The debate of whetherThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the WildorTears of the Kingdomis better has been raging on since the latter was released in 2023. On the one hand,BOTWfelt like a lightning-in-a-bottle moment, a truly revolutionary game that no game could follow up without feeling derivative. On the other hand,TOTKinjected the world of Hyrule with a lot of creativity and fun, while doing its best to terraform the land to ensure players didn’t feel they were treading old ground. Frustratingly, both are true, making it hard to pinpoint a true victor.
I’ve made it clear over the years that I firmly believeBOTWis better thanTOTK, and for good reason - well, at least in my opinion.Tears of the Kingdomlacks a lot of the charm that madeBreath of the Wildso special; its atmosphere and ambience lack the cohesion and assuredness that made BOTW’s Hyruleso unique. However, let’s face it, my opinion means very little in the face of the all-consuming and overly critical internet.What is more important is which game Nintendo prefers, and it absolutely looks like it likes one more than the other.
TOTK’s Lack Of DLC Is Telling
Even Now, It Still Hasn’t Received Any DLC
It strikes me as strange thatTears of the Kingdom, one of the best-selling Nintendo Switch games of all time and a sequel to the fourth best-selling Switch game, never got DLC. In fact,TOTKis never getting DLC. Ever. Of course, a Nintendo game not getting DLC isn’t anything new - the day anyMario Partygame gets DLC is the day pigs will fly - but in this case, it seemed almost a certainty that it would get something. After all, its predecessor received a suite of DLC, as did theunderrated spin-offZeldagame,Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity.
Tears of the Kingdom’s producer, Eiji Aonuma confirmed in an interview withFamitsuthat it wouldn’t be getting any DLC back in 2023, mere months after it was released. For context,BOTWreceived its first piece of DLC four months after launch, with the second coming just six months later. Aonuma explained that the reason there would be no DLC was because “[they] feel like [they’ve] exhausted all the possibilities of creating gameplay in that world.” To me, at least,this speaks volumes about which of the two open-worldZeldagames Nintendo prefers.
It’s baffling that there were no ideas left in the tank, especially as there was so muchpotential for aTOTKDLC. It wasn’t as ifBreath of the Wild’sDLC was groundbreaking, as it only added a few challenges and a motorbike. Introducing something similar, such as additional shrines or a quest or two, would have gone a long way in keeping the fanbase entertained. The fact that Nintendo didn’t feel the need to add even something minor to the experiencesuggests that it simply didn’t have the same level of interest inTOTKas it did inBOTW.
It Got Multiple DLCs And Felt More Revolutionary
Breath of the Wildwas an exciting new project for Nintendo and unlike anything it had ever done before. Of course, Monolith Soft, who are owned by Nintendo, had created open-world RPGs long beforeBOTWwas released, butthe team behind theZeldagames hadn’t really worked in that space. They were teeming with ideas about not just how to makeBOTWone of thebestZeldagamesof all time, but how to add that Nintendo magic to an open-world framework. Astonishingly, they pulled it off and delivered a truly revolutionary experience unlike anything that had come before it.
There is a specialmagic toBOTWthatTOTKlacks. WhereBOTWfelt like Nintendo unraveling a brand-new toy and seeing how it all works,TOTKfelt like a pair of really great socks that it will wear every now and then. Both are great presents, but one offers a more exciting prospect than the other. Bad analogies aside,Tears of the Kingdomwas always going to be playing second fiddle toBreath of the Wild, and, in almost every respect, it felt like Nintendo knew that.
It could have created something new, something it was truly excited about, rather than revisiting a world it had already built and played within.
The additions to Hyrule are numerous, but never spectacular. A vast underground cave is fun at first, but once you realize the Depths looks the same all over, it becomes a lot less exciting. The same can be said of Hyrule’s new islands. I’m sure there’s plenty of my own bias seeping through here, butnothing was stopping Nintendo from creating a whole new world withTOTK, or even switching back to a more linear framework. It could have created something new, something it was truly excited about, rather than revisiting a world it had already built and played within.
TOTK Still Has Its Strengths
It Does Innovate On The Formula In Numerous Ways
None of that is to say thatTears of the Kingdomis without merit. Of course, there are numerous innovations it brings to the table, and several ways it inarguably improves upon its predecessor. As fiddly as it can be,the Ultrahand mechanic is a lot of fun and offers an unparalleled level of freedom within the already compelling sandbox. It also has a greater variety of content on offer, which is ideal for those who perhaps thoughtBOTWwas lacking that crucial element.
It would be unfair to say thatTOTK’sadditions would have fit nicely into a DLC-sized package. However,I’m not convinced they warranted an entire game, and I believe Nintendo felt the same; otherwise, it wouldn’t have put these ideas withinBOTW’sworld. Nintendo isn’t afraid to reuse assets, but it has never gone as far as to reuse entire worlds before. Perhaps it didn’t want to go through the effort of building a whole new world, or it felt very strongly thatTOTKshared the exact same world asBOTW, despite noZeldagame doing that before.
Whatever the reason, it certainly feels that Nintendo’s lack of interest in building much new withTOTKand its inability to think of anything meaningful to add as DLC proves that it cares a little less about it than it did withBOTW. Of course, at the end of the day, they’re both great games that should, in theory, be valued in their own right. Perhaps in the distant future, we’ll look back and realize how lucky we were to get two incredible experiences. Until then, the debate about whetherBOTWorTOTKis better will continue to rage on.
