Imagine if IKEA furniture came with magical powers that let you stick a rocket to your bookshelf and ride it into the sunset. That’s essentially what Nintendo has done with The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, except instead of a bookshelf, it’s Link, and instead of IKEA instructions, there’s a vast kingdom begging you to break it in the most creative ways possible. As the sequel to one of the greatest games ever made, Tears of the Kingdom had impossibly high expectations to meet. Somehow, it not only clears that bar but attaches a balloon to it and watches it float majestically into the stratosphere.
Hyrule 2.0: Same World, New Chaos
Set a few years after Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom begins with Link and Zelda investigating some spooky red goop called “Gloom” beneath Hyrule Castle. One thing leads to another (as these things tend to do), and suddenly Ganondorf is back, chunks of land are floating in the sky, and Link has lost his abilities faster than I lose socks in the laundry. Classic Tuesday for our pointy-eared hero.
The game takes place in the same Hyrule we explored in Breath of the Wild, but calling it “the same map” is like saying your hometown is exactly the same after ten years and a major earthquake. Sure, the geography might be familiar, but everything feels refreshed and reimagined. Towns have been rebuilt, new outposts have sprung up, and oh yeah—there are now massive sky islands floating above and a pitch-black underworld lurking below. It’s like getting three Hyrules for the price of one, which is the kind of deal that would make even a Goron merchant blush.
Link’s New Toolkit: From Hero to Chaotic Engineer
Forget everything you knew about Link’s abilities in Breath of the Wild. Nintendo has replaced them with new powers that essentially say, “You know what? Just do whatever you want.” And I mean WHATEVER you want.
Ultrahand: IKEA’s Worst Nightmare
The star of the show is Ultrahand, which lets you connect objects together to build… well, anything your sleep-deprived brain can imagine. I started with simple rafts to cross water, graduated to cars with steering wheels, and eventually found myself building multi-tiered flying fortresses with flame throwers that would make both engineers and pyromaniacs proud. The first time my rickety flying machine actually took off, I felt like the Wright brothers—if they had built their plane out of sticks and monster parts.
The building system walks a perfect line between accessibility and depth. It’s easy enough that anyone can slap together a functional car, but deep enough that you’ll find yourself lying awake at night thinking, “What if I attached THREE fans to a minecart and added a rocket?” I literally dreamed about Ultrahand combinations. That’s not hyperbole—I actually had dreams about rotating pillars and attaching them to boxes. Nintendo has infiltrated my subconscious, and I’m not even mad about it.
Fuse: Toddler Art Project Gone Brilliantly Right
Remember when you were a kid and glued random objects together, proudly showing your parents the monstrosity you created? Fuse is that, but actually useful. This ability lets you attach ANY item to your weapons, shields, or arrows. Stick a rock to your sword? Sure! Attach a Bokoblin horn to your shield? Why not! Put a bomb on a stick and poke an enemy with it? Absolutely, though I don’t recommend standing too close.
The genius of Fuse is how it transforms the controversial weapon durability system. In Breath of the Wild, breaking your favorite sword felt like losing a friend. In Tears of the Kingdom, it’s just an opportunity to create something even more ridiculous. My personal favorite was attaching a Lizalfos tail to a sword to create what I lovingly called my “Lizard Whip.” It’s like Nintendo heard all our complaints about breaking weapons and said, “Fine, but what if we made it FUN?”
Ascend and Recall: Breaking Physics in Style
Ascend lets Link swim upward through solid objects like he’s no-clipping in a Bethesda game, except it’s intentional. Need to get to the top of a mountain? Just look up and phase through it like a ghost with a deadline. It’s so satisfying that I found myself deliberately going into caves just so I could Ascend out of them dramatically, probably looking like the world’s most extra prairie dog.
Recall, meanwhile, lets you reverse time for objects. Enemy throws a bomb at you? Send it right back like a temporal UNO reverse card. But the real fun comes from creating makeshift elevators by dropping platforms and then reversing their fall while you’re standing on them. It’s like having a personal time machine, but only for inanimate objects. Sorry, you still can’t go back and uninvest in that crypto.
