A Little Farther in Tears of the Kingdom

 So, I'm concerned.

There are definitely new elements in this game, and there does seem to be a greater variety of monsters to fight, but I've got to say: Tears of the Kingdom was clearly built for people who already loved Breath of the Wild, and feels as if it's changing as little of that basic style of gameplay as possible.

Which puts me, as someone who doesn't love that game, in a sort of underwhelmed position.

I'm still very early, but that also tells you something: progression through the game is a slow task. Traversal of the environment is a lengthy thing, and there are difficult encounters (I died like a dozen or more times to a Battle Talus with three Bokoblins riding it) that sort of pop out of nowhere.

I'm pushing forward in the main story in the hopes of finding a cool dungeon, but... well, again, I fear this game just might not be for me.

Which is a shame, because it means it's been nearly twenty years since I've loved a new Zelda game (Twilight Princess, to be precise).

I expect I'll stick with it for a bit, let the game reveal its charms and secrets. Indeed, in Breath of the Wild I actually did all four of the divine beast "dungeons."

See, I don't think I even dislike the grand open world. I think it's just that this is such a survival simulator rather than an adventure game. Maybe I should try to build more strange Zonai devices like I've seen on YouTube (which genuinely seems like the coolest new part of the game, but I wonder if I just need to find places with the right materials or if I haven't unlocked all the potential capsules yet.)

I think there's this really delicate balance that open world games in particular need to strike - between freedom and tedium. For example, Elden Ring has a big crafting system, and you can definitely get lots of useful things through it, but it's also something that you can kind of live without - if you treat the game as just a Dark Souls sequel with an utterly massive and less bleakly monochromatic world (and, if I may be so bold, a more interesting set of background lore) you'll be fine.

But I'm still sitting here missing the more "curated" experience of the Zelda games I grew up on, like Ocarina of Time.

Oh well, I guess this is what it feels like to grow old.