The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

 Switch
User Score
8.1

Generally favorable reviews- based on 9840 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7,514 out of 9840
  2. Mixed: 734 out of 9840
  3. Negative: 1,592 out of 9840
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  1. MovieScott
    May 29, 2023
    10
    It's no Elden Ring. Yet with the new abilities and vast open world to experience, your going to be hard pressed to find an open world as enjoyable as this, or a game as good as this already only so early in 2023. Play it. Buy it. Now!
  2. kittiekitkat
    May 30, 2023
    10
    Over 100 hours in and yet I still have so much to do. It’s the game that just keeps giving. The size and scope of the game is second to none and I’ve never felt so free to explore every bit of it. It reminds me of how I felt playing Elden Ring, but I think that Tears of the Kingdom does exploration even better. It's so much easier to see something off in the distance and say, “I want to goOver 100 hours in and yet I still have so much to do. It’s the game that just keeps giving. The size and scope of the game is second to none and I’ve never felt so free to explore every bit of it. It reminds me of how I felt playing Elden Ring, but I think that Tears of the Kingdom does exploration even better. It's so much easier to see something off in the distance and say, “I want to go do that”, and it’s so easy to get there by building any vehicle you can imagine to transport you. The game just feels so advanced from any other game and is amazing in every category. Elden Ring and Breath of the Wild are both 10/10 games, but Tears of the Kingdom just breaks the scale. It would be a shame for any gamer to miss out on this experience. I’ve never done a metacritic review and created an account for this to be my first one. If you read this, I hope you enjoyed my very first review :)… Expand
  3. Zeldafan2
    May 30, 2023
    10
    This game took everything that Breath of the Wild had and expanded on it! It improved many things that Breath of the Wild failed to do or even did incredibly well. It deserves game of the year!
  4. barbanannie
    May 30, 2023
    10
    Perfezionamento di una ricetta di gameplay già sublime, portata all ennesima potenza. Capolavoro tecnico, incredibile come riesca a girare sul hardware di Nintendo switch. I nuovi poteri trasformano l'approccio all'open world, rendendolo più intuitivo, complesso e semplice allo stesso tempo, regalando un esperienza di gioco che è un botta e risposta tra la nostra immaginazione e laPerfezionamento di una ricetta di gameplay già sublime, portata all ennesima potenza. Capolavoro tecnico, incredibile come riesca a girare sul hardware di Nintendo switch. I nuovi poteri trasformano l'approccio all'open world, rendendolo più intuitivo, complesso e semplice allo stesso tempo, regalando un esperienza di gioco che è un botta e risposta tra la nostra immaginazione e la possibile realizzazione di ciò, rendendo l'avventura piacevolmente dispersiva. La presenza di una trama solida, riporta ai tempi dei vecchi titoli della saga, in cui, mai come prima, si da più spazio alla presenza dell'antagonista. Direzione artistica ereditata dal capitolo precedente adesso più ampia e variegata, con ambienti diversificati, che danno spazio a palette cromatiche azzeccate. Comparto sonoro ricercato e musiche che adesso trasmettono l'epicità dell' avventura.… Expand
  5. gietergeit
    May 30, 2023
    10
    it is a really good game with fun creativity and fun gimmicks to explore a very big world
  6. Keyity
    May 30, 2023
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The game did not live up to the hype.
    Some disappointments:
    - A lot of recycled game mechanics from botw. It feels more like a DLC than a whole new game.
    - The introduction is too long, linear and tedious. This ruins replay-ability.
    - The construction-type game mechanic feels a lot like actual work, with a poor interface. If you do 3D modeling as a day-time job, playing this game is not relaxing nor entertaining. Much rather get back to work. It feels very off in a Zelda game.
    - The game is nearly unplayable for people with limited spatial awareness.
    - Storyline doesn't provoke progression.
    - Deviating from the storyline is unrewarding.
    - The vast spectrum of weapons and abilities makes for an overcomplicated play-style.
    - Seems to target a very young audience.    … Expand
  7. deadz3n
    May 30, 2023
    10
    This game is amazing and if you didn't like it, you probably didn't like BOTW either
    it's the ultimate Zelda experience that, as a longtime fan, gave me the same amazement feeling as when i slipped the OOT cartridge for the first time into my old and now dusty N64. In 190 hours of game play I never felt bored and it's rare in these times of AAA games crammed with fetch quests that get    This game is amazing and if you didn't like it, you probably didn't like BOTW either
    it's the ultimate Zelda experience that, as a longtime fan, gave me the same amazement feeling as when i slipped the OOT cartridge for the first time into my old and now dusty N64. In 190 hours of game play I never felt bored and it's rare in these times of AAA games crammed with fetch quests that get repetitive after 1 hour. It has it's problems on a technical side but nothing game breaking; it's a miracle that this gem can run on such dated hardware. Game devs should take note of the passion and care that has been put into TOTK. Kudos Nintendo, you did it again.    … Expand
