KOCHI: A couple of weeks ago, an iridescent object plopped from the gaming heavens leaving a cloud of dust where it fell on the ground. From the commotion emerged a cartridge of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Filled with curiosity, I grasped it and posed a question: ‘Breath of the Wild’ was a very large open-world adventure with physics-based puzzles and an engaging story. Can Tears of the Kingdom offer anything to surpass its predecessor? The cartridge gazed back, and with an enigmatic sparkle, it answered “Yes.”
I suppose that was the extent of the cartridge’s conversational repertoire. But when I started the game, I was quick to realise that BotW was only a warm-up act to the grand symphony of TotK. For beginners to the series, here’s how the story normally goes: Link, a young hero, sets off on wild escapades to rescue Princess Zelda, and then gives the notorious villain Ganon a swift kick in his pants. This time around, TotK uses its story perfectly to prime us for the scale of its gameplay.
Zelda and Link’s underground exploration leads to a massive upheaval ripping through Hyrule, creating chasms and islands to pop up randomly in the ground and in the sky. In the chaotic whirlwind, Link finds himself in a Luke Skywalker-esque predicament, losing his arm to a corruption.
However, ancient king Rauru provides him with a powerful new one, advising him to seek out shrines and upgrade this glowing bionic arm as he explores this weird new world. As for Zelda, bless her heart, she’s lost somewhere again. But patience is a virtue, and she must twiddle her thumbs while Link explores and regains his strength.
Among other sad events, Hyrule’s weapons have also lost their power to the corruption. Enter ‘Fuse’, a handy ability that helps join items together. Weapons are twice as powerful, and degeneration is a lot slower if you, say, fuse an apple to the end of a stick.
In this game, we are introduced to the ancient Zonai, who really are quite modern, because they seem to understand electricity. These objects have mechanical abilities useful in several areas. Comparing the two games would be like equating a thrilling skydiving experience to jumping on a trampoline. You could simply strap on powerful zonai fans to a giant plank of wood to allow Link to soar through the skies and bypass several regions in a matter of minutes.
By the time you have perfected many ways to use these abilities, the game already throws us a few more new ones. Without spoiling too much, I will say this. The tension builds as large chunks of glowing rocks from the sky islands fall. As Link sets of to the various corners of Hyrule, he is assisted by an exciting twist: he forges valuable friendships that provide magical support.
What truly stands out is the optional nature of combat. The game merely suggests you fight enemies if you want valuable item pickups for crafting and side quests. As all games in the series, Tears of the Kingdom is available exclusively on Nintendo’s console. The physical edition for the Nintendo Switch is priced at around `5,500.