The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was a huge landmark for the franchise. Even though Tears of the Kingdom builds off that foundation, this game is still a classic worth playing.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is a fantastic game, and after playing through its entirety, you might be tempted to say it invalidates The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Why play through the first iteration of this particular Hyrule when this new remixed version exists? You have many of the same landmarks, characters, and enemies, but Tears offers more baddies, the Depths, the sky islands, and the ability to create massive war machines.
To this, I ask: Why must we make two strong queens fight? Both of these games are better for the other existing, and Tears of the Kingdom wouldn’t be nearly as good if I hadn’t spent so much time in Breath of the Wild.
I picked up Tears of the Kingdom at launch, determined not to experience even a scrap of FOMO. But I bounced off the game, fumbling through the tutorial islands. By the time I made landfall at Lookout Landing, I could see a whole world out there to explore, but I didn’t have much desire. Ultrahand felt awkward and janky, it was weird that everyone was so pleased to see me when I had no idea who they were, and my biggest achievement was fusing a stick to another stick.
So I went back to Breath of the Wild. After only a few hours, I had done my homework, and I could have gone straight back to Tears. I had originally played Breath of the Wild at launch and got about halfway through the game, after all; I had done my time.
