Now that the gaming public has had plenty of time to thoroughly exploreThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, it seems safe to say that it improves upon its predecessor,Breath of the Wild, quite substantially. New abilities like Ultrahand as well as the expanded scope of the world have proven so successful that it will no doubt feel strange to playBreath of the Wildwithout them. In fact, some have even gone as far as to say that these improvements have eliminated any reason for them to go back toBreath of the Wild.
But while I understand the sentiment, I don’t necessarily feel the same way.Breath of the Wildstill has a number of aspects that make it uniquely appealing compared to its sequel, whether they be interesting features found only inBreath of the Wildor elements that are done outright better here. So if you recently played throughTears of the Kingdomand have struggled to come up with reasons to return toBreath of the Wild, here are a few to consider.
What to look forward to when replayingBreath of the Wild
Sheikah Slate Runes
The core abilities handed to you at the start ofTears of the Kingdom, namely Ultrahand, Fuse, Ascend, and Recall, are all key toTears of the Kingdom’sconsistently rewarding and dynamic exploration. But of course, those who playedBreath of the Wildknow that these new abilities replace that game’s Sheikah Slate runes: Magnesis, Stasis, Remote Bombs, and Cryonis. These powers don’t appear in the sequel at all, effectively giving both games their own unique brand of interactions and exploration.
It is true thatBreath of the Wild’spowers have more situational uses compared to the more all-encompassing abilities fromTears of the Kingdom. Additionally, the sequel does a lot to fill in the void left behind by the absence of the Sheikah Slate Runes. For instance, Ultrahand essentially functions as an improved version of Magnesis, and Bomb Flowers fulfill the same role that Remote Bombs did.
Having said that,Breath of the Wild’spowers still allow for plenty of fun interactions that are absent in the sequel, or at least more difficult to replicate. Building up momentum on an object with Stasis before launching it at high speeds is still incredibly novel, and even more subtle nuances, such as the superior maneuverability of carrying objects with Magnesis compared to Ultrahand, give the older powers valuable utility that the new ones can’t quite replicate. As long as you can get used to the Sheikah Slate runes’ more restrictive use cases, there’s still a great deal of fun to be had with them.
A Less Overwhelming Hyrule
Tears of the Kingdomboasts one of the largest, densest game worlds to ever exist, and while that’s a huge point in its favor, it does come with at least one drawback.Breath of the Wildalready had a wealth of content to explore, but with so much more added on top of that,Tears of the Kingdomcan easily become overwhelming.
It feels like every few steps will lead to an enemy camp, a Korok seed, an Addison sign, a cave, or some other distraction, and it gets to the point where I have to actively avoid some of this content to finish the main quests with anything resembling efficiency. And thanks to the addition of the sky islands and the Depths, that overwhelming feeling is compounded even further.
By comparison, althoughBreath of the Wild’sHyrule could hardly be considered compact, it at least feels a bit more controlled. With a more limited number of activities to get distracted by, there is a stronger likelihood that you’ll cover more of the map at a brisker pace. To be clear, that feeling of having almost too much to do inTears of the Kingdomcertainly has its own thrilling appeal. But those looking for a more balanced distribution of content and greater ease of replayability might want to giveBreath of the Wildanother shot.
Unique Enemies
Being a direct sequel using most of the same assets asBreath of the Wild,Tears of the Kingdomcarries over almost every enemy introduced in its predecessor. While this does leaveBreath of the Wildwith relatively few encounters it can call its own, it does have one major class of enemies that, so far, remain completely absent in the sequel: the Guardians. These Sheikah robots that have largely been taken over by Calamity Ganon became incredibly iconic enemies in their own right thanks to their anxiety-inducing nature.
In the early game, the lasers that the Guardians fire out can kill Link in a single shot, and they will likely hit you even if you sprint away well in advance. This makes encounters with them incredibly tense as you try and stay out of their line of sight while their frantic theme music plays in the background. On the other hand, once you gain both the power and confidence to confront them head-on, it’s a remarkably satisfying feeling, particularly if you choose to reflect their lasers back at them with a well-timed shield parry. No enemy inTears of the Kingdomhas this unique parry interaction, and the Guardians feel all the more special for it.
