“The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild” sprinted so that “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom” could glide. May 12 saw the release of the sequel to one of the best games to come out on the Nintendo Switch. With almost 300 hours in “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild” over the last few years since its release, I’m no Zelda expert, but I’m happy to give my thoughts so far. There will be some spoilers ahead! 

I first played “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild” when it was released in early 2017 and made it about three-fourths into the game before I was stopped by an enemy named Thunderblight Ganon. For those unfamiliar with the game, he’s basically a mini-boss that moves as quick as lightning and is really annoying to beat. In my fit of frustration, I put the game away for almost five years before getting the courage to restart the game and learn my way through it. 

After a lot of ‘game over’ screens and a lot of advice from friends, I was able to finally learn how to beat Thunderblight Ganon and finish the game in time for “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom” to come out.

Seeing the trailers, I had no clue what to expect. Most of the trailers were cinematic, showing off new characters and new areas I had dreamt of seeing in “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.” On the night of the digital release on May 12, I loaded up the game to see a beautiful loading screen and cutscenes depicting moments after the end of the last Zelda game. 

To keep things easier, I’m going to refer to “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild” as “Breath of the Wild”, and “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom” as “Tears of the Kingdom.”

START OF THE GAME SPOILERS AHEAD!

Being honest, I was a bit disappointed at first with the graphics. The character models felt the same as in “Breath of the Wild” and lots of items looked reused from it. The tutorial ditches the idea of being reliant on a Nintendo Switch of ancient times. We see the new main antagonist, who curses Link’s hand; to solve this we are given a hand from a spirit of a Zonai known as Rauru. Guiding Link through the ‘tutorial island’ as I call it, we learn new abilities that help Link traverse the land and skies of Hyrule. 

Finishing the ‘tutorial island’ took me three hours. I’m a bit disappointed because playing it back a second time, I felt the same feeling of boredom as I had to cross the entire island on foot, with no paraglider. If there was ever a time I needed the Old Man from “Breath of the Wild” to hand over his paraglider, it was then! 

The game leaves you wandering around to look for the new equivalent of Sheikah towers and egg-shaped rock shrines before pushing you towards more dialogue and lore. Although I love the idea of learning a game’s lore through dialogue, the amount of dialogue is overwhelming. I felt tired just reading out the dialogue and trying to remember what each character was teaching me. After learning new mechanics with familiar faces, I went towards a stable to find more familiar faces and people asking me about my horses. 

To my surprise, my hooved companion was waiting for me to continue our adventures from “Breath of the Wild”! My horse, Adonis, had his same goofy smile and we were able to set off on a new adventure together. 

I won’t go too much further into detail to avoid more major plot spoilers, but so far, I am thoroughly enjoying what the game has to offer. The map shows Hyrule in all its glory and allows players to discover new hidden secrets, whilst also seeing old friends! The graphics do give a great sense of familiarity, whilst also showing just how much work went into the game’s world building. 

If you’re new to “The Legend of Zelda” franchise, I highly recommend starting with “Breath of the Wild” to get a great sense of open-world exploration. I’m absolutely loving the game so far and it’s only my second “The Legend of Zelda” game ever!