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.
Jun 1, 2023

It’s easy to wonder if this game’s sequel will be even more grandiose, if it will have Link go the cosmic route of Nintendo’s plumber mascot Mario and end up in outer space. Maybe we’ll get to see him jump off of the moon before gradually descending upon Hyrule yet again. If so, one can only hope that more than just the path back down to Zelda’s kingdom will be littered with truly novel, go-for-broke creative highs of the sort that not just Super Mario Galaxy and its sequel rode, but earlier Legend of Zelda games as well. Because balancing tradition with innovation doesn’t make a game like Tears of the Kingdom, or any other for that matter, soar if the most transparent thing about it is how it chooses to ride in on another’s coattails.

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7 / 10.0
May 16, 2023

For the right kind of player, someone who just wishes to explore and live in a gorgeously designed fantasy setting, this game will offer countless hours of enjoyment. However, if you are like me and when you are presented with a quest to undertake you simply wish to follow that quest in a way that feels fluid and rewarding, this game has some huge hurdles to overcome.

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7 / 10.0
May 24, 2023

If you liked Breath of the Wild, then you will be pleased that Tears of the Kingdom is more of it, but refined and with more impressive physics and systems to mess around with. Breath of the Wild was missing something and that something was Ultrahand. It has a transformative effect on how players look at the world and how they can improvise solutions by tapping into their inner engineer.

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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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8 / 10.0
May 18, 2023

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is a near-perfect game and a technical marvel that's only slightly overshadowed by its fiddly controls, unintuitive UI and gameplay mechanics that can require too much from the player. Its ambitious and impressive approach to freeform sandbox open-world gameplay is commendable and is executed with the unique specificity only Nintendo could create. The scale of both the world and the content within it is overwhelmingly engrossing and makes for a genuinely immersive experience. Were it not for the occasionally poor execution of some of its most core concepts, Tears of the Kingdom would surely be a 10/10.

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Saudi Gamer
Top Critic
8 / 10
May 15, 2023

Tears of the Kingdom is a great game that rewards your imagination and creativity more so than the original, but ultimately it is the same game down to its faults and barely brings anything substantially new to the table.

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8 / 10.0
Jul 21, 2023

I know I've spent a lot of time discussing my qualms with this new formula for Zelda games but I did still enjoy myself. Don't get me wrong, everyone should play Tears of the Kingdom. The new outfits to find are fun and varied, the caves are really interesting and Ultrahand has some fun uses. It is an incredible achievement but it's just not what I'm looking for in Zelda games. That's a shame for those of us that want those classic elements back. I don't think the Zelda 'formulas' are mutually exclusive. I think there's a better balance they can strike but they're not there yet. I can only hope Nintendo takes stock of the sincere critiques of these two Zelda games and find ways to accommodate all Zelda fans moving forward.

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May 11, 2023

A terrific Breath of the Wild follow-up with some brilliant new systems, amazing views and more dungeon-type spaces, plus a slightly deadening emphasis on gathering resources.

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8.5 / 10.0
Aug 4, 2023

Tears of the Kingdom is a great game that makes it hard to go back to Breath of the Wild. It improves on its predecessor in terms of exploring and its sandbox method of gameplay, but fails to update the main combat mechanics and weapon system.

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85%
May 22, 2023

Tears of the Kingdom is an excellent, polished and bug-free Zelda game, but compared to Breath of the Wild, it doesn't have as many surprises in store.

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GameGrin
Top Critic
8.5 / 10.0
Jul 8, 2023

The level of interactivity in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, its puzzles, and the feelings you get while playing it are beyond compare. It's not perfect, but you shouldn't miss out on it because this is a fantastic game.

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88 / 100
May 29, 2023

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is an awe-inspiring masterpiece that surpasses its predecessor, Breath of the Wild, in every way. With its vast open world, boundless exploration, and innovative new abilities, the game offers an unforgettably immersive experience. It's a perfect game that will keep you enthralled for hours on end.

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88 / 100
May 26, 2023

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom improves and expands upon its fantastic predecessor in several ways. Link's new abilities provide significant, and excellent, changes to the core gameplay. Even the narrative offers an interesting backstory the land of Hyrule, while also giving Zelda time to shine. It's one of the best titles that the Nintendo Switch has to offer.

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Dec 17, 2023

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom lives up to the franchise's pedigree, and then some. It’s a remarkably confident sequel that refines and remixes elements of Breath of the Wild in delightfully surprising ways. The aging Switch hardware it's confined to can’t always keep pace, but that’s a minor blemish on an overall masterful experience that is essential for all Nintendo fans.

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9 / 10
Jul 3, 2023

Tears of the Kingdom accomplishes its lofty goals, improving upon the masterful Breath of the Wild in nearly every key aspect; Tears may not be my favorite Zelda, but for millions of fans, it might be one of the greatest gaming experiences of their lives.

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90 / 100
Jun 19, 2023

Tears of the Kingdom is just like Breath of the Wild, but better. The sequel adds more than enough to be a completely new experience, but familiar enough to feel like coming back to an old friend. The new abilities are an absolute technical feat, adding countless hours of creativity and innovation unlike any other title in this genre — even if the hardware constraints of the Nintendo Switch leave room for improvement.

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9 / 10.0
Jun 17, 2023

The ability to travel easily between sky, land, and the underground seamlessly, without so much as a loading screen, is absolutely incredible. And this freedom ensures that, even with the power to craft flying machines at your fingertips, Hyrule still feels absolutely enormous. Tears of the Kingdom will certainly go down in history as the best Zelda title of the generation.

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9 / 10.0
May 21, 2023

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is a direct sequel to the acclaimed Breath of the Wild. That's why Nintendo has kept the world largely the same. The game offers fun gameplay as you are used to from the series with the focus again on the fun of exploration.

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9 / 10.0
May 25, 2023

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is expansive, lengthy and filled with creative challenges for those that want to use the environment to their advantage.

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9 / 10.0
May 19, 2023

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is a worthy successor to Breath of the Wild and one of the best games on Nintendo Switch. While it won't win over players who weren't swept away by its predecessor, the sequel does everything in its power to be a true evolution of the formula. Inventive gameplay, a gorgeous presentation, beautiful soundtrack, and incredibly immersive exploration all add up to create a near-masterpiece of endless possibilities.

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