I have never anticipated a video game in my entire life like I have anticipated The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. If I could have played my ocarina to jump ahead in time and play it sooner, I would have. But now, the dawn of the final day is finally upon us, which means the review embargo on The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was lifted today. And … oh my god, where is my ocarina?!
This morning, I held my breath when I checked social media. The news I received sent my heart jumping out of my chest. So far, almost every single outlet that has reviewed Tears of the Kingdom has given the game a perfect score. The worst score I have seen so far is from Eurogamer, which gave Tears a paltry … 4/5.
What a time to be alive.
What are the reviews saying
Because I’m avoiding any and all spoilers for Tears of the Kingdom like the plague, I’ve just been reading the opening paragraphs of these reviews, but that’s enough to leave me with an emotional little knot in my throat. Take, for example, this excerpt from Keza MacDonald’s Tears of the Kingdom review for The Guardian:
I am a grown 34-year-old woman and video games rarely get their hooks into me the way they did when I was 8, or 18, and relatively free of responsibilities. But now and then, every few years, I play something that reminds me that video games are kind of magic. They can transport you somewhere else. They can make time disappear. They can, sometimes, immerse you so totally in their worlds that they can make you see the real world a little differently.
Keza MacDonald, The Guardian
This is going to be me, tomorrow! I’m 31, but still! This is exactly how I hoped, in my dream of dreams, this game would make me feel. To see so many outlets tell me that this dream is actually upon me, I feel like I might cry from joy.
Or take this little snippet from IGN’s Tears of the Kingdom review:
Breath of the Wild felt far from unfinished but, inconceivably, Tears of the Kingdom has somehow made it feel like a first draft.
Tom Marks, IGN
And this is a common refrain among all the reviews! It’s addressed upright in Axios’ Tears of the Kingdom review, which acknowledges that surpassing Breath of the Wild means surpassing a game that many critics and developers and fans think is the greatest game ever made—which means that Tears of the Kingdom is the greatest game ever made?!! We are about to play the greatest game ever made?!!
I have said, on this website and others, again and again, that Breath of the Wild is my favorite video game of all time. Can you imagine now having the knowledge that I am about to play a direct sequel to this game that somehow surpasses it? How is it possible?! Words escape me.
(featured image: Nintendo)
