Arguably one of the most anticipated sequels of all time, “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom” (ToTK) is a game six years in the making. In just over four months, ToTK has sold over 18 million units, becoming the second highest-selling Zelda game in the history of the franchise. I have been anticipating its release since the first teaser suddenly dropped in 2019, and I have to say, the game has lived up to everything I hoped it would be.
ToTK takes the systems of exploration and progression created by its predecessor “Breath of the Wild” (BoTW) and expands upon it, introducing new abilities and Zonai devices. Zonai devices are individual parts such as fans, wheels, or carts. The player can stick together to create machines for both exploration and combat. However, ToTK’s new abilities, Ultrahand, Recall, Fuse, Ascend, and Autobuild, are where the game’s improvements shine through.
Ultrahand and Ascend are my favorite of the new abilities. Ultrahand allows the player to stick together any interactable object. That includes weapons, barrels, rocks, wooden boards. The sky is quite literally the limit. Do you want to cheese this maze? Just build a hoverbike and fly over the top. I love messing around with Ultrahand builds and creating weird contraptions to try in combat. Ascend makes traversing the world of ToTK even more enjoyable. Tired of running around this cave? Just Ascend through the ceiling to the surface! Using Ascend forces players to look at ToTK’s geography with new eyes and a new perspective.
Of course, those are only a few of the many great things about “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom”. If you have a Nintendo Switch, I highly recommend picking the game up, even if you haven’t played its predecessor.