After spending over 160 hours in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, there I was, as Link, facing off with the Demon King Ganondorf, knowing I was doomed. Actually, I knew it much earlier, when the classic ender quest to “defeat Ganondorf” appeared. Though I had obtained the Master Sword, I knew I didn’t have the right gear or enough of the right meals or enough hearts (maybe) to help me survive long enough to defeat Ganondorf. I knew all this, and I still went plundering the depths of Hyrule anyway. It turned out that the path to Ganondorf was…not that bad. It wasn’t good by any means, but it wasn’t as utterly treacherous as I expected. Even the “big battle” leading up to the Demon King wasn’t terrible. But, in actually battling the one and only Ganondorf, I was so, so doomed. Oh, I tried my best, and managed defeated his first stage, but forget about the second, let alone the third, of which I’m sure there is.

I attempted the final battle a couple times before throwing in the towel and reverting to an earlier save. Still, I felt proud that I simply got to Ganondorf, because it meant that I knew I could “win the game,” I just had to be better prepared. Of course, the question now is, do I feel like preparing?

Despite putting what I felt like was a significant amount of time into Breath of the Wild, I dropped it rather unceremoniously upon getting stuck at Hyrule Castle. (Admittedly, I later got myself unstuck, but the thrill was gone, very gone, by that point.) That was in 2018, and I hadn’t though much of the game, or the series, until Nintendo released a fateful video in early 2023 detailing Link’s new abilities in Tears of the Kingdom to make lots of nothings into somethings. That was enough to put the game on my radar, finally. I made the choice to get the game day-one, and I was pretty excited. Fast-forward the rest of 2023 and some 160 hours later, and I’d say I got my money’s worth.

That said, now I’m faced with the prospect of the game sitting forever unfinished along Breath of the Wild, and…I can’t say that it really bothers me. The reason I spent so much time with the game wasn’t because of the background noise that was its story, or because I love dealing with decrepit weapons and armor, or because I really wanted to see the open plains of Hyrule again. It was the crafting and the characters. And by characters, I mean the folks who end up as your companions. That aspect of having them by Link’s side, each with different abilities, was really great. As much as Link has always been something of a lone wolf, I enjoyed being able to call on his friends when needed. That camaraderie gave the game the heart it needed, especially since its main story was so lacking.

However, the crafting, well, I think I spent at least half of those 160+ hours just making…stuff! Maybe it was stuff within a shrine. Maybe it was stuff to get across a vast river. Maybe it was stuff to get through a temple. Make stuff, stuff, and more stuff – yay! (I am not entirely sure from what game I picked up this crafting bug, but TotK definitely sated it.) Crafting meant that I could make endless weapons, different modes of transportation, various structures, and any other nonsense that struck my fancy. By the way, because there came a point where I could easily make “cars,” I totally forgot all about my stable. I felt moderately bad for leaving all my horses in the lurch, but, why gallop when you can drive! If TotK didn’t have the Ultrahand and Fuse abilities, I doubt I would have made it halfway through before giving up. I mean, TotK is essentially BotW with two additional “levels” to explore (neither of which is particularly fun or interesting – the sky or the depths), and crafting, of course.

Whether or not I ever return to Tears of the Kingdom in earnest, with the intention of making Link into an unstoppable machine that can take on Ganondorf, remains to be seen. What the game lacks in overall creativity is made up for with crafting. However, one has to have at least proclivity in that regard, otherwise, there’s not much more to see than what was offered in Breath of the Wild. Tears of the Kingdom a good game, a fine sequel, and a decent stop on the path that The Legend of Zelda games are currently forging.

All images, including lede, were captured by author during gameplay of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (© Nintendo).