The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

This is a superb game, period. It's vast, complex, immersive, and gives you so much agency to play as you like. There are scripted bones underneath, but it is designed from the ground up for emergent storytelling, and it delivers.

But is it a satisfying sequel to Breath of the Wild? That depends on what you expect "sequel" to mean. It's the same game engine, same basic world map, and even the story beats are similar (though, if we're honest, all Zelda games have the same core story). What we got here was simply new "content": quests, shrines, puzzles, and—most notably—powers.

It's a cheeky design choice. Recyle all the things! For me it worked, for the most part, because the execution is so stellar. I felt the nostalgia of replaying a beloved game and revisiting nice memories while still being surprised and delighted by new discoveries.

What makes this "remake" feel like an actual sequel is the upgraded physics system. Breath of the Wild was already fabulous in this regard, as it rewarded experimentation with fun and funny emergent moments, which could often make you feel like a genius. Tears of the Kingdom wowed us by taking this to an even higher next level, allowing you to build all kinds of useful and wacky contraptions by gluing parts and materials together. It's extremely impressive that so many of these combinations are useful, either by design or by accident.

Do I have complaints? Sure! A certain part of the world (no spoilers!) is far too big and far too repetitive. I explored all of it, because that's how I roll, but it didn't feel rewarding to do so.

And, yes, I do wish this was a truly new game, in a new land with new characters and new enemies. When it comes down to it, I still enjoyed Breath of the Wild more, because everything was new, while here it's the additions that are excite.

But I still had such a wonderfully satisfying time with it. Nintendo sucks as a business entity, but it knows how to make games.