After years of waiting, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is finally out. Critics and fans alike are currently working their way through the enormous open world Hyrule once again, having been remixed and built up compared to its first iteration. While much of Breath of the Wild's bones are still visible in Tears of the Kingdom, widespread reports of new content are building faith that this will be another great Zelda experience.
The reports themselves are also noteworthy. Tears of the Kingdom has reviewed very well, currently competing with Breath of the Wild for higher scores on Metacritic and OpenCritic. Review aggregate sites like these are a great way to see lots of different impressions concentrated in one place, and while Tears of the Kingdom is currently too new to have user scores on Metacritic, it has more than enough critic reviews to be compared directly to its predecessor.
Breath of the Wild Reviews
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild marked Nintendo's late venture into modern open world game design. From the day it launched on May 3, 2017, Breath of the Wild became the name to beat in the genre. By granting the player absolute freedom to find something interesting around every corner, the game quickly endeared itself to players and critics alike. Even now, the effects of Breath of the Wild's launch are still rippling outward, influencing games like Genshin Impact, Elden Ring, Immortals Fenyx Rising, and, of course, Tears of the Kingdom.
Its scores on Metacritic and OpenCritic reflect this. The Metascore for Breath of the Wild on Nintendo Switch sits comfortably at 97, with a user score of 8.7 and a Wii U Metascore of 96. OpenCritic accounts for all available skews in one score, giving BotW a top critic average of 96 with 96% of critical reviews recommending the game. Thanks to that, Breath of the Wild was the highest-rated game on OpenCritic until Super Mario Odyssey released a few months later. Nintendo's efforts to reinvent The Legend of Zelda with Breath of the Wild were a runaway success, and any follow-up games would be hard-pressed to recapture its lightning in a bottle.
Tears of the Kingdom Reviews
Fortunately, Nintendo has not lost its touch six years later. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, now exclusively on the Nintendo Switch, has proven itself to be a worthy successor to Breath of the Wild in the eyes of critics. While it is close to its prequel in many ways, new elements like the Ultrahand and Fuse abilities provide so much gameplay variation that it may be hard to go back to Breath of the Wild's Sheikah Runes. Combine that with some old Zelda staples returning like more traditional dungeons and Ganondorf, and Tears of the Kingdom has a recipe for success.
This is evident in its review scores. Metacritic has recorded a respectable 96, one point lower than Breath of the Wild, but OpenCritic went one point higher with a 97. Not only that, but OpenCritic also displays critic recommendations at a stunning 100%. Tears of the Kingdom's reception has been so positive that it's become the highest-rated game on OpenCritic since its formal launch in September 2015. While both websites currently hold fewer reviews for TotK than BotW and no user reviews, this early performance indicates both games' scores should stay neck-and-neck. Preferences for one or the other will form over time, but right now it looks like both open world Zelda titles are consistently great.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is available now on Nintendo Switch.