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. Eclain
    Jun 8, 2023
    9
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. At first impression i was like so annoyed to build something to achieve goals you’re facing it.. but after first hours, after you’re getting used with this idea, it was a fun to create things without expecting it.
    The annoying part is also there: there’s some big dungeons where you’re forced to ‘unlock’ 5 keys and to defeat bosses.. in some situations you’re got annoyed losing your way in mazed dungeon. .. but after all, I’ve played more hours than previous Breath of the wild already. It’s addictive to discover, exploring a whole new world of Hyrule    … Expand
  2. Aboughtcritic
    May 16, 2023
    10
    This years Elden Ring. Huge scope, nice visuals, fresh mechanics and a world that is filled with life and many secrets. It makes BOTW feel like a beta version.
  3. cth323100
    May 14, 2023
    10
    whey you thought breath of the wild is the open world peak, in the fact that zelda team once again stand out here said all the player wrong. they have a better game. every thing you don't need to trust but nintendo and zelda team.
  4. Dyedra
    Jun 17, 2023
    10
    Una obra maestra: un mapa inmenso, con infinitas posibilidades de interactuar con él debido a las habilidades del personaje que permiten construir todo tipo de vehículos para desplazarse por tierra, mar o aire: de crear armas devastadoras, de combinar escudos, armas y objetos creando otros más complejos cuya utilidad y formas desafían a la imaginacion. Incontables Templos, santuarios,Una obra maestra: un mapa inmenso, con infinitas posibilidades de interactuar con él debido a las habilidades del personaje que permiten construir todo tipo de vehículos para desplazarse por tierra, mar o aire: de crear armas devastadoras, de combinar escudos, armas y objetos creando otros más complejos cuya utilidad y formas desafían a la imaginacion. Incontables Templos, santuarios, cuevas, mazmorras, con puzzles que ni los mejores diseñadores han logrado igualar. Un diseño artístico que, aunque continuista, amplia y mejora el anterior esta vez con paisajes en el firmamento y en el subsuelo. Una historia que es de las mejores que se han visto en un videojuego, narrada de forma sublime y acompañada por un doblaje y banda sonora de diez.
    Tears of the kingdom es el Zelda perfecto    … Expand
  5. Motomike13
    May 14, 2023
    10
    This game is absolutely incredible. Obviously a lot of similarities to botw but this game expands on everything that great game did and makes it better.
  6. Ryu_san
    May 21, 2023
    10
    Brilliant - the building mechanics are fun and the additional ways to explore the world underground and in the sky bring innovation in this Zelda game. So much replay value for these reasons, as well as containing classic dungeons and quests.
  7. Volvago
    Jun 2, 2023
    10
    O jogo é tão grandioso, com a melhor história da franquia, criatividade a milhão, ima Hyrule renovada, o reino dos céus(o primeiro salto é inesquecível), as temidas profundezas, a volta de Ganondorf, MUUUUITA EMOÇÃO, as batalhas grandiosas contra os chefes, puzzles geniais e o melhor: finalmente o protagonismo da Zelda.
  8. GonzaloRoG
    May 15, 2023
    10
    Best game I ever played. The game dinamics and the soundtrack are an impressive création
  9. Lumber_Jones
    Jun 16, 2023
    8
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This game is a great entry in the Zelda franchise and is absolutely worth a playthrough. I'd go so far as to say if you are going to play one game from the franchise in your life this is the one. That being said the game is full of issues that I think are indicative of Nintendo's lack of interest in pushing boundaries of any kind while also competing with its own characters lack of development and Zelda's own personal development being one of the coolest we have ever seen not just in this series but in many Video Game stories.

    I like that they brought back the concept of the sages, having that portion of Zelda lore back in such a big game for the franchise was great. And seeing the first rulers of the land of Hyrule was equally mystifying and interesting as a long time fan of the series. But the sages themselves had zero character development. Even if we include what happened with them in the first game. e.g. Tulin the sage of Wind and a Rito is just a generic teenage kid. they do not appear to have any other defining traits aside from this. Riju is still *just* a Gerudo leader and Sidon is your run of the mill himbo. All of this culminates in their powers which are at best clunky to use, but most of the time they are just useless side mechanics that the game could easily have left out. While it is clear that the building was meant to be the star of this game one of, at least in this gamers opinions, best parts of Breath of the Wild was that the guardian abilities were supplemental to the runes that you collected at the beginning of the game. whether they were defensive or offensive, or hell just let you traverse the wind better, they all had a purpose and were easily used as you played the game unlike the sage powers in Tears of the Kingdom.

