I'll keep this short and sweet: the game is good. People saying this is some innovative masterpiece don't have a clue what they're talking about.
TotK was originally DLC for BotW before they realized they had enough content to make a new title. That's fair and all, but that's exactly how this game plays and what it feels like: BotW 1.5. If you never beat BotW, then maybe this won't feel so trying. If you DID beat BotW, playing TotK can feel more like a chore than a world worth exploring... because you already explored it.
There are 2 things that are different: Crafting/Fusing and Sky Islands/Underworld. Crafting is fine, but tedious, and other games have similar mechanics that work way more efficiently. Sky islands are intriguing initially but feels a little undercooked and barely warranted the new Zelda title. The underworld is just the reverse of the mainland, and it's daunting at first, until you realize it's actually boring to explore and takes up the entire size of the original game. There's so much fat they could have trimmed. Seriously.
The story is more immersive than BotW, I'll give it that for sure. Enemies are harder imo, but the game just doesnt play as well and the controls are more counterintuitive than ever before, effectively providing more challenge than the enemies do. Maybe it's a skill issue, I'm open to that, but I've played games my whole life and I've never gotten entirely comfortable playing TotK. It barely runs at 30 fps half the time which is just insane in 2023.
It sounds like I'm harping on it, but it's just not a perfect game. It doesn't feel as dense and whole as BotW did, and it feels like something crucial is missing; like it's lacking heart and soul.
If this was any other game it would receive okay to decent reviews, but because it's Zelda everyone votes it as a 10. Just take the rose colored glasses off before you play the game.
TotK was originally DLC for BotW before they realized they had enough content to make a new title. That's fair and all, but that's exactly how this game plays and what it feels like: BotW 1.5. If you never beat BotW, then maybe this won't feel so trying. If you DID beat BotW, playing TotK can feel more like a chore than a world worth exploring... because you already explored it.
There are 2 things that are different: Crafting/Fusing and Sky Islands/Underworld. Crafting is fine, but tedious, and other games have similar mechanics that work way more efficiently. Sky islands are intriguing initially but feels a little undercooked and barely warranted the new Zelda title. The underworld is just the reverse of the mainland, and it's daunting at first, until you realize it's actually boring to explore and takes up the entire size of the original game. There's so much fat they could have trimmed. Seriously.
The story is more immersive than BotW, I'll give it that for sure. Enemies are harder imo, but the game just doesnt play as well and the controls are more counterintuitive than ever before, effectively providing more challenge than the enemies do. Maybe it's a skill issue, I'm open to that, but I've played games my whole life and I've never gotten entirely comfortable playing TotK. It barely runs at 30 fps half the time which is just insane in 2023.
It sounds like I'm harping on it, but it's just not a perfect game. It doesn't feel as dense and whole as BotW did, and it feels like something crucial is missing; like it's lacking heart and soul.
If this was any other game it would receive okay to decent reviews, but because it's Zelda everyone votes it as a 10. Just take the rose colored glasses off before you play the game.