There was a time not long after Breath of the Wild came out when my love for the Zelda series seemed to flicker out. I lost interest in journeying through Hyrule, not only in the newest game, but even in the older Zelda games that I once felt I could pick up any day, play for hours, and never get tired of. It’s strange, because after I first watched gameplay footage of Breath of the Wild back in 2015, I was so eager to finally buy it and experience it for myself.
I bought the game at launch, brought it back to my apartment, popped it in, and started playing that very first night. The graphics, the peaceful surroundings, the gameplay, it all looked so impressive. I really did feel like I was immersing myself back into the fantasy land of Hyrule.
Then, sometime after that, it just couldn’t hold my attention anymore. I hadn’t even progressed very far in the game when, like a switch had been flipped, my mind decided it needed a break from playing Zelda. Maybe it felt too familiar. Maybe it felt like I was playing the same story, in the same world, that I already had experienced many, many times before over the years. I still don’t know why, to this day, I felt the need to step away from the series after only a few hours of Breath of the Wild. But I did, as hard as it might be to explain.
That period of not revisiting the series lasted for a number of years. I might have loaded up a save file in an older game like A Link to the Past or the original Legend of Zelda on NES for a few minutes of nostalgia, but I never played with any real goal in mind. I wasn’t trying to beat the game again. I think back to those moments like needing a quick drink of water to hold me over, except the water was one of the older Zelda titles.
Then, years later in 2023, Tears of the Kingdom was released, and I decided I was ready to “awaken” again from my long Zelda “nap”, just like Link wakes up at the beginning of the game. Something felt different. Better.
Right away, I recognized the environments, gameplay, and music from Breath of the Wild, even though I had only played that game for a few hours many years earlier. But that first dive Link takes, down toward the floating chunks of land in midair, as the title fades on screen, “Tears of the Kingdom”, felt like a huge breath of fresh air.
Like Link, I felt as though I had stepped back out into the light and open air after being away for a long time. This time, I was ready to dive completely into the adventure. Breath of the Wild may not have held my attention back in the day, but Tears of the Kingdom captivated me in a way I hadn’t felt in so long. For the first week or two of playing, I literally had to set alarms on my phone to remind myself to stop and eat, or to get to bed at a certain time on work nights.
The scenery was amazing, and most of the time I was just exploring aimlessly. I wanted to know what was on the other side of a mountain. I wanted to see what was across a body of water. I wanted to figure out how close I was to finding a familiar place like Zora’s Domain, or which direction I needed to go to find it.
Then there were the shrines. Much of my exploration became looking off into the distance and trying to see another glowing green light of a shrine I hadn’t visited yet. That feeling of wandering around with no real direction for several minutes, only to finally see that distant glow of green up ahead, felt so fulfilling.
My love for this fantasy land was reignited. It didn’t matter to me where I was supposed to go next. I could sit down and play for hours, just wandering around and soaking up the landscapes and sounds as if I were really there.
Even the boss fights against beasts, namely Colgera, felt genuinely unsettling, but in a good way. A giant, scaly dragon being fought high up in the sky, in stormy conditions, with what looked like some infinite gloomy void all around us? Yikes. Was my heart pounding? It sure was. But that only added to the already amazing experience of playing Tears of the Kingdom. Vivid landscapes, strange places to explore, and boss fights against monsters that made me feel uneasy? Please, give me more.
If I had to describe Tears of the Kingdom in just a few words, I would call it a truly breathtaking experience.
With that said, I still have not beaten the game. I would like to one day, but I’m perfectly content loading it up whenever I need a break from life and getting lost in its vast open world again. And probably running for my life if I accidentally stumble upon another Gleeok enemy.
It’s an amazing game in my book, and I’m not surprised one bit that it was able to renew my love for the Zelda series. It’s the kind of game where I could see myself clocking 1,000 hours in and still not have the main story finished.
And honestly? That’s just fine with me.