    The boss fights were immaculate, and each one felt so unique. Finding them again in the depths and getting to play through them a second time with the slightly added difficulty of the gloom was a lot of fun. The Ganondorf fight while not initially at the epic scale I would have hoped for proved to be my favorite in the series. I felt like for the first time I had become strong enough to stand toe to toe with the demon king himself and the final form when it all took to the skies was breathtakingly epic.

    Overall I did really enjoy this game, but unfortunately it just left me wanting in so many ways. Characters who didn't even begin to get a beefier backstory or even a whisper of growth throughout this ordeal were forced upon you, while the clunky mechanics and seeming lack of forethought made it strange to move through the world or even use the new abilities that were given to you. I see why this game is going to be the GOTY, but truly it does not deserve it and it's a shame that other titles that have more fleshed out stories and mechanics will be overlooked because this game lets you build a hover bike. I think the ending of this game is a perfect allegory to how I felt when I beat it. Like link sitting on the grass with nothing left to defeat in the world, all I wanted was a hug and instead I just saw some credits roll.    … Expand
  10. KatanaJoe89
    May 16, 2023
    9
    It improves upon everything. Better story and more freedom offered here with improvements made to the combat and the lock on system
  11. Pacer
    May 21, 2023
    10
    Awesome only game better still is Oot….Most Zelda games are great though if you have the patience and smarts to play them for hours on end
  12. AliDash
    May 16, 2023
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Incredible game play, Incredible new features, Incredible game mechanics, just INCREDIBLE… Expand
  13. Kraid96
    Aug 23, 2023
    6
    Why did I give 6?
    well, because Tears of the Kingodm is an 8 video game, however in the context of a the legend of zelda it is already a lot if it takes a 3, for this doing an average it comes out a six.
    the video game is fun, has immediate gameplay that does not tire and is capable of making you spend hundreds of hours of fun, since facing enemies and completing the various mini-games    Why did I give 6?
    well, because Tears of the Kingodm is an 8 video game, however in the context of a the legend of zelda it is already a lot if it takes a 3, for this doing an average it comes out a six.
    the video game is fun, has immediate gameplay that does not tire and is capable of making you spend hundreds of hours of fun, since facing enemies and completing the various mini-games on the map is extremely fun due to the dynamism of the gameplay. thanks to the ultrahand it is possible to build incredible things and thanks to the compositor the crafting of weapons is fast and immediate. so what's wrong? well since building vehicles and completing minigames isn't the reason a person buys a Zelda game this game for me was a complete bust. Zelda as always is all about exploration and a sense of discovery, and when you fail this point you have failed the entire game. Let's start with recycling. The asset recycling in this game is disgraceful, and I honestly don't understand why people defend this, despite the fact that the game still cost 70 bucks. And stop comparing it to majora's mask which only recycled npc assets. Finding again enemies, weapons, fauna, flora and clothes from the previous game was a huge disappointment. especially when most of the enemies are bokobli, grublin, lizalfos, octorot and lynel again. also the Yigas appear in the exact same way. The map of the sky, so advertised by Nintendo, is nothing more than a group of tiny islands and copy pasted with the same puzzle. the exploration of the sky was disappointing because I find it extremely boring to explore to always find the same things. the underground may look cool at first but then it turns out to be nothing more than a wasteland with only one biome and with ridiculously repeated enemies. it has only 2 structures and it repeats them all over the map giving the feeling of exploring a procedural environment. Hyrule has remained the same, and no, I don't consider moving shrines and korooks to be a different map. I honestly found it extremely boring to explore a map on which I had already spent hundreds of hours botw. the only satisfaction was given by the caves, even if many of them are similar and a bit boring. Since Nintendo has decided that all the same rooms with a puzzle inside can very well replace the Dungeons, also in this game we have only 4 small dungeons (the castle of Hyrule has remained the same as that of botw). The temples in this game are none other than the divine beasts but dressed differently. Honestly I'm sick of this game being compared to the first zelda for NES, since the only thing they have in common is that they have an open map. in Zelda 1 dungeons were essential, just as it was essential to explore to get items without which you could not complete the game. in totk everything is made to be Optional, the really useful things are only given to you at the beginning, everything else is just finding useless things just for completion. if you don't care about Zelda or what it has been to date this game will be perfect for you, otherwise it was a complete disappointment.    … Expand
  14. BumbleBear
    Jun 25, 2023
    9
    overall very good shrine design and the blueprint is just a lot of fun. Only thing that ns switch is not up to this masterpiece.
  15. bderoo
    May 26, 2023
    10
    Somehow they took BotW and made it even more open world. The theme of this game should be "Hey, whatever works". The story is great and adds a ton to the already existing Zelda lore and it's fun to see what characters from BotW are doing a few years later.
  16. AstroWilde
    May 14, 2023
    10
    Sooo, this game is great, as of writing this review it's been out for 3 days, and it's already my game of the year.
    This game did the impossible, and improved on breath of the wild in every conceivable way, and managed to make breath of the wild look like a glorified proof of concept.
    Do yourself a favour and play this
  17. Alexresevl86
    May 25, 2023
    9
    The game is an evolution of Breath of the wild, it may be the same map, but now you can explore the sky and the depths underground, it keeps the same magic of getting you out of the path to go and investigate something you saw in the horizon, the game looks crispier and textures are a little bit better than botw, the only problem is the performance, it holds 30 fps most of the time but theThe game is an evolution of Breath of the wild, it may be the same map, but now you can explore the sky and the depths underground, it keeps the same magic of getting you out of the path to go and investigate something you saw in the horizon, the game looks crispier and textures are a little bit better than botw, the only problem is the performance, it holds 30 fps most of the time but the performance gets a hit when you are using the new skills (ultra hand, fuse, ascend and recall) if we understand that the Switch hardware is not a powerhouse, we can give that to Nintendo, but if they can release a new update to at least fix the performance hit when using the new set of skills, that would be great, Tears of the Kingdom is a good evolution of the previous game and tries to give you more lore and works the story of hyrule in a good way, it could be a 10 but due to the performance issues, I'll give it a 9.… Expand
  18. wxyboshy
    Jun 30, 2023
    6
    It's like transitioning from a vhs to a dvd. You get some nice extra features, improved controls and somewhat of a new coloring and rendering scheme, but in the end is the same film.

