For about seven years, Zelda fans have been eagerly awaiting a sequel to one of the Zelda franchise best selling games, “Breath of the Wild”. This game was one of the series’ first open-world games and fans loved it. The sequel was widely anticipated by many fans of all ages. 

The sequel, “Tears of the Kingdom” was announced at E3, a gaming convention held in LA, in 2019 and anticipation only grew from there. 

“Tears of the Kingdom” was developed after the directors of “Breath of the Wild” expanded with downloadable content. They wanted to add more to the world of “Breath of the Wild” but decided that they had already released their threshold on adding to the base game.

“Tears of the Kingdom”, while being similar to “Breath of the Wild”, has several differences.

One major difference is there are now three layers to a map: a sky, with floating islands that traveled by flying through the air, an underneath ground filled with new creatures and the ground, which is twice the size of the original “Breath of the Wild” map. This also adds new locations to discover as the conflict with Gannondorf has refigured Hyrule once again. 

To those new players, Gannondorf is a reappearing face in the legend of Zelda series. He is usually the main antagonist against the recurring protagonist, Link. The setting of the Zelda games is usually hyrule. A usually calm and joyful land with little to no problems until a reincarnation of Gannondorf causes trouble for Link and Zelda. 

Along the new map are some new faces. While this feels like a sequel, Nintendo did a fantastic job making it feel like game newcomers could play just as easily. With a whole new story that does build onto the old story but is also different enough so people who have never picked up a Zelda game in their life, could easily follow what the storyline is about. 

One of the major differences is the new technology introduced as part of Gannondorf’s refiguring of Hyrule. Players are now able to build contraptions to allow them to traverse the world and fight enemies with more gumption. 

While playing the game, there’s almost a sense of timelessness. It is so easy to lose track of time while playing. One of the first days I sat down to play it at 9 a.m. I didn’t leave my spot until 5 p.m. 

The story that Nintendo portrayed with “Tears of the Kingdom” is nothing but magical. 

If you loved “Breath of the Wild” and all of its details, “Tears of the Kingdom” has the same basic moves and buttons. Characters that you loved in “Breath of the Wild” return and it still feels like the original base game, but also a brand new adventure in the Zelda series.