Should You Play Tears of the Kingdom if You Hated Breath of the Wild?

While I tried a few times, I just could not engage with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. I felt that the world was too big and empty, my quest was nebulous and ill defined, the survival elements were frustrating, combat was tedious… I know it’s a beloved game, my opinion doesn’t take away from your enjoyment, I’m just saying what I didn’t like.

But, I figured I’d try The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, to see if any of my annoyances had been fixed, after all, I really enjoyed Majora's Mask, but still haven’t played even half of Ocarina of Time. The answer may surprise you. Potential spoilers ahead.

Taking place shortly after Breath of the Wild, there’s a time skip of indeterminate length; it’s clearly been more than weeks, but less than months. For reasons made clear in the opening, you awaken on an island in the sky, and I don’t just mean a high up place like in the first game. This is where you’re told all of the basics by some robots — but only the basics that apply to this game. For the things you would have learned while playing Breath of the Wild you’re left wildly unprepared unless you can muddle through it. Once you leave the sky island and start exploring the open world you’ll soon encounter the basics of combat, dodging, etc, etc.

The starting area of Breath of the Wild annoyed me, because I had no idea where to go or what to do, until I “videogamed” my way into it — just walking up to everything and climbing it, hitting it, or talking to it. Tears of the Kingdom gives you a little more direction, or at the very least better direction, and the starting area feels smaller and better suited to, you know, starting. It doesn’t hold your hand by any means; for instance, it tells you how to cook and that you need to eat something to keep you warm, but it doesn’t say which ingredients you need.

On the whole, Tears of the Kingdom is literally just Breath of the Wild 2. But for some reason I’ve really gotten into it! The quest is a little less nebulous, though the world is still big and empty, the survival elements are just as tedious, but the combat… While at first glance it would appear that combat hasn’t changed at all, there are actually more types of weapons which has made a difference to me. They still break far too easily for my liking, but I’m enjoying the changes made which mean that you can increase their damage, or create weird combinations. Who knew that all I needed to enjoy the last game was to be able to attach a long stick to a short stick?

So, should you play The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom if you hated The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild? Absolutely, you should borrow a friend’s copy to see if it clicks with you this time, like it has with me. It’s 60 quid, after all, and a first-party Nintendo game so it’ll eventually go as cheap as £40 if you’re lucky, so a heck of a price just to find out you still don’t like it. But if you thought that you could love Breath of the Wild if only for some je ne sais quoi? Check out Tears of the Kingdom.