    It's pretty much the same game as Breath Of The Wild, now with side quests that involve some basic sandbox mechanics. - Main quest is super short, and super easy if you play the first one. - Same map,    It's like transitioning from a vhs to a dvd. You get some nice extra features, improved controls and somewhat of a new coloring and rendering scheme, but in the end is the same film.

    It's pretty much the same game as Breath Of The Wild, now with side quests that involve some basic sandbox mechanics.

    - Main quest is super short, and super easy if you play the first one.
    - Same map, with more NPCs, and the same design flaws. One giant map that's still mostly empty. Narrow it down to the main shrine quests, and you'll get 5/15 regions worth of content. All the rest (including the new "maps") is just "exploring" and side quests.
    - The new physics engine doesn't really add anything new to the main quest, it just let's you move faster or build weapons with the same feature set as the previous game.
    - All shrines can be done in any order from the beginning, therefore, all shrines can be completed with relative ease without any experience level.
    - You get to explore new areas, only to collect items that make you explore more areas faster...
    - The "sequel" part only applies to the story, that in my opinion, are leftovers or uncompleted content from the first game that were not released due to time or development constraints. It's like the saying, SSDD.
    - Most new features are improved or patched versions of the previous game
    - After 50 hours of playtime, I'm officially done with any more Zelda games. Makes me feel like all my investment in the previous game (200 hours+) was for nothing.

