Reviews have officially gone live for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and just like its predecessor Breath of the Wild, this sequel is earning critical acclaim from most outlets. Tears of the Kingdom is being praised for not only building on Breath of the Wild’s foundation with substantial and thoughtful ideas, but also for its vast number of quality-of-life improvements.
“The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is so much more than a sequel to Breath of the Wild. While this newest entry in the Zelda franchise is most recognizably similar to that 2017 game, it builds upon the foundation so thoroughly and transformationally that it feels like a revelation,” Steve Watts wrote in GameSpot’s The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom review. “This is The Legend of Zelda at its finest, borrowing the best pieces and qualities from across the franchise’s history and creating something new that is emotionally resonant, captivating, and endlessly rewarding.”
- Game: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
- Platform: Switch
- Developer: Nintendo
- Release Date: May 12
- Price: $70
On GameSpot’s sister site Metacritic, the game currently has an aggregate score of 97 from 62 reviews, with several sites awarding the game full marks. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom officially launches for Nintendo Switch on May 12, and is the first Nintendo-published game to retail for $70. Preloading for the game is now available, and if you need a quick recap on what happened six years ago in Breath of the Wild, you can click the link for a handy recap video.
For more on what critics have to say, you can read through the reviews below.
GameSpot – 10/10
“Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is a canvas for your own creativity, a book to write your own stories, a world to create your own legends. It gives you back as much as you put into it, and beckons you to soar, burrow, engineer, solve, adventure, and explore.” — Steve Watts [Full review]
IGN – 10/10
“The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is an unfathomable follow-up to one of the greatest games ever made, somehow improving upon it in nearly every way–be that with simple quality-of-life improvements, a genuinely exciting story, or wildly creative new building mechanics that make you rethink what is possible.” — Tom Marks [Full review]
VGC – 10/10
“The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom reinterprets Breath of the Wild for the better. Instead of removing all the aches and pains of that game, it completes the circle by adding gameplay-based solutions to annoyances and encourages you to let your imagination run free. Easily one of the very best games on Nintendo Switch.” — Jordan Middler [Full review]
Inverse – 10/10
“Tears of the Kingdom is so much more than a sequel–it’s a total reimagining of what Nintendo did with Breath of the Wild in 2017. Sure, there are still some minor quibbles, like tedious cooking and clumsy horse controls. But all of that pales in the face of the many, things this game does right.” — Hayes Madsen [Full review]
Nintendo Life – 10/10
“It’s a glorious, triumphant sequel to one of the best video games of all time; absolute unfiltered bliss to lose yourself in for hundreds of hours. We can’t wait to see what the world will do with the game.” — Alana Hagues [Full review]
VG247 – 5/5
“Tears of the Kingdom feels different enough from its predecessor thanks to the new powers and mechanics to stand all on its own. It’s a massive open world that feels dense and exciting without getting clogged up with icon fatigue, since so much of the play is based around physics interactions with the core mechanics, rather than rigid systems.” — James Billcliffe [Full review]
Game Informer – 9.75/10
“I didn’t get the same goosebumps exploring Hyrule as I did in the past, but I did experience new emotions both on a granular level from solving individual puzzles and on a larger scale by going back to one of my favorite video game locations. They say you can never go home again, but I adored returning to Hyrule with all new tools.” — Kyle Hilliard [Full review]
GamesRadar – 4.5/5
“Tears of the Kingdom builds on what Breath of the Wild did previously – and with a platform like that to work on, the result can’t help but be fantastic. Though with the occasional hiccup in execution, the end result is a game as broad as it is deep, and something that comfortably justifies the six-year wait.” — Joel Franey [Full review]
Eurogamer – 4/5
“Tears of the Kingdom is an astonishing, quite literally top-to-bottom sequel, adding complexity and splendor to the Breath of the Wild formula without sacrificing its enchantment.” — Edwin Evans-Thirlwell [Full review]
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