The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Reviews

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is ranked in the 100th percentile of games scored on OpenCritic.
10 / 10.0
May 11, 2023

Tears of Kingdom could end being one of the best games ever made, with unparalleled exploration that offers freedom and creativity on a scale never before seen.

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10 / 10
May 11, 2023

It's impossible to talk about everything that makes The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom so incredible, and making many of those discoveries yourselves is part of the magic. It's also impossible to overstate just how much there is to do in Hyrule this time around. Much like its predecessor, this is your playground for the next however many years to come, with a little sprinkling of that older Zelda fairy dust mixed into Breath of the Wild's formula. It's a glorious, triumphant sequel to one of the best video games of all time; absolute unfiltered bliss to lose yourself in for hundreds of hours. We can't wait to see what the world will do with the game.

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10 / 10
May 26, 2023

Tears of the Kingdom is a tour de force. A consummate masterstroke of game design and worldbuilding, unrepentant in its pursuit of player freedom, well-deserving of a place among the greatest games of all time.

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10 / 10.0
May 24, 2023

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is a remarkable sequel, expanding on the mechanics, characters, and setting introduced in 2017's Breath of the Wild. DualShockers was provided a copy of the game for review purposes.

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7 / 10.0
May 21, 2023

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is indeed a game with two faces - one welcoming and the other viciously hostile. While it features a wealth of content, brilliant innovation, and genuine incentives to play with its toys, the spectre of its predecessor’s pernicious encroachment on fun is dispiriting in its ubiquity.

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10 / 10.0
May 11, 2023

Tears of the Kingdom is as imaginative, delightful and empowering as Breath of the Wild and a paradigm for emergent sandbox play.

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May 11, 2023

So long as you’re willing to meticulously survey Hyrule like an archaeologist digging for fossils, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is an engrossing sequel full of mysteries to solve and experiments to conduct. It’s a digital laboratory that I imagine will still be producing unbelievable discoveries 10 years from now.

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100 / 100
May 11, 2023

Ultimately, the lore isn’t the main attraction, and isn’t the reason the Zelda series has endured for almost half a century. What’s more compelling is the game’s nod to the collective story of how human imagination pushes us through our toughest challenges, and sometimes sends us soaring to heights unseen.

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Unscored
May 11, 2023
I *very* strongly recommend The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Spoiler-free review) - YouTube video thumbnail
10 / 10.0
May 11, 2023

"Tears of the Kingdom is so much more than a sequel — it’s a total reimagining of what Nintendo did with Breath of the Wild in 2017. Sure, there are still some minor quibbles, like tedious cooking and clumsy horse controls. But all of that pales in the face of the many, things this game does right."

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Unscored
May 19, 2023

That said, Tears of the Kingdom is a gorgeous game with a wonderful art style that’s able to convey the beautiful, pastoral hills of Central Hyrule, the serene yet sad calm of the sky islands, and the dark, oppressive gloom of the Depths at the same time. It’s incredibly impressive that you’re able to seamlessly dive from the sky, through a canyon, and into the Depths with no loading screens. I did encounter a single loading hitch for about two seconds when sky diving at full speed into Kakariko Village, but everything else is perfectly smooth. Just remember to pull out your paraglider before you hit the ground.

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May 11, 2023

Occasionally a game comes along that makes you look at life in a whole new way. This glorious, hilarious, utterly absorbing Zelda instalment is one of them

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Telegraph
Top Critic
May 11, 2023

The long awaited follow-up to the seminal Breath of the Wild is an expected, inventive triumph for Nintendo's famous series

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VGC
Top Critic
May 11, 2023

The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom reinterprets Breath of the Wild for the better. Instead of removing all the aches and pains of that game, it completes the circle by adding gameplay-based solutions to annoyances and encourages you to let your imagination run free. Easily one of the very best games on Nintendo Switch.

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GameMAG
Top Critic
10 / 10
Nov 24, 2023

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is a title great enough to unite the whole industry. A game to celebrate the past and find the best in the most innovative future Nintendo can offer.

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Jun 14, 2023

Pushing the limits of interaction allows Hyrule to move beyond just being an incredibly beautiful puzzle box setting into something entirely grander. A truly living, breathing world.

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Ken McKown
Top Critic
10 / 10.0
Jun 23, 2023

I could go on and on about this game. It has consumed my gaming time for the last two months and I have not wanted to play much else. I delayed doing the final mission for the longest time as I didn’t want it to end. There is still a ton for me to discover and unlock and I think I am going to keep going back for a long while. Rarely does a game that spans hundreds of hours keep me invested for even close to that long. Nintendo continues to keep this series fresh and while I do love what these new entries are doing, I would be remiss if I didn’t say I do kind of miss the classic design. Still Tears of the Kingdom is by far one of the best games of this generation and if you somehow haven’t played it yet, there is no excuse.

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9.8 / 10.0
May 11, 2023

Tears of the Kingdom manages to surpass the perfection previously achieved by Breath of the Wild, an incredible accomplishment. I'm very happy for the other software houses, who will now be able to have a carefree summer, sparing themselves endless work sessions in an attempt to create a contender for the title of game of the year: right now, the current generation of game designers sadly lacks that spark with which to create a product that can come close to Tears of the Kingdom.

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100 / 100
May 11, 2023

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is one of the most unique and creative games I have ever played. There is a lot to do and the world design is a perfect symbiosis between using Link’s abilities and your own smarts to reach your goals. One of the best games ever on Nintendo Switch and a must-buy.

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9 / 10.0
May 11, 2023

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom sticks closely to the blueprint established by The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, but it’s a richer, more rewarding game in most ways that count, offering a more intricate world, versatile suite of abilities, epic story, and satisfying dungeons.

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