    In summary, it's Botw with a green tint instead of a blue one.    … Expand
  19. empirius
    May 15, 2023
    10
    Absolute best in the entire series. This is such a huge improvement on everything BOTW accomplished and manages to outshine it at almost every opportunity. I continue to be impressed at how much variety and new gameplay there is to find since the prequel.
  20. HammerSeven
    Jun 8, 2023
    10
    The game is a step above breath of the wild with building mechanics, and additional world. The story is an improved narrative too. If you liked breath of the wild, you should play this.
  21. lukaszbrozek
    May 16, 2023
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Where it takes mechanics from others in the industry, it improves upon them; where it introduces new ones, you slap your forehead in amazement that it hasn’t been done before. Development done right, and damn near the best game you’ll play all year.… Expand
  22. QUAID300
    May 16, 2023
    10
    Amazing game and highly addictive. The game allows for such creativity and fun. Its nearly a perfect game in terms of games design. Id love to see better graphics but I love the atomspheric feel and anime style. My only complaints are the rewind time ability displaying the path of objects is a little too opaque, it blocks me from clearly seeing whats going on sometimes. The other isAmazing game and highly addictive. The game allows for such creativity and fun. Its nearly a perfect game in terms of games design. Id love to see better graphics but I love the atomspheric feel and anime style. My only complaints are the rewind time ability displaying the path of objects is a little too opaque, it blocks me from clearly seeing whats going on sometimes. The other is the amount of items in the game get muddled when cyling through which item to attach to an arrow or to throw, they mostly solve it by sorting most used items, but when finding a seldom used item it takes a lot of scrolling. Small issues, but i figured Id mention it as to not simply heap praise. We all know why we love BotW and TotK! Ill be playing for 100+ hours easy. And to the people review bombing and giving the game 0 out of 10, grow up. Im glad I dont know anyone who would rate TotK as a Zero, they must be soul-less jerks who took one look at the graphics and quit. Or uncreative people who find no joy in games unless their being dropped into a shrinking circle from the sky in a battle royale FPS. If you don't like TotK and actually played it, be honest and give it at least a 5 or 7 or something reasonable. Zero is reserved for the worst game of all time, not one of the best of all time. If you never bothered to play the game.. dont give it a review! like a normal human being.… Expand
  23. Gouken128
    May 14, 2023
    10
    The game is better than Botw in every aspect. Amazing design and absolutely addictive to explore Hyrule. The more you play, the more addictive it gets. Nintendo did a great job with this game. People trying to review bomb it have not played at all. Being a sequel, almost nothing resembles Botw. 10/10
  24. MovieT00NS
    May 16, 2023
    10
    Tears of the Kingdom is a Great Perfect Game as Perfect Game as Breath of the Wild it's a Best Video Game Ever Become Masterpiece Open World Game
  25. Peacenight
    May 14, 2023
    9
    This game is great! Only problem with it is the start of the game and the lag. The start of the game doesn't let you teleport until you finish 3 shrines which is so annoying. But after leaving the sky islands this game is peak! The story is good...but not Ocarina of Time level good. The depths are the best part so far, the hidden secrets and everything is great, the boss fights youThis game is great! Only problem with it is the start of the game and the lag. The start of the game doesn't let you teleport until you finish 3 shrines which is so annoying. But after leaving the sky islands this game is peak! The story is good...but not Ocarina of Time level good. The depths are the best part so far, the hidden secrets and everything is great, the boss fights you encounter randomly are also very fun, Hyrule on the surface has changed but not too much, so it definitely feels like the same Hyrule but now it has so many secrets and different structures that it doesn't feel boring.… Expand
  26. Zaturn464
    Jun 3, 2023
    9
    This game have token every critic point of Breath of the Wild and destroy it. The only thing I wann to critice is that soweit of the dialauges Arena written quiet long or insipid.
  27. luhpoon
    May 27, 2023
    10
    Perfect sequel perfect game. Better in every way possible, from the open-world, to the bosses, to the story, just perfect. Haven't had so much fun in a game in quite a few years and I had no doubt this game would be a masterpiece goty.
  28. OgRoberts
    May 20, 2023
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. More of everything! A sandier sandbox. More outfits. More characters. More game mechanics. A terrifying Ganon and epic Princess Zelda. The first was a masterpiece and this is a masterpiece+. The most epic master sword pull in Zelda history.… Expand
  29. Soracifer88
    Jun 25, 2023
    10
    Zelda is a great modern masterpiece, one of those games that make next-gen games that focus on graphics without bringing anything really innovative and next-generation pale.
    A sequel capable of elevating and making what was already one of the best games ever made feel like a beta.
    Pros: +Incredible level design on multiple levels +interaction to whole new level + unique ability that    Zelda is a great modern masterpiece, one of those games that make next-gen games that focus on graphics without bringing anything really innovative and next-generation pale.
    A sequel capable of elevating and making what was already one of the best games ever made feel like a beta.

    Pros:
    +Incredible level design on multiple levels
    +interaction to whole new level
    + unique ability that completely change the way you play in the combat, puzzle and exploration
    +Zonai device completely change the approach on the game halfway
    +great music
    +endless quality content and new idea

    with:
    -Some framerate issue (switch fault)
    -sage abilty are a bit wonky, a step back from the botw champion ability

    TOTK is not "perfect" but 10 for me dosent mean perfection but great archivement and step up in the gamedesign and in this media... totk use the same map and still manage to feels new and something never seen and play before. masterpiece.    … Expand
  30. NRid
    May 15, 2023
    10
    Wow. What a sequel. This game takes everything from BOTW and turns it up to 11. The new powers feel well thought out. The new enemies are great, exploring the caves, the dungeons, the depths are all fantastic additions. Even though you’re back in Hyrule not once I have felt like this is just a rehash or DLC.
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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.
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