Daily Debate: How Would You Rank Tears of the Kingdom’s Replayability?
Posted on January 10 2024 by Chakell Herbert
With Ocarina of Time still coming in at the number-one spot in Zelda Dungeon’s 2023 Best Zelda Ever list, it goes to show that many of the adventures in this series are timeless, still managing to capture our hearts with each revisit. In fact, I can honestly say that I have replayed classics like The Wind Waker, Ocarina of Time, Skyward Sword, and A Link to the Past too many times to count.
However, with this new open world style of gameplay in our latest two entries — Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom — I can’t help but wonder if these games, especially the latter, hold up to the same standard of replayability as earlier installments in the series. Tears of the Kingdom has had massive praise and has dominated the gaming world for past eight months, but it has also had its share of criticism as well! With the world being so massive, and yet so similar to Breath of the Wild’s landscape, some players have described traversing Hyrule in this era as a bit tedious or repetitive or even barren and slow.
Which begs the question: Is Tears of the Kingdom replayable?
To be honest, I have already replayed the game twice, and although I was afraid I might get bored the second time around, I was surprised that I wasn’t! I think these games are just as replayable as older entries in the series, but in a different way. Because there is so much detail and so many corners in this massive version of Hyrule, you can’t see everything your first time through. Heck, I got all the Light Roots, I did so many Side Adventures and Side Quests during my first playthrough, and still found so many newbies the second round. I enjoyed the story a lot more when I was able to piece it together clearly. And I also took a different route the second time through and played the game differently, which I think is what makes Tears of the Kingdom so versatile and replayable. You really can choose your own adventure and play the game however you want. It’s different from replayable classics, but it’s helping the series evolve. So, I would say that it is a solid replayable adventure that I’ll continue to pick up and enjoy again and again.
How would you rank Tears of the Kingdom’s replayability? Let me know in the comments!
Chakell (pronounced shuh-kell) is an associate editor for Zelda Dungeon! She has loved The Legend of Zelda series since she was a little girl because of its equal mix of princesses, besting bad guys, and heartfelt stories. Chakell lives in the overall tame state of Utah, but holds onto her childhood hopes to find an adventure in her backyard one day. She has a degree in English and is a full-time editor for a magazine. You can usually find her gaming (obviously), laughing with her husband, taking a long time to tell stories because she keeps getting distracted; getting sucked into books and podcasts; or snuggling her cute Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.
