May 27, 2023 / Peyton Bryant
As a “Breath of the Wild” fan and less of a “Legend of Zelda” fan, I’m obviously put into a slice of the Zelda fandom that I’m sure a lot of people fit into as well. I started it in 2019 and It was my first Zelda game as well as my first Switch game.
The sequel to 2017’s Breath of the Wild, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom released less than a month ago, but before jumping in myself, I decided to revisit its predecessor.
With my experience with BotW and what I already know of TotK, I’m getting more and more excited to start my journey.
Apart from the fact that it’s already the fastest-selling Nintendo game of all time as well as currently being the second highest-rated game of all time according to opencritic.com, there are new things introduced in the game’s trailers that catch my eye and can’t wait to experiment with and discover later today.
New abilities
Certain parts of the trailers show off a handful of Link’s new abilities. One, instead of stopping time like BOTW’s Stasus, reverses the time of movable objects in the world. For example, being able to send a boulder rolling towards you back at the Bokobilns that sent it down.
Another allows Link to travel through surfaces above him, which reduces the amount of climbing needed in the last game.
Ultrahand and Fuse.
The biggest things circulating the internet revolving around this game are the Fuse and Ultrahand abilities. These new abilities not before seen in Zelda or really any game, lets players glue objects in the world together to make structures for navigating Hyrule.
From the clips I’ve seen online, the range of this ability lies in the player’s creativity and effort. You’re able to make a simple bridge or ladder out of a few logs, or combine materials in the world to make a mech capable of shooting flames down on monsters.
The Sky Islands and Hyrule
The setting of Hyrule returns and its general layout remains the same, however, some time has passed since the last game, and depending on what happens in the first few moments of TotK, certain things can change.
I’m expecting the world to feel a little more populated than the last, as the title pertains more to the “Kingdom” than the “Wild.”
The Sky Islands were prominent in the game’s advertising, but I’m skeptical how much it will add to the exploration of the game, as in the background of the areas, only seems to be a handful more of these islands in the sky.
I’m just about to start my first journey through this game, but even if it’s just slightly short of the quality of Breath of the Wild, it still has the potential to fly above expectations.
