The short answer: yes.  The long answer, however, is just a bit more complicated.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is the long-anticipated sequel to the most ambitious entry into the Zelda franchise to date, Breath of the Wild.  As the release date for this game neared, I couldn’t help but waver between excitement and hesitation.  You see, recent trailers had shown what looked to be a nearly identical Hyrule and had a strange emphasis on the things you could do with sticks.  Many people asked, would Tears of the Kingdom simply feel like Breath of the Wild 1.5 or would it truly be a fresh new entry into the series?  As we answer that question, I will do my best to keep this post generally spoiler-free, aside from some basic details that anyone would have encountered within their first few hours of gameplay.

Similar to Breath of the Wild, Link’s adventure begins within a relatively small area, the Great Sky Island, where he will be learning most of his abilities before he can forge his own path.  This game grants Link a pretty unique and original arsenal of abilities, several of which revolve around the new crafting feature.  These are:

• Ultrahand can be used to glue objects together in order to build bridges or even boats and other vehicles.
• Fuse, well, fuses objects to your shield and weapons.  For example, you can attach a rock to your sword to better bludgeon your enemies (and break ore deposits) or fuse bombs or eyeballs to your arrows (the latter of which adds a homing ability).
• Ascend allows you to pass through ceilings in order to more easily reach higher places.
• Recall “rewinds” an object, so to speak, such as reversing the spin of a waterwheel or making a rock fall upwards.  Also great when you accidentally drop a Korok off a cliff…

While I was initially skeptical about the crafting feature, I’ll admit that it’s actually a pretty fun idea that allows for a lot of creativity.  My main complaint would be that they need a button for unsticking objects because having to shake the control stick is rather annoying.  Oh, and sometimes the camera can be really awful and hinders your ability to see what you’re doing.  But more on crafting later…

Well, after the Great Sky Islands, Link is welcome to explore to his heart’s content.  And man, if you thought BotW was huge, wait until you see the world in this game!  Not only do we have the Sky Islands, as advertised in the trailers, but the world has opened up below ground, as well.  Sure, over 100 caves now litter Hyrule’s landscape, but that doesn’t compare to the sheer enormity of the Depths!  You see, the Depths can be found by diving into those intimidating red chasms that have opened up all over the surface (just make sure you’ve obtained your paraglider first).  The Depths are dark and dangerous, as it’s infested with something called Gloom, meaning if you take damage while you’re down here (or step in said Gloom), those hearts can’t be recovered until you’ve returned to the comforting sunlight above or the glow of one of the many Lightroots that can be activated to illuminate the Depths and make it just a bit less creepy.

Oh, and just like BotW, weapons, bows, and shields do still break, which is both frustrating and adds to the resource management aspect of the game.  In fact, I think weapons break even faster now due to many of them being decayed this time around!  Fortunately, you can fuse practically anything you want to your weapons, raising their attack power and making it feel like less of a loss when something inevitably shatters over some unsuspecting Bokoblin’s head.  Just grab whatever weapon you find lying around, no matter how cruddy, fuse an enemy horn or some such thing to raise the damage inflicted (sometimes drastically), and get back to beating your foes senseless.

Aside from massacring enemies and harvesting their teeth and guts for fusing and elixirs (what do the shopkeepers think about all the Hinox toenails I’ve sold them, I wonder…), there are still plenty of other ways to keep yourself occupied while wandering Hyrule’s wilds, as well.  Just like last time, you can still hunt and cook, and some new ingredients have been added to add some flavor to your recipes, such as cheese and Goron spices.  You’ll still have side quests to complete (which are much better this time around), Koroks to find (for Korok Seeds, which allow you to expend your inventory), and horses to tame.  You’re also still very free, free to do whatever you want, in whatever order you want.  But what are your goals exactly?  Well, good question.  They are:

1: Investigate the regional phenomena and help the Rito, Gerudo, Gorons, and Zora with their respective problems.

2: Investigate the disappearance of Princess Zelda and locate the Dragon Tears, which will reveal to you some very important information regarding our dear Princess after she and Link were split up during the game’s introduction.

As for the game’s story, it really has the same issues as BotW, where the majority of the plot feels like it takes place in the past rather than the present.  Though, I feel like the story is even less compelling this time around.  Admittedly, I haven’t played BotW since its release 6 years ago, but I remember Link regaining his memories of what happened before his mortal injury 100 years prior, including remembering what became of the people he knew back then.  The story in Tears of the Kingdom feels less relevant and connected to Link and present events, especially when he is essentially watching a cut scene in a fashion no different from the player.  Likewise, whenever you’re investigating the “regional phenomena”, they always end in retelling the exact same events four different times.  Revealing unique information each time would have made a lot more sense.

One of my biggest letdowns, however, is the fact that traditional Zelda dungeons have not returned.  There are several dungeon wannabes, but I’ll admit that most of them were rather disappointing, and even the better ones were still very short and basic.  Rather, we still have the shrines, 152 of them in total, many of which offer mini puzzles to solve, though plenty of them merely require you to find the shrine’s associated crystal in the outside world or to defeat enemies with nothing but the provided equipment (similar to Eventide Island from BotW).

As expected, these puzzles revolve around Link’s new abilities, namely crafting.  And let me tell you, I think the puzzles are worse this time around.  Being able to craft as you see fit can certainly lead to some creative solutions, and solving a shrine in a manner likely not intended by the developer can be pretty fun, as well.  But oftentimes, the solution was incredibly unclear, and based on the comments I read online, I know I wasn’t the only one.