A World on Three Levels: Up, Down, and Sideways
Tears of the Kingdom takes the already massive world of Breath of the Wild and essentially triples it by adding the Sky Islands above and the Depths below. It’s like Nintendo looked at their already enormous game and thought, “What if we made it bigger… in EVERY direction?”
Sky Islands: Breath of the Wild, But Higher
The Sky Islands are floating chunks of land that offer some of the most breathtaking views in gaming. Jumping off one of these islands and gliding down to the surface never gets old—it’s like skydiving, but without the terrifying prospect of your parachute failing (though your glider’s stamina might run out, which is its own kind of terror).
Each island has its own puzzles, challenges, and treasures to discover. Some house shrines, others contain valuable Zonai technology, and a few hide secrets that tie into the main story. Navigating between them becomes a puzzle in itself—one that I solved by building increasingly ridiculous flying machines. My personal favorite was what I called the “Cloud Hopper,” a hot air balloon with fans attached that looked like something Leonardo da Vinci would design if he had access to energy drinks and too much free time.
The Depths: Nightmare Fuel With Treasure
If the Sky Islands represent the heavenly aspect of Tears of the Kingdom, the Depths are its hellish counterpart. This underground realm is pitch black, covered in Gloom that reduces your maximum health, and home to some of the most terrifying creatures in the game. It’s like Nintendo decided to add a horror game inside their adventure game, and I’m here for it.
Navigating the Depths requires Brightbloom Seeds, which you toss ahead of you to create temporary light sources. It transforms exploration into a tense resource management game where every step forward is a calculated risk. The first time a monster emerged from the darkness just beyond my light’s reach, I nearly threw my Switch across the room. The second time, I was ready with a rocket-powered hammer I had crafted specifically for such occasions. Adaptation is key in the Depths, and also therapy might be needed afterward.
A Story Worth Telling (No, Really This Time)
Zelda games aren’t typically known for their compelling narratives, but Tears of the Kingdom actually delivers a story worth paying attention to. Without spoiling anything, it expands on the history of Hyrule in meaningful ways, gives Zelda herself more agency and screen time, and presents Ganondorf as a genuinely threatening villain rather than just a big angry pig man.
The story is told through a combination of traditional cutscenes and memories you discover throughout your journey. It’s paced well enough that I found myself genuinely curious about what would happen next, which is more than I can say for most Zelda games where I’m usually just thinking, “Yes, yes, Ganon bad, princess in trouble, let me get back to the fun stuff.”
The narrative also does a great job of justifying all the new gameplay mechanics. The Zonai civilization and their technology provide a logical foundation for all the building and fusing you’ll be doing. It’s a small thing, but it helps the game feel cohesive rather than just a collection of cool ideas thrown together.
Combat: Now With 100% More Absurdity
Combat in Tears of the Kingdom builds on the already solid foundation of Breath of the Wild, but adds layers of creative chaos through the new abilities. Why simply swing a sword at an enemy when you can attach a bomb to an arrow and turn that Bokoblin camp into a fireworks display?
Enemy variety has been significantly improved, with new types of foes that require different strategies to defeat. Boss Bokoblins coordinate their underlings in more organized attacks. Horriblins crawl along cave ceilings waiting to drop on unsuspecting adventurers. Constructs fire rocket arrows that can turn your health bar into a distant memory if you’re not careful. And the new boss fights? They’re some of the best in the series, combining spectacle with genuine challenge.
My favorite combat moment came when I was surrounded by a group of Lizalfos near a cliff edge. Rather than fighting them directly, I used Ultrahand to quickly assemble a makeshift battering ram out of logs and a boulder, then sent it careening into the group, knocking them all off the cliff like bowling pins. I felt like a tactical genius, even though my “tactic” was essentially “make big thing go boom.”
The Elephant in the Room: Technical Performance
Let’s address the Molduga in the room: yes, Tears of the Kingdom still runs on the aging Nintendo Switch hardware, and yes, that comes with limitations. The frame rate still targets 30fps and doesn’t always hit it, especially in areas with lots of effects or during particularly chaotic building sessions. Resolution remains at 1080p when docked, which is fine but not spectacular by 2023 standards.
