely underwhelming when compared to dungeons from previous titles.
- Sheikah slate abilities felt lacking compared to previous titles' variety of items. It also made exploration feel more repetitive, since you had a smaller pool of possible tools to choose from when faced with puzzles. Also the fact that you unlock all of them at the beginning (and no more) negatively effects the exploration for me, as another potential reward is lost.
- The tempo of the combat was constantly ruined by pausing the screen to equip a new weapon/shield because they broke.
- Although there are things about the combat I liked, I didn't enjoy it enough to take out every enemy base I saw - many times I just avoided them. The rewards were usually underwhelming as well.
- Sometimes I would find the movement and controls to be clunky. Like how you sprint with B and jump with X, so if you wanted to sprint and jump you had to press X with your pointy finger or do a weird move with your thumb. Or sometimes Link would do clunky movements which ruined certain small margin jumps, etc.
- Too much of the map just felt empty and not worth exploring to me. In Elden Ring or even Baldurs Gate 3 it felt like everything was worth investigating, because you never knew what you would find, and the combat was actually fun to engage with just for the hell of it. I realize it might not be fair to compare a 2017 game to 2022 and 2023 games, but those are the best examples of open world and exploration that I can think of. But if the same problems exist in Tears of the Kingdom I know it's not a time of release thing, but a design philosophy thing.
I had a lot of negatives to say, but I can't deny that BTOW is a good game. It's just not great to me - based on my experiences with previous titles and more recent open world games I actually liked.
I LOVE this game.
The setting and art direction of the game is definitely my style and easy to immerse yourself in. The sound design is solid too. The story is actually pretty good for a souls-like.
The gameplay is where this game shines for me, but it does suffer from a few clunky mechanics. You have to unlock certain upgrades to make the dodge function properly, you can´t cancel your attack animation or dodges by inputting another action, the perfect parry window feels very narrow sometimes - all of this and more small things can make it feel frustrating when you are fighting a particularly difficult elite or boss. With that said, the combat is quite satisfying overall.
The weapon customization is great, but I wish it was easier to get hold of more upgrade stones so you can truly try out a bigger variety of weapons that are actually upgraded. When you unlock new items in the shop you only unlock a very small amount of them, and I wish there was more or even an infinite amount of some items.
I don´t like when games sell early release as a deluxe edition. I did buy it this time because I wanted to spend my weekend playing the game and not have start in the middle of the week. It´s a minor thing, but I would prefer if games didn´t do this.
The game had very few bugs and glitches at launch, which seems to be rare these days so that´s great.
Weapon durability has never been something I´m a fan of, but it´s not too annoying in this game imo.
Update1: I have completed the game now, and yeah it's amazing. Still there are some bosses that are made annoyingly difficult by delayed attacks, insane tracking and no time to breathe, which feels very frustrating, yet satisfying when you are finally able to beat the bosses. Also the difficulty has sudden spikes which can feel a bit frustrating.
Update2: Since my initial reviews I have replayed the game, and they have patched certain things like having to get the upgrade to dodge-roll up after being knocked down. Additionally I have gotten very used to the parry windows so it´s not longer an issue for me. I have grown to love this game even more than before, and most of my complaints have gone away tbh.
The setting and art direction of the game is definitely my style and easy to immerse yourself in. The sound design is solid too. The story is actually pretty good for a souls-like.
The gameplay is where this game shines for me, but it does suffer from a few clunky mechanics. You have to unlock certain upgrades to make the dodge function properly, you can´t cancel your attack animation or dodges by inputting another action, the perfect parry window feels very narrow sometimes - all of this and more small things can make it feel frustrating when you are fighting a particularly difficult elite or boss. With that said, the combat is quite satisfying overall.
The weapon customization is great, but I wish it was easier to get hold of more upgrade stones so you can truly try out a bigger variety of weapons that are actually upgraded. When you unlock new items in the shop you only unlock a very small amount of them, and I wish there was more or even an infinite amount of some items.
I don´t like when games sell early release as a deluxe edition. I did buy it this time because I wanted to spend my weekend playing the game and not have start in the middle of the week. It´s a minor thing, but I would prefer if games didn´t do this.
The game had very few bugs and glitches at launch, which seems to be rare these days so that´s great.
Weapon durability has never been something I´m a fan of, but it´s not too annoying in this game imo.
Update1: I have completed the game now, and yeah it's amazing. Still there are some bosses that are made annoyingly difficult by delayed attacks, insane tracking and no time to breathe, which feels very frustrating, yet satisfying when you are finally able to beat the bosses. Also the difficulty has sudden spikes which can feel a bit frustrating.
Update2: Since my initial reviews I have replayed the game, and they have patched certain things like having to get the upgrade to dodge-roll up after being knocked down. Additionally I have gotten very used to the parry windows so it´s not longer an issue for me. I have grown to love this game even more than before, and most of my complaints have gone away tbh.
Great gameplay, but the main story wasn't all the way there.