Take Iun-Orok Shrine, for example.  The end of this shrine required us to fuse together three balls of different sizes and roll them down a winding path to hit the bullseye.  Unable to figure it out myself, I looked for answers on Youtube, only to find that the solution used in the video appeared to only work through sheer luck and which I struggled to replicate.  Instead, I had to seek advice from the comment section, which suggested that I merely throw a heavy weapon or bomb at the bullseye, as none of them could figure out this particular puzzle, either.

While crafting is often a major pain when it comes to shrines, it’s far more fun and practical in the outside world.  Sure, you can make basic things like bridges and supports for Addison’s countless, shoddily-made signs, but the more interesting creations are a lot more mobile.  While I had initially questioned how cars and such have any place in a series that’s always had a medieval fantasy setting, I…still question it, but I can overlook how strange it seems because it’s so much fun!  The main ways to get your vehicles moving are with tires, fans, or rockets, depending on the situation.  Attach all that to a base and add a steering stick, and you’ve got yourself a great way to traverse land, water, or even air.  Just keep in mind that your creations will drain Link’s battery (which is rechargeable and can be greatly upgraded) and don’t last forever, particularly when it comes to flying vehicles, which have a habit of disintegrating midflight while Link is way up in the sky!

There is actually a wide variety of Zonai devices you can play around with, not just those that aid in your mobility.  You can also attach items to your shields and weapons that emit flames, ice breath, or electricity, stakes that can attach to practically anything, items that can defy gravity, etc.  While I was never particularly creative, I’ve seen some truly impressive creations out there, so if you’re the kind of person who likes to build things, then you’re bound to have a lot of fun with this feature.

I would like to end by summarizing what TotK does better and what it does worse to really give you a clear picture of the differences:

Improvements

• Larger world to explore
• More unique abilities
• The dungeons are a step in the right direction, if not a return to form
• Much better boss fights
• Better side quests
• Building vehicles is pretty fun
• Although weapons are still very brittle, being able to fuse items to them in order to raise their attack power makes breaking a weapon feel like less of a loss
• New enemies
• Clothes from classic games have been added (the clothes from Majora’s Mask are my favorite…)
• You can build your own dream home, even if the whole process leaves a lot to be desired

Downgrades

• Shrines are less fun and more confusing
• The story is still not very compelling, due to much of it taking place in the past.  Though this time around, the story is even more disconnected from the player and more repetitive.
• I could have lived without the dude with the President Hudson sign and the Koroks that we have to bring to their friends…

Hasn’t Changed

• The soundtrack is fine, but not great.  While it works with the game’s ambience, I don’t see myself humming along with it or listening to it outside the game.
• The graphics look about the same as last time
• The blood moon cut scene is still very annoying…

Based on the bulleted lists above, it’s clear that TotK is indeed a better game than BotW.  Even so, my original sense of wonder just wasn’t there, as Hyrule is still very much the same.  At times, it almost felt as if I was playing BotW again, but I had lost my save file halfway through and was now attempting to regain my lost progress as quickly as possible.

It’s also a problem when Hyrule is still the best location in the game.  At least for me anyway.  The Sky Islands, Depths, and caves were just not terribly interesting.  Most of the Sky Islands generally had the same look, with the same yellow foliage, and there wasn’t much variety in what you could do there.  The caves were largely the same, dull affairs, as well.  And the Depths were huge, but largely just a massive, monotonous grey landscape that wore out its welcome fairly early on.  Being the same size as Hyrule, the Depths had a lot of potential to feel like a whole new world, similar to the Dark World from A Link to the Past, which shared a similar layout to Hyrule, but which also had a totally different feel and unique landmarks and dungeons.

Don’t get me wrong.  I really enjoyed Tears of the Kingdom.  And if you liked Breath of the Wild, then you’ll surely like this game, as well.  With that said, if you weren’t a fan of BotW, then I don’t think TotK will change your mind.  The people who will get the MOST enjoyment out of this game, however, are those who haven’t already played BotW, but think they’d have fun with an open-world Zelda game and love the sense of wonder and exploration that comes with it.

And in case you’re hesitant about the $70 price tag (I still think the game should have sold for $60), the game took me roughly 190 hours, so you’ll certainly get your money’s worth.  In that time, I did practically everything except hunt down 70% of the Koroks (there are 1,000, after all) and find all the wells and Addison locations.

Before we go, I’ve compiled a short list of tips that might make the lives of any newcomers to the game just a bit easier:

Pro Tips

• Make sure you do all of Robbie’s quests first!  His quests provide you with essential upgrades to your Purah Pad and other benefits that you’re going to want to get as early into the game as possible!
• Every cave has a Bubbulfrog.  If you’ve found the frog for that cave, there will be a checkmark next to it.
• If you’re struggling to hit a fast-moving enemy, consider launching yourself into the air.  When airborne, using Link’s bow slows down time and makes hitting enemy weak points much easier.
• In the Depths, make sure you check the smaller mines and the large tree trunks found in the underground groves.  Sometimes, some really interesting things can be found in the treasure chests there…
• Collect everything you see.  I had an easy time accumulating money just by selling excess items I had picked up over the course of my adventure.  Even selling tons of apples for a few rupees each really adds up!

My Personal Experiences with Tears of the Kingdom

• My First Week with Tears of the Kingdom
• My First Month with Tears of the Kingdom

Lede image taken from IGDB.com presskit for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (© Nintendo).