The Legend of Zelda has been a popular game franchise since 1986 when it first came out on the NES. The game has since made a recent resurgence due to both The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom which came out in 2017 and 2023 respectively. Both introduced new concepts to the series and elevated its popularity with amazing graphics that hadn’t been seen before. With Breath of the Wild coming out on the newly released Nintendo Switch, there is now entirely new gameplay as well. It has been well established that these games are amazing examples of what Nintendo can do, but which of them is better?
Controls:
The controls of the recent Legend of Zelda games have been a bit controversial from what I’ve heard. The complaint I have heard the most, however, is that the building features for Tears of the Kingdom aren’t the greatest, and I can attest to that statement. I remember going into a shrine that relies on the build feature and spending at least two hours trying to figure out the puzzle while constantly mixing up the throw button and the power button. Breath of the Wild’s build feature was easy to use in comparison. Oftentimes, I’ve heard that Tears of the Kingdom’s controls are overcomplicated if you haven’t played Breath of the Wild. On the other hand, I haven’t had many complaints about Breath of the Wild’s controls at all. The consensus is that the Breath of the Wild controls are easy and rookie-friendly. I’m giving the award of best controls to Breath of the Wild.
Important side characters/Character design:
Both games have a multitude of incredible characters throughout their playthrough which are either complex or simplistic depending on their role in the game. The different races in the game play a huge role in world-building and make the fictional kingdom of Hyrule feel that much more real. Though both games have amazing characters that play fantastic roles, I’m personally going to have to give this one to Breath of the Wild. Don’t get me wrong, I love Prince Sidon of the Zora just as much, if not more, than the next person, but the champions of the divine beasts just draw me in more. The story told by exploring each of the divine beasts can be both equally tragic and beautiful. When I realized that I would finish the game, the champions would be laid to rest, it made me sad because, throughout the story, I came to love them as much as I loved the protagonist. The main side characters for Tears of the Kingdom seem dull in comparison to their counterparts since they don’t have that extra layer of tragedy that the Breath of the Wild characters do.
World-building:
Both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom explore a plethora of new concepts such as the Sheikah and the Zonai, both of which are ancient races in Hyrule that sped up technological advancement to the point where teleportation for Link is incredibly easy. Both have amazing world-building throughout but Tears of the Kingdom does it a bit better. It shows the reasons why elements of the story are happening, such as the opening of the depths, rather than focusing on the main story. It makes every character feel like their own person even if some of the NPCs or Non Player Characters look the same. Tears of the Kingdom explains the origins of Ganon better than Breath of the Wild because it shows him when he became the demon king. It gives depth even to the villain of the story because seeing Ganon as a living person makes you see him as an actual person with goals and reason behind their actions instead of a monster who only lives to create chaos. It also explains things like the elemental dragons, implying that they were once a humanoid race that ended up eating a secret stone for some reason or another. It expands the world in a whole new way which Breath of the Wild couldn’t go up against.
Ending:
When comparing both endings for Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, Breath of the Wild felt anticlimactic compared to its sequel. The divine beasts coming together to blast Ganon was about the only thing that redeemed the ending of Breath of the Wild. The ending of Tears of the Kingdom gives a sense of satisfaction to the amount of work you put into the game. It adds many elements that you’ve seen before, so when you’re battling you understand what you need to do to win instead of the game having to give you instructions on how exactly to win the final fight. Tears of the Kingdom personally wins my vote for best ending.
By tallying up the points it seems that it is a tie! Both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom are amazing games that deserve recognition for their amazing story and gameplay. Without these games, I don’t think that the Legend of Zelda fanbase would be as large as it is. Hopefully, as the series continues, it will follow in the footsteps of these games and elevate the bar for open-world games as a whole.
