Highlights
- The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom offers a more advanced and enjoyable experience than its predecessor, with a multi-layered map, a deeper story, and increased customization options.
- The customization in Tears of the Kingdom is excellent, but some outfits cannot be upgraded, which is a small drawback and limits their functionality in the later stages of the game.
- The game's emphasis on user-generated enjoyment and its vast selection of clothing items make it highly customizable and allow players to tailor their experience, but the armor upgrade system could have been improved to give every item a purpose.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was an advancement on its predecessor in so many ways. A multi-layered map to explore, a deeper and more interesting story, and a higher emphasis on customization with the plentiful Zonai devices made its already nonlinear design feel all the more free. All of these things make seeing Hyrule through a different lens more than justifying the game's existence, as it takes the structure of Breath of the Wild and leans further into the idea of user-generated enjoyment.
The customization is excellent, but while roaming the fields of the land below, hopping from one sky island to the other, or exploring the Depths, is rewarding, there is one frustration that wasn't addressed. Link has dozens of outfits to collect that can offer him perks and benefits, and even more so when upgraded, but some are stubbornly unavailable to improve, which is one of the few small drawbacks of Tears of the Kingdom.
Tears of the Kingdom's Armor Sets are Diverse and Detailed
Though Link is known by most for his blonde hair and iconic green tunic, the last two mainline games have decided to do things differently. Donning a blue shirt and a humble hairband, this new appearance in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom has become iconic in its own right. Putting the hero back in his original garbs would not have been congruent with the new open-world games' emphasis on freedom, so it's great to see that players can dress Link in a few interesting outfits, especially with regard to weather and terrain requirements.
Tears of the Kingdom brings several new clothing items, such as the Evil Spirit Armor, the Zoanite Armor, and the Armor of the Depths. They are all fascinating to gawk at, but more impressively they offer upgrades and stat boosts to help make exploring the open world a lot more manageable. Mixing and matching to achieve a balance, or going out of the way of quests to collect them all fun, and as some of them can be upgraded, it means that hours can be spent making sure Link's wardrobe is exceptional.
One Breath of the Wild Limitation isn't Corrected
However, while there are some armor sets and items that can be upgraded at one of the fairy fountains in Hyrule, others cannot. For those sets, which include Tingle's Armor and the Well-Worn Hair Band, it can render them pointless in the later stages of the game regardless of how they look or what benefits they grant the player, meaning that some clothing is far more about vanity than function. It's a shame because while Tears of the Kingdom is the most customizable Zelda game yet, it still has more room that it could have expanded into.
Tears of the Kingdom will not be known for its lack of player freedom, but rather the opposite. As the open world facilitates user-generated fun like no other, and having the ability to dress Link in all manner of clothing, each person can tailor their experience to make it wholly unique. Rather, while the game isn't short of cosmetic items, the armor upgrade system was lacking a little in a key area, and it simply should have made every item of clothing upgradable to ensure that they all have a purpose, shielding Link from the external forces in Hyrule, or giving him an offensive edge in battle.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is available now for Nintendo Switch.
