Tears of the Kingdom, the latest game in The Legend of Zelda series, released on Friday, frees players to experiment, invent and make their own.
Six years ago, Nintendo did it again. The games company that recreated Super Mario and Pokémon took the idea of the Zelda games and completely reimagined everything around it.
Launched with the Nintendo Switch console, *The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild* was a huge success. It is the most popular installment in the nearly 20-part Zelda series and one of the best-selling games of all time.
Now Nintendo is trying to renew its success with the sequel to *Breath of the Wild*. Can *The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom* recreate the skin of the series? And what weight does the history of the series place on the shoulders of each new instalment?
The golden cassette invited to an adventure
The world conquest of Zelda games began more than three decades ago when *The Legend of Zelda* (1986) was released. In a simple adventure game, the hero Link, dressed in a green bun, fought monsters, collected equipment and solved puzzles in order to defeat the great evil Gano and rescue the princess Zelda, who was captured by him.
– It’s funny that when talking about *Breath of the Wild* as a free adventure, the first Zelda has the same hook. Although, of course, it is much more primitive due to the technical limitations of the time, says Manzos.
In computer games, you could explore the worlds more freely, but the graphic look and playful approach of the game guaranteed it a bigger audience. The game’s cartridge was also gold-colored, while other Nintendo games were dull gray.
According to Manzos, what made Zelda special was also the fact that playing through it required time and usually also external help.
– That world continued in every direction and there were really well hidden secrets in it. You had to know that a certain bush had to be burned because there was a doorway behind it. I had to talk to my friends or read instructions in a magazine to get ahead.
Into the third dimension and at the forefront of modern games
It took 12 years, three sequels and two generations of consoles before the series took its next step.
The first Zelda games were two-dimensional adventures shot from above, where the character moved as if on a map. *The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time* (1998) released for the Nintendo 64 console moved the game graphically to a new, three-dimensional world.
The atmosphere of the game changed in one fell swoop.
According to Manzos, the influence of *Ocarina of Time* is also clearly visible in many action role-playing games of recent years. He raises, for example, FromSoftware’s hugely popular *Elden Ring* (2022) and *Dark Souls I–III* (2009–2016).
– The character is moved in the same way in the world and in battles the image locks onto the enemy and the camera rotates around it. They also have the same element of exploration, how sometimes you move outside and sometimes you go to a cave and find treasures in a chest. They are really Zelda stuff.
The world opens up to the player
Anyone who has played adventure and action games knows how it feels when you want to do something completely different from what the game directs the player to. To walk in the wrong direction. Try something crazy. To detach from the plot of the game and hang around without a goal.
According to Manzos, that feeling stems from the technological limitations of the games. The player wants to try everything possible in the game.
In that sense, *Breath of the Wild* blew the bank. It offers the player an unprecedented feeling of being able to do anything in the game.
– At the beginning of *Breath of the Wild* there is a famous scene where Link stops over a cliff and a wide landscape opens up in front of him. You can really go in any direction and develop the character gradually. The player himself can decide, for example, the duration of the game.
Many popular Action Games of the 21st century are so-called open-world games, where exploring the vast world is one part of the adventure. According to Manzos, however, other games guide the player much more.
– For example, in the *Assassin’s Creed* games (2007–), which are really popular open-world games, it seems that the creator of the game is constantly a little worried about whether the player has enough to do.
Of course, the new Zelda games also have a story, but the player is not forced to follow it. All kinds of side plots, little quests and world exploration take away from the advancement of the story. The most important thing is just playing.
A game where you can do anything
Now released *The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom* continues the story of *Breath of the Wild*. Ganon has been defeated, Zelda has been saved, and peace is in the land… at least until the Demon King comes back to life and the princess is in trouble again.
The new game has an open world like its predecessor, but it’s even bigger than before. In addition to the previously playable map, the player also has adventures on islands floating in the sky.
More interesting, however, is how the game differs from its predecessor. According to Manzos, one element emerged strongly already in the preliminary stories about the game. The game allows the player to connect any found objects together. By combining, you can create, for example, tools, weapons, bridges or even airplanes to fly over obstacles.
According to the reviews the game has received, the possibilities seem almost limitless. At the same time, the experience controlled by the game maker decreases even more.
– There is not just a certain problem that can be solved in a certain way. It’s about giving the player the tools to come up with their own solutions.
Models from Minecraft and Roblox
Based on the first reviews of *Tears of the Kingdom*, a new way of solving problems increases the enjoyment of playing. Manzos sees a connection here to *Minecraft* and *Roblox*, two of the biggest hit games of recent years.
– The purpose of them is for the player to create the content of the game himself, as it were. It has to do with the culture of sharing. You stream your own gameplay or make YouTube videos about it, or play with friends and tell what you have done yourself.
– In my opinion, *Tears of the Kingdom* goes even more in the direction of taking a model from sandbox games and not so much from adventure games.
Manzos emphasizes that he himself has not yet been able to play the new Zelda, but relies on information from the international gaming media. The first reviews of the game released on Thursday support his findings.
– The game made me feel like a hero all the time. It seemed that my crazy ideas of building wacky cars were witty and funny. It seemed that with a little courage I could defeat a horde of enemies with nothing but sticks and stones. It seemed that I can jump from a flying island into the unknown and find my way, writes The Telegraph magazine in its review.
*Tears of the Kingdom* would seem to be a critical success similar to *Breath of the Wild* in the light of initial information. At the time of writing, the game’s average review score on Metacritic is 96 out of 100.