A Masterclass in Sequels – ‘The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was one of the biggest games of 2017. Not only did it sell like gangbusters, but its influence on the gaming landscape cannot be understated. So when the direct sequel to BotW was announced, the needle on the collective gamer hype meter flew right off. Yet, there were some naysayers out there. “A sequel? Like Final Fantasy, Zelda sequels aren’t good.” “It’s the same map, Nintendo’s scamming us.” “Just adding a sky map is lazy.” Oh, my sweet summer child. You don’t know just how mistaken you are. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is not only an amazing game on its own, but it is also a masterclass in how to properly make a sequel. Tears of the Kingdom: A Truly Lived-In World While there were some doubters, many of us knew Nintendo could be trusted. Sequels aren’t new to the Zelda franchise from The Legend of Zelda II to Majora’s Mask and quite a few others. Majora’s Mask was actually my first Zelda game that got me into the franchise. Something it and Tears of the Kingdom have in common is that they work perfectly fine as standalone titles. You don’t have to play the originals if you want to just jump into it, but you get so much more if you have. Tears of the Kingdom’s world is just so alive and lived in. With Breath of the Wild, the world had many mysteries as to the history of the world, and you, as Link who was sleeping for a hundred years and is surely not a historian, just di…