Well, we all expected this, didn’t we? The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom, the follow-up to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is finally here, and Nintendo has done it once again – like they always do. The highly anticipated game was featured in our list of games to look out for in May 2023, and it’s a smash hit on all accounts.
Nintendo somehow improved upon the original in nearly every way – and Breath of the Wild was already top-notch. The sequel delivers many quality-of-life improvements, an exciting story, creative new building mechanics, and more.
Genre: Action-Adventure
Developers: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Platforms: Nintendo Switch
Scores: Opencritic: 97, Metacritic: 96
The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom Gameplay
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Review Roundup
Here are some reviews and first-look articles for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom from around the web.
IGN
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.
IGN Rating: 10/10
GameInformer
Nearly every encounter, whether puzzle, traversal, or combat, must be reconsidered. It makes you think in new ways. 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.
GameInformer rating: 9.75/10
Gamespot
When I think of the Legend of Zelda series, I’ve always thought about transcendent, mythic moments: pulling the Master Sword from the pedestal in A Link to the Past, waking the Wind Fish in Link’s Awakening, the three major characters representing aspects of the Triforce in Ocarina of Time. Tears of the Kingdom has a moment that matches each of those, and I felt the scope and power of it so strongly that I shed my own tears. As much as I loved each of those pieces in Zelda’s past, I’m not sure if it’s ever evoked that level of emotion from me before
Gamespot rating: 7/10

Destructoid
I loved nearly every minute of Tears of the Kingdom. From zooming up into the sky to spelunking in the depths, there’s way more to explore here, and I feel like I haven’t even scratched the surface outside of the main story and some key sidequests. But the real kicker that helps separate Tears from Breath of the Wild is its big swing power set. I felt like I was in control at all times, and had the ability to create my own path.
Destructoid rating: 10/10
VG247
Although it takes place on the same map as Breath of the Wild (with a few key changes owing to the time-skip and Upheaval, of course), 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.
VG247 rating: 5/5