The launch of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was a memorable time for all Zelda fans, and I loved watching the fanbase at work – whether they’re roasting koroks alive or building a reservoir in a cave with a box of leftovers. But when I picked up the switch, I found that tears of the kingdom just didn’t do it for me. Instead, I ended up playing and thoroughly enjoying an older game – breath of the wild.
tears of the kingdom starts on a series of celestial islands, similar to the Great Plateau in BOTW. Players will learn to navigate Link, gain skills such as Fuse and Ultrahand, and eventually enter the temple and have a quick spirit session over Skype with Zelda. Unlike when I was getting used to the Grand Plateau, I spent way too much time racking my brains against the tutorial section of tears of the kingdom. The vertical nature of the world, combined with the ambition of the game’s new tools, left me constantly lost.
It’s largely due to my own personal weaknesses in spatial awareness and physical puzzles, of course, but it’s still aggravating. I needed to go back to basics and do something like the famous Rocky drive assembly. breath of the wild was the perfect arena for it. When you absolutely don’t need to play breath of the wild to jump in TearsI thought it would be a good way to reorient myself.
Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon
Instead of playing a few hours of breath of the wild then back to Tearsas I had expected, I fell in love with the old game again. As I spent my first hours at tears of the kingdom struggling to make a car, breath of the wild, I rolled a big boulder down a hill and smashed some nasty bokoblins. Sure, it’s simple, but seeing a bokoblin get stained by an unexpected rock is also great.
You can also roll a boulder up a hill in Tears of the Kingdom — but that’s just one of many options. You can also attach a rocket to it or use the rock as part of an elaborate trebuchet device. The possibilities are endless to the point of being distracting, especially since I don’t have a suite of engineering skills.
After only a few hours in breath of the wild, I was having a lot of fun surfing shields and solving shrines. I needed this 101 course before I could truly appreciate the nonsense you can achieve with tears of the kingdom. I will come back to EARLY soon – I’m excited to combine my strongest fundamentals with the really ridiculous tools Tears offers its players. But for now, I’m enjoying my pleasant basic trip through Hyrule. I never defeated Calamity Ganon the first time. This may be the playthrough where I finally save the kingdom.
