The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

About The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Nintendo EPD made this 2023 sequel for the Switch as a direct follow-up to Breath of the Wild. You play as Link after exploring caves under Hyrule Castle triggers a catastrophe involving an ancient mummy and a bodiless arm. Zelda vanishes while structures rise from the ground into the sky. Now you control Link on floating islands above the kingdom with a new mechanical arm attached to his body. The story picks up right where the last game left off, sending you across land and air to find your sister and stop the gloom spreading through Hyrule.

Gameplay

You spend most minutes building contraptions using Ultrahand and Fuse abilities to cross the map. Your new arm lets you grab objects, stick them together, or attach weapons to tools for varied combat options. Sessions involve solving physics puzzles in shrines while navigating three distinct layers of Hyrule: the surface, the sky islands, and deep underground Depths. You explore caves to find Zonai remains and uncover secrets about the ancient race. Combat feels fluid as you switch between standard swordplay and using constructed vehicles or elemental weapons. The open world offers no hand-holding; you choose your own path through the large landscapes and mysterious floating regions without a scripted route forcing your moves.

What Players Think

Players on PlayPile rate this title 94.2 out of 100 based on 791 IGDB reviews. The community vibes lean heavily toward Story-Driven and Casual experiences, with three users noting the mind-bending puzzle design. Average playtime remains high as fans tackle every shrine and side quest. Review snippets highlight the freedom to create solutions rather than finding a single intended path. Completion rates suggest most people stick around for the full narrative arc involving Rauru and the Zonai mysteries. The cooperative mood appears less common among players, likely due to the strictly single-player focus, but the shared excitement about the new building mechanics keeps the discussion active across forums.

PlayPile's Take

This game works best if you want a massive sandbox where your tools define the fun. It costs standard retail price and includes 100 achievements to track. The story provides enough context to keep you moving, but the real draw is the physics system that turns every encounter into a potential puzzle. Don't expect a traditional linear adventure since the game refuses to hold your hand. You get exactly what Nintendo promised: a world fueled by your own imagination and construction skills.

Storyline

While exploring the caves underneath Hyrule Castle to investigate the origins of the gloom (a dangerous substance which appeared all over the kingdom), Link and Zelda not only find old archeological remains of the Zonai, an ancient race said to have descended from the sky, but also an maleficent mummy held by a bodiless arm, who suddenly reanimates, defeats Link, breaks the Master Sword and rise large structures, once found underground, to the skies above Hyrule, with Zelda vanishing with a spark from a strange amulet found on the site. Some time later, Link awakens in an unknown place on a floating sky island and meets a mysterious spirit called Rauru, which transplanted his arm (the same arm which was holding the mummy) onto Link, since his right arm was beyond saving. Guided by this new ally, Link sets out in an adventure to protect Hyrule, find Princess Zelda and uncover the mysteries of the Zonai.