Today, on May 13th, 2023, the largest video game company, Nintendo, has released the
long awaited sequel to their smash hit, Breath of the Wild; Tears of the Kingdom. Both
games are a 3D open world take of the previous Legend of Zelda games. Emphasis on open world,
as Tears of the Kingdom (TotK) now has the player explore not only the Hyrule from previous
games but also the sky above Hyrule, in the Great Sky Islands.

First things first, the game mechanics. The game provides several items to the player that
wildly different from the runes from the previous game. I cannot explain all of these abilities
without spoiling the game, but the crafting and combining mechanics that Nintendo have shown
off are wonderful to mess around with. They give the game a more survivalist feel to it, one
that BotW was surely lacking.

Second, the visuals. Nintendo gave their A game with the graphics for this game, which is
rather surprising since Nintendo is not known for creating games with great graphics. The
Addition of a sunrise and sunset sequence was not required but are really appreciated.
The new lighting engine really highlights the cell shading style Nintendo does so well.

Finally, the characters. Without revealing too much, the designs for the new characters are
wonderful. It is so great to see Ganondorf's human form in this art style. I definite
improvement from Calamity and Dark Beast Ganon.

Unfortunately, that's all I can share. I do hope you all will consider giving the game a
chance. I rate the game a solid 10/10. A rating I'm not alone in, as many professional
game journalists have also given the game the same rating. TotK currently has the highest
Metascore rating of any Nintendo game, at a whopping 98 metascore rating.