Tears of the Kingdom taught me to cheat my way through classic Zelda |
Until very recently, the Legend of Zelda games never clicked with me. I used to say it was because I hated puzzles, but now I know that wasn’t true. I actually found them too hard because I died all the time, but that’s a very embarrassing thing to admit when you make your living from video games.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom changed my mind. A lot of that is due to the flexibility of the game itself — you can build wacky contraptions, customize your weapons using abundantly available consumable items, rewind time to move objects, and zip upward through rocks and buildings in a flash without keeping a fretful eye on your stamina gauge. Or you can do none of those things! I played Tears of the Kingdom sporadically over the course of many months, which I suppose is how most people play it, and probably how it is best enjoyed. I liked messing around with rockets and ticking through shrines, but I never saw myself actually finishing the damn thing. I mostly putzed around doing sidequests — restoring Lurelin........