The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Masterfully designed open-world with unmatched verticality and fusion mechanics.

Switch 2 fixes notorious sub-30fps with stable 60fps. Handles complex physics smoothly.

A masterful Zelda game that prioritizes emotional closure alongside gameplay. The final moments brilliantly interweave story and player agency in a way that defines the series.

Switch 2 enhanced version with 60fps, higher resolution, and Zelda Notes app. Definitive way to play.

An exceptional sequel that builds meaningfully on Breath of the Wild with sky exploration, underground realms, and revolutionary physics-based building mechanics. Offers endless creative possibilities and genuine sense of wonder.

A wonderful top-to-bottom expansion of Breath of the Wild that piles on new features without losing its charm, easily good for a hundred hours or more. The vastly expanded Hyrule, with its caves, chasms, depths, and sky islands, shines alongside inventive new abilities, especially the standout Ultra Hand. Returning weapon degradation and a slight design-by-spreadsheet feel in some underground areas are minor frustrations, and its heavier lean into modern open-world collecting may not suit every fan.

Masterpiece that improves on Breath of the Wild in nearly every way. New mechanics (Fuse, Ascend, Ultrahand) transform interaction and exploration. Excellent temples, sky, and underground areas create stark contrasts. Fantastic music and sound design. Performance dips with Ultrahand but still very playable. Filled with wonder and discovery—a fantastic adventure that shouldn't be missed. Official score: 9.5/10.

A patch-focused look at Tears of the Kingdom on Switch finds performance still impressive for the hardware, though the familiar trouble spots remain: the game holds 30fps most of the time but drops straight to a 20fps floor in known problem areas like the water and Kakariko Village, and a lingering weapon-switch delay is still unaddressed. Image quality stays sharp but shows aliasing and resolution fluctuation, while the update mainly fixes progression-blocking bugs and quietly closes off various glitches.

Innovative building mechanics and vast exploration with some revolutionary gameplay features.

Zelda at its peak — Ultrahand and Fuse enable boundless creativity, with one of the most memorable Zelda story moments ever.

MinnMax's Kyle calls Tears of the Kingdom 'fucking fantastic' and 'one of the best things I've ever played in my life'. A strong iteration on Breath of the Wild though it doesn't have the same industry-impact-bomb feeling. Continues to play obsessively. Spoiler-free deep-dive style review.