Not only did The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom significantly improve its bosses after The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, but the relocation of the boss rematches down to the Depths added an organic layer of difficulty that future Zelda games should aim to repeat. Though it had been well-received upon its release, certain criticisms against its "dungeons" and their bosses seemingly led to more traditional temples and unique bosses for the Breath of the Wild sequel. By extension of this, the DLC-exclusive Blight Ganons rematches from Breath of the Wild were likewise in need of a revamp for Tears of the Kingdom.
But The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom seemed to go above and beyond - or rather down and beyond - when it came to offering players the chance of a boss rematch. Scattered throughout the new Depths beneath Hyrule are areas where the player can encounter and freely fight each temple's boss, provided that they have already beaten said boss and completed their respective dungeons. However, while not much appears to have changed with these battles, the change in location was all Tears of the Kingdom needed to give players a new challenge, and this subtle misdirection is something other Zelda games should be taking notes from.
The Depths Provides New Terrain For Boss Fights
While the bosses are much stronger than when they were first fought in their respective temples, the progression of these fights remains relatively unchanged and, unlike the other enemies in the Depths, the bosses themselves don't inflict Gloom damage. But the new environments where these bosses can be encountered naturally force new constraints on the player that limits their resources, their maneuverability, and their visibility. Though defeating one or all three of the Depths' bosses isn't required to beat the game, these high-risk fights do offer equally high-value rewards with Huge Crystallized Charges to upgrade Link's Zonai battery.
For example, Colgera's rematch adds new difficulties by forcing players to paraglide in the near-total darkness within the Depths' tight confines, while Marbled Gohma is now located in open areas which might catch players off-guard expecting its second phase. Conversely, unprepared players might find Mucktorok's rematch challenging as without resources like splash fruit or opals players will be reliant on one of Tears of the Kingomd's Sage abilities. Similarly, Queen Gibdo can only be attacked after first taking elemental damage, but its rematch is harder not just for the ill-equipped as destroying Gibdo nests no longer leave behind sunbeams and the Gibdos themselves cause Gloom damage.
Zelda Should Enhance Boss Rematches With Its Environments
Of course, Breath of the Wild wasn't the first Zelda game that let players go back and fight bosses, but most rematches were straightforward rehashes of the initial fights themselves where conditions like the setting, the boss's attack patterns, and more were all kept the same. While this might have appealed to players who enjoyed the original boss fight or wanted to share the experience with others, there is a better angle of replayability that offers challenges to more experienced players.
Instead of simply repeating the original boss fight, future Zelda bosses could become more challenging by adopting Tears of the Kingdom's approach which not only gives players to freedom to encounter and fight bosses elsewhere in the game, but these fights play out differently based on their new environments. The Depths' bosses are an excellent demonstration of this as low visibility and the risk of Gloom damage already increases the difficulty. For example, beyond other recurring bosses like Gohma, Shadow Link could also use an environment like the Depths to its advantage, forcing players to fight blindly with glowing red eyes attacking them from the dark.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is available now on Nintendo Switch.