  8. mtalksq8
    May 30, 2023
    10
    the game is amazing
    the puzzles stand out as brilliantly crafted challenges, pushing the boundaries of creativity and intellect in gameplay. Every facet of this entrancing adventure is engrossing, making it a beacon in the pantheon of Zelda titles
  9. ghostcube
    May 30, 2023
    9
    Great game but botw was better imo. Story is much better in tears but breath of the wild felt so much more innovative.
  10. Foxtnv
    May 30, 2023
    10
    I didn't expect that this game could surpass the previous one, it's amazing, you can play it, it will be guaranteed fun.
  11. HossElBoss7
    May 30, 2023
    10
    This game takes the prequel and multiples it by a hundred and it catches your attention in everything it also gas some aspects of the old game yet somehow they don’t feel repetitive and the new abilities just adds on the fun whenever u solve a puzzle your way it always feels good and makes you feel smart this game is a masterpiece
  12. edivanfox
    May 30, 2023
    10
    The game is a masterpiece, the best Zelda since Ocarina Of Time. Its mechanics and open world will revolutionize the gaming industry (again). From now on everyone will copy it, it will be the reference for everyone who wants to make a real open world game and not Ubisoft nonsense. Some critics have given low marks just because they are Microsoft or Sony fan boys, they are incapable ofThe game is a masterpiece, the best Zelda since Ocarina Of Time. Its mechanics and open world will revolutionize the gaming industry (again). From now on everyone will copy it, it will be the reference for everyone who wants to make a real open world game and not Ubisoft nonsense. Some critics have given low marks just because they are Microsoft or Sony fan boys, they are incapable of doing an honest analysis and putting aside their personal preferences, but for anyone who has been playing for real knows that this is the game of the decade and one of the Top 5 of all time.… Expand
  13. Spartacus_637
    May 30, 2023
    8
    Better story than BOTW, more creative, however the game feels the same as before, the world, the enemies, the gameplay except for ultrahand and the difference approaches to solve the shrines.
    Good game overall, deserves 8.5/10.
    If it had a long chain of main quests like 30 -40 hrs that would be perfect and will be a drastic change from BoTW, I prefer the old Zelda games to be honest.
  14. IvanTask
    May 30, 2023
    10
    Amazing game Nintendo did it again. I didn't really find any problem with the frame rate and the graphics are good too. Games aren't about graphics that Nintendo has tested over and over again.
  15. Jadude64
    May 30, 2023
    10
    The story really kicks in in the sequel and the unique mechanics plus a changed Hyrule make this game a must play for any video game fan.
  16. Moustache_Bob
    May 30, 2023
    10
    This Game improves on breath of the wild, which was already an incredebly influencial games of all time, in every single way. The world is a joy to explore wih secrets, side quests, armor, weapons and tons more literally everywhere. I cant understand how people claim that the map is basically the same, since the map is at least 2x the size of breath of the wild (i guess people just dontThis Game improves on breath of the wild, which was already an incredebly influencial games of all time, in every single way. The world is a joy to explore wih secrets, side quests, armor, weapons and tons more literally everywhere. I cant understand how people claim that the map is basically the same, since the map is at least 2x the size of breath of the wild (i guess people just dont play past 5 hours of gameplay). Even the old locations have changed enough, so that they feel just as fresh to explore as in breath of the wild.
    The new abilities, allowing you to fuse weapons together and create wild contraptions, are absolutely amazing. Youll spend douzens of hours just building weird vehicles, from simple cars to bomber aircrafts. Fusing materials to weapons also fixes the durability issues of botw and greatly rewards fighting monster camps.
    Shrines have returnted, though they are much more fun and more challenging than in the prequel. The divine beasts have been replaced by bigger, better and way more fun dungeons including actuall bosses instead of just mini ganons.
    In my 100+ hours of playtime ive not once experienced a bug and glitch. sadly the game isnt as stable in the framerate: The already low 30fps drop decently frequently, though its not as bad as some people will make it seem. Besides, it is a miracle the genius devs managed to make the game run on the switch in the first place.
    dont let the (relatively) low user score fool you, a lot of the 5/10 reviews describe the game as 10/10
    (i guess they thought it was 5/5).
    For any switch users it is a must buy, for those who loved botw it will likely be the best game of all time. It took me over 60 hours to beat the game and 100% is looking like far over 300 hours.

