Paul’s Top 10: Zelda TotK
Written by Paul Lehman
Everyone has their favorite Zelda game. The series has been running so long and has undergone so many iterations, that each entry feels like a mixed bag. I have always appreciated when a series is willing to undergo major changes for the sake of innovation. I love Mario Brothers, but let’s face it - whether the current game has a suit that turns you into a raccoon, cat, or bee, the game is exactly the same at its core.
Zelda isn’t afraid to take some big swings. The Wind Waker’s art design was a major adjustment and certainly wasn’t loved by everyone. Skyward Sword’s inclusion of motion controls on the Wii infuriated many. Breath of the Wild seemed to be loved by almost everyone, and I consider it to be a perfect game. Then Tears of the Kingdom upped the ante and made it even better. Not only that, I believe that Tears of the Kingdom will end up being the most influential game of the early 2020s.
Never before has exploration and travel been more fun. The inclusion of Ultrahand to build anything your heart desires with ease was a complete revelation. Such a simple system where the sky is the limit, Ultrahand lets you build any kind of crazy vehicle or contraption that you can imagine. When Tears of the Kingdom dropped, I’d never had more fun scrolling TikTok. I saw electric fishing boats that shocked the fish it passed and allowed you to loot dozens of fish within seconds. I saw people recreate X-Wing fighters from Star Wars that you could fly. I saw murder rooms where you could bait enemies inside where you could then shut the door and grind the enemies to bits.
Tears of the Kingdom provided some of the most clever mechanics to ever grace gaming. If you have a mirror shield, you can run out into the sun and point your shield at an enemy to stun them. You can fuse a minecart to a shield to create your own skateboard. Want to combine a flame emitter with a shield to create your own flamethrower? Go right ahead. The fact that I still see new articles releasing months after release with a title like “MORE things you didn’t know you could do in TotK” tells you that this game is not only a mile wide but also a mile deep.
I’ve heard the complaints of people who didn’t like it or think it’s overrated and I literally feel like they’re speaking gibberish to me. This game is a good old-fashioned sandbox, and it 100% will be what you make of it. If you choose to ignore the journey and the clever way you solved a puzzle to complain that the chest didn’t give you a game-breaking new weapon, you’re completely missing where the satisfaction is supposed to come from. The reward is knowing that you were able to use the tools in the toolbox you’re handed to solve the puzzle in a unique way. I’ve never heard anyone complain that Portal 2 is overrated because there aren’t chests to loot. Or that crossword puzzles are overrated because you don’t get anything when it’s completed. This game is appreciated more when you realize that the point isn’t to beat the game or to engage in hardcore combat mechanics. The journey of HOW you got the objective point or HOW you solved the puzzle is itself the reward. Oh, and it raised Breath of Wild’s poker bet with even more shrines (now 152!) and six massive temples to clear out (way bigger and more complex than four Divine Beasts)? Sign me up every day and twice on Sundays.