Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is outshining Breath of the Wild by far. I believe that Nintendo has been planning this all along. Breath of the Wild was just the warm-up act, a way to prepare us for what's to come in Tears of the Kingdom.
Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is much bigger and much better than Breath of the Wild. I've been a fan of the Zelda franchise for years, and I can say without a doubt that this game is outdoing anything we've seen so far. It's not just blind optimism – I truly believe that Nintendo has been planning this for a long time. They knew that Breath of the Wild would be a massive success, but they also knew that it was just the beginning. Tears of the Kingdom will be a true masterpiece, the game that Breath of the Wild was leading up to all along.
Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Arriving: What You Should Know About BotW Before Starting TotK
Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom – BotW's Bigger Brother
I know I will probably step on many toes with this, but hear me out. Ever since Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom received their second... or maybe third trailer, people were starting to question if this game might just feel like a DLC to Breath of the Wild. After all, it has the same graphics and a similar game world, things that have been upsetting many fans.
I'm here to tell you that Nintendo is always two steps ahead of us. Ever since Breath of the Wild came out, we were head over heels in love with this game. It was the first Zelda game to offer a REAL open world, where we were able to explore everything without limitation. The gameplay was revolutionary and a masterpiece in game design. But what if I were to tell you that the moment you stepped foot into Breath of the Wild's Hyrule... Tears of the Kingdom was already destined to follow as THE Zelda game. Breath of the Wild's big brother.
Hyrule – But In Three Dimensions
Yes... the open world map of Breath of the Wild was incredible, and an inspiration for so many other games out there. But Tears of the Kingdom took that one-page recipe and made a whole book out of it. Hyrule has been upgraded with a third dimension, making it more vertical and expansive than ever before. The world now has three levels to explore – the Sky Islands (or Skyrule), the ground level, and underground caves.
Ganondorf’s Location in Tears of the Kingdom Trailer Foreshadows Major Changes to Hyrule
Anything Is Possible If You Think About It
Another thing that I personally loved about Breath of the Wild were its endless possibilities and logical game mechanics. If you can't find a camp fire, just make one yourself by hitting some flint and wood with a metal weapon... It makes so much sense, yet the game doesn't tell you to do it.
There are so many things in Breath of the Wild that we only discover by using our imagination and trying them out. Tears of the Kingdom has made that feature even better by giving us the ability to Fuse items together and create our own weapons and equipment.
Any new item that you find in this game will trigger your curiosity and motivation to find out all the different ways of combining them. Even Eiji Aonuma said that anything can be possible in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, all you have to do is try them out.
A good video game should always give the player a feeling of autonomy. We want to be in control of the events and make decisions that have an impact. Tears of the Kingdom will give us just that. Infinite freedom to create our own tools, exactly as we need them. This Zelda game dictates absolutely nothing to us.
In Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Anything Is Possible If You Just Think About It
Real Dungeons Instead Of Four Copy-Pasted Divine Beasts
As a Zelda fan of many years, who grew up with games like Ocarina of Time, there were always two things missing in Breath of the Wild for it to really feel like a Zelda game.
It never really had real Dungeons. Sure, there were four Divine Beasts that we would call dungeons... But these machines didn't convince me... They all looked the same, has the same mechanics, the same end boss, and so on.
Real Zelda dungeons have a lot more character. They need to have individual designs and connections to their very own storyline. But as much as I hated Nintendo for not including them in Breath of the Wild, it all makes sense, now that I see the bigger picture. These dungeons were always meant to appear in Tears of the Kingdom. It was just confirmed by Nintendo that the sequel will have much bigger dungeons that all carry their own individual look, just like traditional Zelda dungeons.
Nintendo Confirms Traditional Dungeons In Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
The Storyline We Were Robbed Of
The other thing, that I was desperately missing in the past years, was a proper story.Let's be real here: Breath of the Wild was a storyless game... Everything that happened, was 100 years ago and is only told through Link's memories. All the significant characters, such as Hyrule's champions, are dead. Being in this huge open world map as Link, a boy with no character, no family, and no friends, who lost all his memory, just felt extremely lonely.
And since you have probably figured out by now how I am structuring this article... I would like to say, that even the story is better in Tears of the Kingdom.
First of all... Everything is happening in the present. Furthermore, the story will have a lot more depth than BotW. We will meet several new characters but also see old faces, such as Ganondorf, or the champions of Hyrule, who this time accompany Link on his missions. The Zonai tribe, which was already hinted at in Breath of the Wild also plays a major role in the story.
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Additionally, since this is the last game in the timeline until the loop starts all over again in Skyward Sword, Tears of the Kingdom has to end with something big, something significant, something we never thought of. And that is why I am sure that Breath of the Wild was just the warm-up act for Tears of the Kingdom.