    BUYYYY ITTTTT!!!!    … Expand
  17. IanJouk
    May 30, 2023
    10
    One of the best game i've ever seen in my life, what a game
  18. Sutsugua01
    May 30, 2023
    10
    Absolutely packed with stuff to do, everything I wanted from a sequel to Botw and more
  19. Windigo1
    May 30, 2023
    10
    Easily a 10/10. The people that rate this game less than a 8 haven't even played it for more than 20 hours before giving a half-assed review. This game is NOT the same of BoTW, not even close. New mechanics, better shrines, better rewards, better bosses, better dungeons, and most importantly, a much better story. Yeah, the graphics are pretty much the same. But you can say the same thingEasily a 10/10. The people that rate this game less than a 8 haven't even played it for more than 20 hours before giving a half-assed review. This game is NOT the same of BoTW, not even close. New mechanics, better shrines, better rewards, better bosses, better dungeons, and most importantly, a much better story. Yeah, the graphics are pretty much the same. But you can say the same thing for God of War Ragnarok. It looks the same as God of War 2018, yet nobody complains about that. Do yourself a favor and play this game, and try playing it for more than 5 hours before complaining that "its the same as BoTW".… Expand
  20. TheLinkgirl
    May 22, 2023
    6
    The TLDR for this review is simply this: the more I play Tears of the Kingdom, the less I enjoy it.

    Truth be told, my experience with TotK has been hugely disappointing. While every aspect is technically proficient, it seems that very little has been considered regarding the Zelda series' history; from criticisms that ran near universal in Breath of the Wild, to the sky feeling just as    The TLDR for this review is simply this: the more I play Tears of the Kingdom, the less I enjoy it.

    Truth be told, my experience with TotK has been hugely disappointing. While every aspect is technically proficient, it seems that very little has been considered regarding the Zelda series' history; from criticisms that ran near universal in Breath of the Wild, to the sky feeling just as empty as Skyward Sword's, to quests that amount to nothing more than going back and forth over and over. There are even new issues such as the world not being designed for the layout of important landmarks, or the new abilities having a surprisingly high skill floor, making the accessibility that was available in previous titles less applicable here. It's not like any one thing breaks the game in its entirety, but a slew of gradual issues slowly wears away at what would be an otherwise excellent experience.

    Contrasting the above list of issues I have with this game, I do feel some improvements have been made, specifically over BotW, that make some areas of the adventure feel more fulfilling. Enemy variety has been increased, making for more interesting encounters. Dungeons and bosses have been changed up, resembling the aesthetics, and in some ways the mechanics, of classic Zelda titles. A new area known as The Depths is perhaps my favourite addition to this game, a terrifying world of darkness and danger that, in my opinion, far surpasses anything the overworld or sky can offer. Despite the amount of time I have spent being bored or uninterested in something in this game, I have found some stuff of worth.

