Positives:
- Everything you loved about "Breath of the Wild" is here and then some.
- Hyrule is still just as expansive and breathtaking to explore as ever.
- Fret not over the overworld being "reused," because there are more than enough unique changes to it to make it feel fresh again.
- Exploring the sky and the depths is compelling.
- It really feels like everything here is a culmination of everything "Zelda" has been up to this point.
- Fuse mechanic increases the depth of combat.
- There is an insane amount of creativity at your fingertips in a game like this, even more so than what "Breath of the Wild" managed to employ.
- Puzzles feel extremely memorable, aided by that aforementioned creativity.
- Vehicle creation is pretty damn fun.
- For a game on a six-year-old machine that was pretty much outdated at launch, it feels like this pushes the system to its limits as far as visuals.
- Cleverly adds to the "Zelda" lore in many exciting ways.
Negatives:
- It would've been nice to be able to play it in 60 FPS, but the frame rate is stable all the same (I barely noticed anything too bad between docked or handheld mode).
Consensus: They did it. I have no idea how, but they did it. "The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom," against all odds, actually managed to outdo "Breath of the Wild." I know, I can't believe it either. It takes everything that made the first game so successful but adds so much to the overall gameplay. The sheer depth of creativity this game offers you is something I was consistently wowed by, and it left me in awe throughout the entire journey. I typically find it a bit harder to get into some longer games, but even for this game taking me as long as it did (somewhere north of 40 hours according to my Switch), it was worth it. What an incredible journey, and yet another showing of why this franchise is one of gaming's diamonds. They don't call it "The 'Legend' of Zelda" for nothing.
Final rating: 10 out of 10 "Fantastic"