Despite how strong the standard Guardians are as enemies, they admittedly don’t make for compelling tests of your swordplay skills. Fortunately, the Guardian Scout enemies do a lot to compensate for this, as they all boast extensive movesets that encourage proficiency with the core combat mechanics and dynamically evolve over the course of their encounters to keep you on your toes. Although an unfortunately large percentage of the shrine content inBreath of the Wildis taken up by these encounters, they still manage to impress on their own.
More Combat-Focused Bosses
This one’s a bit more contentious, as the major story bosses are one of the most frequently criticized aspects ofBreath of the Wild. Of course, it’s not without good reason; since they share similar, often outright identical visual designs, they don’t stick in the memory as many of the bosses in pastZeldagames do. It doesn’t help that these fights often don’t demand much from the player mechanically, as landing headshots on them often proved a little too effective. The visual and mechanical variety of the bosses is something thatTears of the Kingdomreally strove to improve on, and I’d say it definitely succeeded overall.
Having said that,Breath of the Wild’sbosses has a notable edge in that they take fuller advantage of the core combat mechanics. Bosses usually boast close-range melee strikes that encourage the use of flurry rushes and parries, the latter of which can also often be used to reflect their projectiles back at them. Thunderblight Ganon does a particularly effective job at testing players’ ability to dodge and parry at the right time thanks to its blindingly fast strikes.
By contrast,Tears of the Kingdom’sbosses put much less emphasis on the core defensive aspects of the combat system. Parrying tends to prove fairly impractical for most boss attacks, and the fights often make it impossible to use flurry rushes at all. In fact, the only newly added bosses inTears of the Kingdomthat allow for flurry rushes are Ganondorf, Phantom Ganon, and, to a lesser extent, the Seized Construct and the last Master Kohga battle. This doesn’t makeTears of the Kingdom’sfights inherently worse, but the ones from its predecessor allow these mechanics to shine much more often, providing a compelling reason to return to thisboss lineup.
Divine Beast Dungeons
Like with the bosses, this is another controversial topic. Many classicZeldafans have expressed disappointment with the Divine Beasts inBreath of the Wild, seeing them as poor substitutes for the dungeons of old. In many ways, I agree with this sentiment. The sectioned-off puzzle areas in the Divine Beasts don’t come anywhere close to the multilayered puzzles and structures of some of the bestZeldadungeons, and their short length means that they don’t get the time they need to fully explore their concepts. Making matters worse, from a visual perspective, the Divine Beasts all share the same design motif, which quickly leads to a feeling of repetition.
Despite this, though, they boast some undeniable strengths that did a lot to offset these flaws. The scale of these locations is nothing short of impressive; navigating through massive ancient mechanized beasts as they soar through the skies or stomp through the desert makes for remarkably memorable setpieces, and their unique mechanics, which see you manipulating the Beasts’ positioning or parts of their structure, contributed to this sense of scale even further.
The same and more can be said regarding the action sequences that take place before you enter the Divine Beasts. Although these aren’t really classified as boss encounters, they more or less play out like one regardless. This aspect of them really made them stand out, and the variety of visual and mechanical spectacles they offered went some way toward making up for the relative sameyness of the bosses fought within the Divine Beasts. Elements like these allow the Divine Beasts to contrast well with the slightly more traditional dungeons ofTears of the Kingdom, making them well-worth remembering.
More Intuitive Champion Abilities
If fans and detractors ofTears of the Kingdomagree on one thing, it’s that thesage abilitiesyou unlock in every dungeon are incredibly flawed in how they’re implemented. The usefulness of these abilities can vary, but the real problem lies in the fact that to activate them in most cases, you have to physically make your way to the sage avatars while they’re out on the field and press the A button. Not only does the button mapping overlap with other important functions, such as picking up items, but more importantly, the abilities’ activation is inherently unpredictable due to the avatars’ AI-controlled nature. It’s impossible not to stumble into some kind of frustrating occurrence with this system, and one can’t help but wish there was some way the developers could have streamlined it.
Interestingly, though, a more streamlined implementation already exists inTears of the Kingdom’sown predecessor.Breath of the Wild’sequivalent champion abilities are all activated through context-sensitive actions that are straightforward and consistent to perform. Mipha’s Grace automatically triggers when you run out of health, Revali’s Gale is performed by holding down the jump button, Daruk’s Protection remains passively active as long as you hold the shield button, and Urbosa’s Fury is tied to your weapons’ charge attacks.
