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How do you follow up a game that is considered by many to be the greatest game ever made? How is it even possible, and how does\u00a0Tears of the Kingdom<\/em>\u00a0do it so well? The answer is remarkably simple: what were once glitches are now gameplay features, and Nintendo has gone even further to add a level of creative freedom that rivals nearly anything you see in a AAA title. This makes\u00a0Breath of the Wild<\/em>\u00a0feel a bit like a tech demo in scope — a proof of concept of what this environment could offer, but not fully evolving into an evergreen sandbox for another six years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom<\/em>\u00a0is Nintendo’s most daring move of handing power over to the players. But for every amazing flying machine and clever solve to a puzzle, there are countless others using their powers to commit war crimes and… crucify Koroks? We’re only a little over a week in, but what players are doing with\u00a0Tears of the Kingdom<\/em>\u00a0has been both amazing and disturbing in the most miraculous ways.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Tears of the Kingdom<\/em>: A Thousand Solutions To Any Puzzle<\/h2>\n

Where previous\u00a0Legend of Zelda<\/em>\u00a0games had players approaching a puzzle with,\u00a0“How do I solve this?”\u00a0Tears of the Kingdom\u00a0<\/em>instead invites players to think, “What’s possible here?”\u00a0<\/em>As open and amazing as\u00a0Breath of the Wild\u00a0<\/em>was, it didn’t offer this level of creativity in its core gameplay. Of course, people found a way to manipulate bombs, shields, minecarts, and more to move around the map quickly and glitch their way to the end destination.<\/p>\n

Tears of the Kingdom,<\/em>\u00a0on the other hand, provides those tools to you to do what you will. Thanks to the Ultrahand ability, I’ve managed to build some halfway-decent flying machines, a car that could overcome most terrain, and even a rudimentary rocket ship. Some of the most viral videos on TikTok, though, show people using Ultrahand to build helicopters, strategic bombers, and even a multi-stage rocket to launch a Korok into the abyss.<\/p>\n

Where other games might lock an ability like Ultrahand behind late-game achievements,\u00a0Tears of the Kingdom\u00a0<\/em>players get it before departing the Great Sky Island. At first, the process of gluing objects together can be a bit cumbersome, but with practice, it’s possible to quickly build impressive machines. Not to mention unlockables later in the game greatly simplify the process of using Ultrahand.<\/p>\n

When players find themselves in a shrine, the capabilities to solve a puzzle tend to be limited to what’s directly in front of you, but there are often still multiple ways to reach the end goal. The most popular of which seems to just be to build extremely long bridges out of anything that will stick together end-to-end? The Nintendo Switch is famously not a powerful system, but it does impressively well with calculating the real-time physics and movement of all of these items stuck together.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yes the frame rate drops below 30 at times, and yes the resolution is lower than most other AAA titles, but Nintendo maximizes the fun factor with its toyetic approach by making the entire world something you can interact with in different ways. It may be too soon to be talking about second and third and fourth playthroughs, but\u00a0Tears of the Kingdom\u00a0<\/em>gives you the freedom to never approach your adventure in quite the same way.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This leads to the question: Are you a benevolent savior of Hyrule, or some kind of vengeful deity?\u00a0<\/p>\n