A truly incredible game in every sense of the word. Probably my AAA game of the year, and I can't see anything replacing it.
While I love Breath of the Wild, it really does feel like the beta version to Tears of the Kingdom's final release. A now thriving world, filled with all sorts of fun side quests, sights to see, and spectacle, compared to BotW's very chill, wanderlust vibes. The story is a much bigger focus here, and though I do have some issues with how the story progression works in a game where you can do anything in any order, I'm so much happier for it. It helps when the writing, especially for side quests, is pretty sharp and funny. I enjoyed getting to know all the random people in Hyrule and helping with their troubles after the Upheaval, from stuff as small as making a bowl of porridge to killing Gleeoks to help keep things safe, it was really great.
I did have some issues with the main story, which, ultimately, got resolved by the time I finished the game itself. It was something that very much burned me when I reached the point, but seeing how everything plays out in the (absolutely incredible) final boss fight, it felt a lot better, and the spectacle and the meaning in it all was really something to behold.
I also want to give a shoutout to Cece's Hat, maybe my favorite piece of armor in the game, that I used all the way up to the end unless I absolutely had to change it. I absolutely love the outfits in this game, and despite the devastating loss of the Gerudo outfit, the outfits more than make up for it. Combined with Link's new look (which I absolutely LOVE), and he's constantly serving trans masc drag queen cunt.
The abilities in this game are incredible and truly trump BotW's abilities in all ways. Ascend is super useful in getting where you need to be, Ultrahand is just what if Magnesis but also Banjo Kazooie Nuts and Bolts, and Recall has so many cool applications both in and out of combat that it's incredible. Fuse took me the longest time to really gel with in terms of fusing better weapons, but when I did, it's a simple but incredible power that really solves the weapon degradation power: none of your weapons are special, they're all pretty shit now, so fuse something to it and go nuts, then find a new one!
One of my favorite things with the game is Hyrule itself. Despite it being the same landmass, the updates to the world itself that make it feel so alive, as well as towers being in new places drawing new boundaries really do recontextualize how you see the world compared to BotW, and I think it's the smartest thing they could've done.
The sky, however, feels like a bit of a weakpoint, as a good portion of it is small, one off islands for boss fights. The stuff that is unique though, shrines, challenges to get to shrines, and more, are REALLY fantastic, and I love exploring the sky and especially skydiving from a sky island all the way down to Hyrule. It's so cool.
And the Depths, something which I didn't know about until I actually went in it for the first time, felt to me like what they wanted to make the sky seem like: a full second map filled with a lot to do. Though a lot of the Depths are quite scary starting out (at least for me), there was a lot of stuff to do there with a lot of quests and exploration, that I really enjoyed. Conquering the Depths, so to speak, was a triumph, and there was always so much to find there that it was great.
I also really enjoyed the music. Rito village being an arrangement of Dragon Roost Island, the main theme with its sheer bombast, boss fight themes, it is all so good. Compared to how subtle BotW felt with its music (a theme that is all over the game, to its benefit and not), this is much more in your face, just like how all of the game is much more in your face.
There's so much to do, and with nearly 150 hours, I definitely got my fill for the time being. An incredible game and experience, filled with wonderful characters and moments, both in the story, and in the little things like accidentally rocketing a Korok the wrong way or launching myself into freezing cold water. This is a game that, by all means, fundamentally shouldn't work as well as it does, or at all, but it does, and I am so glad this is what we got.
While I love Breath of the Wild, it really does feel like the beta version to Tears of the Kingdom's final release. A now thriving world, filled with all sorts of fun side quests, sights to see, and spectacle, compared to BotW's very chill, wanderlust vibes. The story is a much bigger focus here, and though I do have some issues with how the story progression works in a game where you can do anything in any order, I'm so much happier for it. It helps when the writing, especially for side quests, is pretty sharp and funny. I enjoyed getting to know all the random people in Hyrule and helping with their troubles after the Upheaval, from stuff as small as making a bowl of porridge to killing Gleeoks to help keep things safe, it was really great.
I did have some issues with the main story, which, ultimately, got resolved by the time I finished the game itself. It was something that very much burned me when I reached the point, but seeing how everything plays out in the (absolutely incredible) final boss fight, it felt a lot better, and the spectacle and the meaning in it all was really something to behold.
I also want to give a shoutout to Cece's Hat, maybe my favorite piece of armor in the game, that I used all the way up to the end unless I absolutely had to change it. I absolutely love the outfits in this game, and despite the devastating loss of the Gerudo outfit, the outfits more than make up for it. Combined with Link's new look (which I absolutely LOVE), and he's constantly serving trans masc drag queen cunt.
The abilities in this game are incredible and truly trump BotW's abilities in all ways. Ascend is super useful in getting where you need to be, Ultrahand is just what if Magnesis but also Banjo Kazooie Nuts and Bolts, and Recall has so many cool applications both in and out of combat that it's incredible. Fuse took me the longest time to really gel with in terms of fusing better weapons, but when I did, it's a simple but incredible power that really solves the weapon degradation power: none of your weapons are special, they're all pretty shit now, so fuse something to it and go nuts, then find a new one!
One of my favorite things with the game is Hyrule itself. Despite it being the same landmass, the updates to the world itself that make it feel so alive, as well as towers being in new places drawing new boundaries really do recontextualize how you see the world compared to BotW, and I think it's the smartest thing they could've done.
The sky, however, feels like a bit of a weakpoint, as a good portion of it is small, one off islands for boss fights. The stuff that is unique though, shrines, challenges to get to shrines, and more, are REALLY fantastic, and I love exploring the sky and especially skydiving from a sky island all the way down to Hyrule. It's so cool.
And the Depths, something which I didn't know about until I actually went in it for the first time, felt to me like what they wanted to make the sky seem like: a full second map filled with a lot to do. Though a lot of the Depths are quite scary starting out (at least for me), there was a lot of stuff to do there with a lot of quests and exploration, that I really enjoyed. Conquering the Depths, so to speak, was a triumph, and there was always so much to find there that it was great.
I also really enjoyed the music. Rito village being an arrangement of Dragon Roost Island, the main theme with its sheer bombast, boss fight themes, it is all so good. Compared to how subtle BotW felt with its music (a theme that is all over the game, to its benefit and not), this is much more in your face, just like how all of the game is much more in your face.
There's so much to do, and with nearly 150 hours, I definitely got my fill for the time being. An incredible game and experience, filled with wonderful characters and moments, both in the story, and in the little things like accidentally rocketing a Korok the wrong way or launching myself into freezing cold water. This is a game that, by all means, fundamentally shouldn't work as well as it does, or at all, but it does, and I am so glad this is what we got.