It’s May 12, 2023, and on this beautiful day, Nintendo’s much-hyped sequel The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom finds its way into the greedy hands of gamers around the world. But you: Maybe you stand out. Maybe you didn’t end up playing the previous game, the hit of 2017 breath of the wild. Or maybe you touched it and fell for some reason. I won’t judge, I’m here with you.
Week in Games: Return to Hyrule
Monday 3:53 p.m.
Now here you are, seeing all those cool trailers and…interesting things jump into the new Zelda game and you wonder, “Do I need to play breath of the wild Before tears of the kingdom? Should I?” Well, that’s what I’m here to help you understand.
A series purist will always say to go back and play the games in the correct order (which, given how long Zelda‘s been around, you might want to be careful with that line of thinking). But here I will lay out some pros and cons for each action plan. There are valid reasons for either approach, so let’s go.
By the way, this article is a spoiler-free zone. So don’t hesitate to read even if you haven’t touched 2017 breath of the wild.
East breath of the wildThe story is worth living before tears of the kingdom?
breath of the wild tells a very average fantasy story. Hold your farmer’s pitchforks; I’m not saying that to put him down. In general, the general rhythms of the story are very familiar to almost anyone who has lived through a the Lord of the Rings Or star wars joint. You have your dark lord, your threat to peace, your amnesiac protagoboy, your magic items of power, rinse and repeat. Watching a short recap video would be enough to give you a general idea of OTW‘s plot, and you won’t be depriving yourself of an all-time great epic if you do.
Learn more: Catch up Zelda: Breath of the Wild Before the sequel in less than seven minutes
How breath of the wild tells its story, however, is something you might want to consider living in full form, not just via synopsis. Link’s journey to regain his memories has led him to meet countless charming and memorable characters along the way, which will get you much more emotionally interested in Hyrule’s bigger story (as simple as that is) and the people who live there only if you just blow. through a summary.
If you’re just interested in a SparkNotes brief overview of Hyrulian history, a wiki or video will do. But if you enjoy the experience of meeting interesting characters and gaining a greater emotional investment in a fictional world, jump into breath of the wild first will be time well spent.
Do tears of the kingdom TO DO breath of the wildis the gameplay outdated?
We’ve all been there: first you play a sequel, then the original just seems old in comparison. Some sequels improve on their predecessor so much that it’s hard to go back. Mass Effect 2 is an example. Skyrim can be another.
At first no: tears of the kingdom certainly has its share of enhanced quality of life features, as in fast travel and cooking– but nothing as upsetting as breath of the wild suddenly feels neolithic in comparison.
As for whether or not they feel too similar, never fear. Although very similar in major respects, tears of the kingdom And breath of the wild are distinct enough to return to the old game after tears of the kingdom would still give you many new experiences to enjoy.
Learn more: Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Fixes some of OTW‘s Fumbles
As my colleague Kenneth Shepard told me after his early hours at tears of the kingdom, the sequel’s gameplay is “less of an evolution and more of a sidestep”. Link’s new abilities, especially the crafting and new Ultrahand abilitymake it a distinct enough experience that if you play them in reverse order, you won’t feel like your abilities have been greatly reduced.
tears of the kingdom Seems graphically daunting for the older Switch, so should you wait for future hardware?
It’s no secret that the aging Wii U wasn’t too kind For breath of the wild. And basically anyone who saw the first footage of tears of the kingdom I got a little nervous wondering if the humble Nintendo Switch, released over six years ago, could keep up.
Learn more: Zelda: Tears of the KingdomPerformance on Switch feels like a small miracle
Well, I have good news. Or rather, Digital foundry has good news: tears of the kingdom will work great on your old Switch. You can expect a very close to solid 30fps with a few drops here and there, especially when using Link’s new Ultrahand ability. Fast loading times are also quite fast, around 30% faster than in OTW.
I hear you thinking, “surely there’s another Nintendo console on the way, isn’t there?” The Switch has been out for a while, that’s true, but as we reported on tuesday 9th mayNintendo has no plans for a hardware refresh or follow-up to the Switch in 2023.
Learn more: Nintendo says it’s not expecting a new Switch this year either
And no, I have no idea what a “You Zoo” is.
What is the duration breath of the wild?
Say you don’t mind waiting for the game everyone’s talking about right now and you’re cool to jump in breath of the wild First of all. Can you expect to knock him out in a weekend? Well no.
According Howlongtobeat.comthe main story of breath of the wild is about 50 hours. What if you want to do all the side quests? You’re looking at just under 100 hours. If you’re a completion fiend, HLtB estimates 189 hours. Our own experiences confirm these figures.
breath of the wild is a game of enormous proportions. The world is huge and there is so much to do. If you haven’t played it yet and tears of the kingdomThe version of you’re really interested in seeing what this whole Link thing is all about, expect to have to set aside some time to OTW should you jump in there first.
Even if you’re not a finalist, discover the world of Hyrule in the first Switch Zelda title is an experience best enjoyed at a gentle pace, and you won’t feel any worse for taking the time to soak it all up.
Then yes, OTW it’s long. Which is good, because it’s a great game.
Although some franchises can enter at almost any time, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild offers compelling reasons to give it a shot first. The plot consists of standard fantasy concepts, but is told very memorably and in a sight-rich open world that is a joy to explore.
But, if you decide to jump straight into tears of the kingdoma brief summary or two of OTWThe story beats will quickly get you up to speed. And with the differences in gameplay, playing the two games in reverse order shouldn’t feel too strange.
Order aside, another question is whether you should play the old game. You may feel differently, but my personal view is that breath of the wild is a truly wonderful experience, from the well-told story to the satisfying gameplay, and a truly vibrant and beautiful world to explore, that you owe it to yourself to play this modern classic if you haven’t yet, even though you have already logged solid hours in tears of the kingdom.