Although these abilities all have a much, much longer cooldown thanTears of the Kingdom’ssage abilities due to how powerful they are, their simple activation methods alone give them a significant advantage over their future equivalents. And since the champion abilities are entirely unique toBreath of the Wild, they provide yet another incentive to boot the game up again from time to time.
One-Off Moments and Quests
Outside of the more important aspects of the game,Breath of the Wildis also home to a host of unique quests and moments that at least one player will have some kind of reaction to. A strong example that many fans point to is the Tarrey Town quest, which sees players building a humble community from the ground up. The sense of progression that comes with bringing in a new resident or establishing a new house is unrivaled throughout the whole game, and it’s backed up by a powerful message about finding hope for a better future in the wake of overwhelming tragedy. It’s worth noting thatTears of the Kingdomfollowed up on this side story beautifully with its own Tarrey Town questline. But of course, that wouldn’t have been possible withoutBreath of the Wild’squest to set the groundwork.
Another noteworthy moment comes upon meeting the Satori, also known as the Lord of the Mountain. At random points, if you look over to the top of Satori Mountain, you will occasionally see a mysterious blue glow emanating from it. Heading over to the mountain during these times will allow you to see the mystical Satori and even ride it if you have enough stamina. The Satori itself has infinite stamina, but since you can’t register it at a stable and usually disappear the moment you dismount, it exists purely for the sake of providing a unique experience rather than offering any substantial utility.
Tears of the Kingdombrings back the Satorifor a different role, but its appearance inBreath of the Wildis by far the more memorable one. And there exist several other distinct scenarios worth replaying, more than you might remember.
The Final Trek up Hyrule Castle
Although the last phase ofBreath of the Wild’sfinal boss leaves a lot to be desired, the same cannot be said of the final dungeon that precedes it.Breath of the Wild’sHyrule Castle stands out as easily the best final dungeon to ever grace aZeldagame, offering a mechanical and narrative climax like no other.Tears of the Kingdom’slast trek in the depths beneath Hyrule Castle turned out incredibly strong in its own right, and the game’s brief dungeon segment within Hyrule Castle proper had plenty to enjoy as well. But if you ask me, the predecessor’s version of Hyrule Castle sits in a league of its own.
It’s true that, with the right tools and upgrades, you’re able to skip right to the end of the Hyrule Castle segment in no time flat. But if you choose to explore it, you’ll be treated to an absolutely sprawling final area chock full of distinct rooms, challenging encounters, and secrets.
you may find nearly every kind of high-level enemy and miniboss as well as a heap of Guardians that can easily catch you with a laser beam without careful navigation. Any search for a valuable item, whether that be a powerful weapon or the ultra-rare Hylian Shield, will likely take you through substantial journeys through multiple rooms filled with small discoveries of their own, including hidden diaries that further flesh out the world and characters. It’s only appropriate that a massive open-world game has you explore a substantial, fully-realized location for its final area, andBreath of the Wildmore than delivers in this regard.
Breath of the Wildremains a classic
Note that this is not meant to imply anything about whether or notBreath of the Wildis better thanTears of the Kingdom. Ultimately, this is the important takeaway: even with all of the additions and improvementsTears of the Kingdombrings to the table,Breath of the Wildis still worth experiencing. If you go back to the game after your latest session with the sequel, you may find yourself surprised to discover that many aspects of it still hold up extremely well, maybe even better than you might remember. Both games make for great companion pieces with each other, as they excel uniquely in their own respects. The sequel may have pushed boundaries in many ways, but it’s valuable to experience how it all started.
Daniel Pinheiro
Daniel is a Contributing Writer who has been with PC Invasion since June 2021. A recipient of a master’s degree in Community Journalism from the University of Alabama, he holds a deep passion for the gaming medium and the impact it can have on our lives. He is open to all kinds of genres, but has a particular affinity for platformers and beat ‘em ups (or brawlers, or hack and slash, or character action, or whatever else you prefer to call them). In his spare time, he loves playing franchises like Mario, Kirby, Zelda, Tekken, and Devil May Cry. He also loves to travel and listen to multiple hours-long video essays back-to-back.
