As Tears of the Kingdom finally arrives, we're asking, "What's the best Zelda game that isn't a Zelda game?"

Almost any action-adventure game with RPG and dungeon elements, set in an open or semi-open world, can trace its roots – a link to the past, if you will – back to the game original Legend of Zelda on NES. And that’s surprising, because this game is 37 years old. It’s about as old as I am, which in human terms is “probably should start thinking about life insurance” levels of decrepitude. In the context of a media driven by technological advancements, that might as well be an eternity.

And yet, it lasts. Not only is the series still going strong, with the latest entry The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom still finding ways to innovate and push the medium forward, but traces of its DNA can be found absolutely everywhere. From the prestigious third-person narratives that have become Sony’s USP, to all Ubisoft Open World games and their many non-Ubisoft derivatives, to your Witchers and Skyrims, Zelda’s profound influence on game design can be seen. wherever one cares to look. He’s often cited by game developers as a longtime inspiration, and for good reason.

And so, the scope of this week’s Best Games Ever topic is huge: almost every modern action-adventure game owes something to Zelda, consciously or not. But it has also inspired many direct and shameless clones. What is Fable if not a Zelda game with Monty Python gags? What is Oceanhorn if not budget Zelda? What is Darksiders if not Zelda for goths?

And what is Football Manager if not… no. He won’t be able to do that this week. There’s no way Tom could fit Football Manager into this week’s episode. Certainly. Certainly? To find out, you’ll have to watch or listen via the methods below.

Watch the video version here:

You can also just read the summary below, if you’re the type of person who jumps to the last page of a book (a fake, a reprobate, a bad seed).

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Tom’s argument for soccer manager was surprisingly strong this week, to the point that James even admitted he deserved to win through pranking. However, he did not.

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Materials Genshin Impact Sucrose: An anime girl with short green hair, wearing a blue and white cap and jumpsuit, stands in the middle of a vibrant green field. Flowers surround her, and she creates a small green swirl with her right hand.

As James points out, Genshin Impact is basically the skeleton from Breath of the Wild with anime skin. And, uh, an in-app casino for gobbling up some spending money.

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The character, Amaterasu, passes through an Okami village

Alex chose wisely @We which, in addition to being a very conscious effort by Clover Studio to create a Zelda-like game focused on Japanese mythology, is also extremely good.

“What is the best game ever introduced?” you ask? Well, it’s basically a 30-minute panel where people (Jim Trinca and associates) decide on the best game in a specific category. That’s it. It’s good. Listen to him.