    Never did I want to give a new Zelda game a score as low as this. Previously, I had given this game an 8/10, but that was before I put another 30 hours into it. That was before I found dungeons and quests that I simply abhorred. That was before I experienced more of what the game had to offer. Sufficed to say, Tears of the Kingdom is a good game, but when I am done, I feel I will simply return to other Zelda games, such as Breath of the Wild or Majora's Mask, and never consider picking up TotK again.    … Expand
  21. Kikketou
    May 30, 2023
    10
    It’s like a fresh air, Nintendo did it again, when you think this couldn’t be better and it’s absolutely better. Totally addictive, you can’t be bored with the new mechanics of game, they having you playing by hours and hours.
  22. Injured
    May 30, 2023
    4
    General game loop is okay, heavily resembles BotW. A bit more content should be expected from a game company as massive as Nintendo in my opinion, especially if it's supposed to be a new experience. It did not feel like a new experience from BotW, and definitely did not feel like 6 years of game development went into it.
    There's hardly any new art in the game. It's mostly reusing old    General game loop is okay, heavily resembles BotW. A bit more content should be expected from a game company as massive as Nintendo in my opinion, especially if it's supposed to be a new experience. It did not feel like a new experience from BotW, and definitely did not feel like 6 years of game development went into it.
    There's hardly any new art in the game. It's mostly reusing old assets from the previous game in all aspects - from the environment to enemies. Most people are sold on the game being expanded upon greatly by the sky islands and the depths. A lot of these places use just a handful of modular assets, there is no true crafting of these structures by an artist. At this point they could've laid off the art team and would have delivered the same experience just about. I'm personally a game developer, and I can sniff out corner cutting a mile away. People say that the depths doubled the game's size. That's true in the literal sense, however I'm willing to bet money that this was generated off of an inverted height map from the hyrule surface, which takes zero time to do. Then was populated by the same few foliage assets, and a select few locations in there were hand-picked for some TLC in an attempt to try to make it seem like somebody cared for creating it. Generating an environment and foliage does not take too long, but the standard player probably won't notice and will still be impressed by the 'doubled-sized' game.

    Abilities:
    Ultrahand: This was fun, overall I enjoyed the freedom to create things to help move around or attack enemies. It's the one thing that held the game's score up for me.
    Ascend: This was convenient, but overall did not add any ground-breaking aspects to the game to really change how the game felt compared to BotW.
    Recall: Objects did the thing they just did, but in reverse. Not necessarily something that sets this game above anything else.
    Fuse: I find it lackluster. I see no difference in combat really compared to BotW. I still whack enemies to death, or whack boulders that are in my way with other boulders (on a stick). And when it comes to fuse+arrows, it's neat that items in your inventory have more of a use, however it's inconvenient to sift through all your items for the same 3 or 4 items you'll use. Even if you sort it, it doesn't make combat truly feel any different.
    Autobuild: Good for my air bike, glad I didn't have to recraft it over and over again manually.

    Performance:
    I'll give credit where it's due, mostly consistent 30 fps on a switch with a lot of these systems working is impressive, however come on Nintendo, we need a new device that's not stuck in the past. It's good that after creating BotW and forking off somewhere into development and overhauling for TotK, it managed to stay optimized for the most part. From what I saw BOTW started serious development back in 2013, so after 10 years total on a project (TotK IS forked from BotW and nobody can convince me otherwise), there was plenty of time to allocate to these optimizations. I just wish more time was spent in other areas though to make it feel like a new game.

    Story:
    I won't spoil anything, but honestly not much would be spoiled. It's a Nintendo game. They're more known for solving puzzles versus creating a truly compelling story. I'm finished with my playthru of the game and I did a lot of side-quests, I'm convinced that I'll forget most of it by the end of next month, it's nothing to rave about.

