3 - The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom
I originally had this at 4 and BOTW at 3. Mainly because of the feeling of magic I felt playing BOTW
HOWEVER… I just think this game is better
It lacked the pure magic of its predecessor (only because we got botw. If this came first it’d have that magic) but there was still things that BLEW MY MIND!
First up. Basically taking the biggest map I’ve ever played and 2.5x it. The depths while WAY less developed and mostly empty was dark, creepy, and added a layer of playing that botw didn’t have. I enjoyed shooting brightbloom seeds to light my path. And the side quests that required going down were awesome like That Lynel colosseum. I also loved mineru and the Mines
Everything in the sky islands I loved. Every single thing.
Loved the story of Rauru (and much prefer this look of him and the expanded story in Age of Imprisonment)
The Dragons are beautiful
WEAPON FUSING TO INCREASE DURABILITY!!!! people still complain tho…
The physics of vehicle building are absolutely…. MIND BLOWING (I know i use it too much). But here’s the thing… I suck at building stuff. I’m not smart enough to build anything super creative. I built what I needed to get by. But I ADORE watching in awe the stuff people built (that chicken fryer and t-Rex are are stand outs)
The main reason I put it higher is that after completing the game I went back to play botw to capture the magic and found it more frustrating to play, without the new powers in Totk (mainly the warping up the mountains). I feel like if I’m going to replay a game start to finish it’ll be this one
I feel blessed to have these wild era Zelda games. I don’t think EVERY future Zelda should be just like them but I’ll take one more to complete the trilogy before the next evolution
Agree or disagree? Which wild game do you prefer?
Click to see previous rankings ⬇️
4 - The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild
2017 Game of the Year winner
This one hurts to put here.
This is the game that reignited my love of the franchise and led me to start collecting and going back and playing all of Zelda games
This is the Game that brought my son and I closer together as we sat and played together for 200+ hours
From here on every game has a moment or many that absolutely BLEW MY MIND.
That feeling in this game is seeing Hyrule from the cliffs of the Great Plateau and the first jump with the glider. It’s a feeling I’ve only felt once before, and that was running out to Hyrule field for the first time in Ocarina.
Having not gamed for a long time prior I didn’t realize games could be this scope. I didn’t get bored exploring, hunting, collecting, jumping, gliding, climbing…. Ok maybe climbing… in the rain… that got old
During my time playing this game it’s all I wanted to do and could think about. I haven’t felt this way about a game since I was a kid.
I don’t play much outside this franchise so I’m not qualified to say “This deserved Game of The Year” but man while playing I knew this was something so special.
Having said all that I still have 3 games above it. Which just proves how incredible this franchise is.
I see the criticisms of this game and some I get. Weapon durability, sure can get inconvenient, but to me it makes sense. It’s not linear, you can play mostly in any order you want rather than be guided to where to explore next, but, to me, that’s a positive 🤷🏻♂️
This game means so much to me and no one can ever change my mind on it.
Click through to see the list so far! ⬇️