But here’s the thing: it rarely matters. The art direction is so strong, the world so captivating, and the gameplay so engaging that I found myself completely forgetting about the technical limitations within minutes of playing. Sure, there were moments when I thought, “A Switch Pro would be nice right about now,” but they were fleeting at best.
What’s truly impressive is how stable the game is despite its ambition. In over 70 hours of playtime, I encountered virtually no bugs or glitches—an achievement that puts many AAA games on more powerful hardware to shame. The fact that you can seamlessly travel from the highest sky island all the way down to the depths of the underworld with zero loading screens feels like Nintendo performing some kind of dark magic on the Switch’s hardware.
Quality-of-Life Improvements: The Little Things Matter
Nintendo has clearly been listening to player feedback, as Tears of the Kingdom includes numerous small but meaningful improvements to the Breath of the Wild formula. The cooking system now includes a recipe book that saves every meal you’ve ever made, so you don’t have to remember that specific combination of mushrooms and monster parts that gave you extra stamina.
Inventory management is less frustrating, with the option to drop a weapon immediately when opening a chest with a full inventory, rather than having to back out, open the menu, drop something, and then open the chest again. It’s a small change, but one that saves countless minutes of menu navigation over the course of the game.
Even the map system has been improved, with better pin options and the ability to toggle between the surface, sky, and depths with ease. These aren’t revolutionary changes, but they show Nintendo’s attention to detail and commitment to refining the player experience.
The Verdict: A Masterpiece With Occasional Frame Drops
What Works
- Ultrahand and Fuse abilities are revolutionary and endlessly fun
- Three-layered world offers incredible exploration opportunities
- Improved enemy variety and boss fights
- Quality-of-life improvements address many previous frustrations
- Surprisingly engaging story with more Zelda presence
What Doesn’t
- Frame rate still struggles in busy areas
- Some main quest segments feel overly guided
- Building controls can be fiddly at first
- The Depths can sometimes feel too dark and oppressive
- Your social life will disappear for weeks
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is that rare sequel that not only lives up to its predecessor but surpasses it in almost every way. It takes the revolutionary foundation of Breath of the Wild and builds upon it with new mechanics that fundamentally change how you interact with the world. The new abilities don’t just add options—they transform the entire experience into something that feels fresh and exciting even when you’re traversing familiar territory.
What’s most impressive is how Nintendo has managed to give players unprecedented freedom while still maintaining a cohesive experience. The game trusts you to experiment, fail, learn, and eventually triumph using your own creativity. There’s a genuine joy in figuring out your own solutions to problems, whether that’s building a bridge to cross a gap or creating a flame-throwing tank to take down a tough enemy.
Yes, the Switch hardware shows its age at times, and yes, there are moments when the game holds your hand a bit too firmly. But these minor issues fade into insignificance against the backdrop of what is one of the most ambitious and successful games ever created.
Ready to Lose Sleep for Weeks?
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom isn’t just a game—it’s an experience that will consume your thoughts both in and out of playtime. Whether you’re a longtime Zelda fan or new to the series, this is a masterpiece that shouldn’t be missed.
Final Thoughts: Worth Every Tear and Then Some
In a world of sequels that often play it safe, Tears of the Kingdom takes bold risks that pay off spectacularly. It’s a game that respects your intelligence and rewards your creativity in ways few other titles dare to attempt. The new abilities aren’t just gimmicks—they’re transformative tools that fundamentally change how you approach every aspect of the game.
Would I recommend The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom? Absolutely, with the caveat that you should probably warn your friends and family that you’ll be temporarily disappearing into Hyrule for the foreseeable future. This is the kind of game that doesn’t just occupy your console—it occupies your mind, filling it with possibilities and “what if” scenarios that will have you rushing back to try just one more crazy idea.
10/10 would lose sleep, social connections, and any semblance of productivity again. The only real tears here are the ones you’ll shed when you realize you’ve spent 100+ hours in the game and still have so much left to discover. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go test if attaching three rockets to a raft will let me reach that island I spotted in the distance. For science, of course.