    In the end:
    General gameplay loop is alright, more or less the same as BotW which isn't bad necessarily. After playing through the predecessor and coming to this, I feel like it was not worth $70 though. It was the same game packaged again and everybody ate it up because it was hailed as the next Zelda game. If I didn't play BotW and if I didn't have my game developer background maybe I would have enjoyed this more. I can just see all the corners that were cut during gameplay, and it feels insulting to be a consumer of this. Not worth $70, not indicative of 6 years of work, 4/10. Congratulations, you implemented 1 cool feature with ultrahand and things are slightly more optimized.
    I'm not going to just give a pass for huge companies that choose to cheat out the consumer.    … Expand
  23. ApacheHeli
    May 30, 2023
    10
    I'm amazed how they were able to 1-up themselves with this game. Truly is a wonderful experience, the building mechanics are awesome and being able to explore the world again and just get distracted so much doing so many things is just tons of fun. I'll probably be updating this review once I've finished the game, but didn't wanna wait forever to post this.
  24. Stier11
    May 30, 2023
    10
    The more you play the better it gets its genius with the abilitys and the new dungeosns but i wish they were a bit more classic zelda dungeons i love breath of the wild it changed my life and this is better the story is perfect and your so free i love it it could write for this reviev for hours but i wanna play the game more
  25. i_love_zelda
    May 30, 2023
    10
    game of the year possibly decade thought it would be too much like breath of the wild but it is NOT dlc there is way too much new things
  26. Dagshola
    May 30, 2023
    7
    I really like the game. A big world to explore with a lot of things to do, but ...
    The Switch is pretty old now, Nintendo did a great job in getting this up and running, but the graphics are sometimes not as sharp as they should be.
    Breaking weapons are the worst feature ever, i hated it on BotW and it's even worse on TotK. Some story links to BotW are nice (like in Gerudo town), other    I really like the game. A big world to explore with a lot of things to do, but ...
    The Switch is pretty old now, Nintendo did a great job in getting this up and running, but the graphics are sometimes not as sharp as they should be.
    Breaking weapons are the worst feature ever, i hated it on BotW and it's even worse on TotK. Some story links to BotW are nice (like in Gerudo town), other are completly missing. The story misses a lot of its potential. Trying to get money for armor sets is a lot of stupid farming and grinding.
    All in all a good, solid game which could be even better.    … Expand
  27. ddenis
    May 30, 2023
    2
    This is the same Zelda, this is old, this is low fps, this is the same enemies, the same sound, the same map, this is bad.
  28. MistaRodrigo
    May 30, 2023
    10
    Never have i ever played a single player game for so long and felt so rewarded in the end, as i say to my friends, Zelda TOTK is not just a game, it is an experience.

    The game builds itself in an fantastic away, and make a lot of other world exploration games looks kinda boring.
  29. TheSilentQuote
    May 30, 2023
    10
    Game is amazing! Takes everything that worked well from botw and updated it with new twists and features that makes it a sprawling experience! Story is exciting, bosses are fun, puzzles are challenging and fun, and the world is bigger and better than ever! A must play 100%!
  30. tonglam14
    May 29, 2023
    10
    Tears of the kingdom will be my pick of game of the decade. From every perspectives, it it at the top above all others games in this decade,
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Awards & Rankings

1
#1 Best Switch Game of 2023
1
#1 Most Discussed Switch Game of 2023

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
96

Universal acclaim - based on 150 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 145 out of 150
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 150
  3. Negative: 0 out of 150
  1. Nintendo Force Magazine
    Mar 18, 2024
    100
    I wasn't sure how Nintendo would find a way to top their work in Breath of the Wild back when it came out, but I feel they have here – with years of more polish applied and refined exploration. [Issue #66 – July/August 2023, p. 71]
  2. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Jan 22, 2024
    100
    The good thing is that, thanks to the limited possibilities, the creators couldn't go crazy and swing for hundreds of game miles. Instead, they created what could be called Elden Ring in a travel pack. [Issue#328]
  3. Shacknews
    Dec 28, 2023
    100
    The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has lived up to the high expectations created by the success of Breath of the Wild with its exquisitely intertwined gameplay systems, outstanding music, and a legendary story culminating in a magnificent denouement. It's not every day that such a special video game like this comes around. Truly the stuff of legend.
    Read full review
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