I started playing Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom on Saturday, as I was one of the shmucks that had to ‘work’ at my ‘job’ on Friday and then had to ‘be’ at an ‘event’ in the evening.
Now, to be completely transparent, I never finished Breath of the Wild. I got through about half of it until I hit one boss that was a little too hard, and I decided to put it down and give myself some time to heal before picking it up again. I, uh… never picked it up again.
That also came after I had to restart the game three times on three separate consoles due to starting it on my brother’s Switch, a former partner’s Switch, and then my own Switch. It was a whole journey to get to even playing the game properly, and then actually playing it was another thing.
So yeah, I’ve never finished the game. However, I decided to jump into Tears of the Kingdom anyway as I’m a firm believer in doing whatever I want. I played God of War: Ragnarok last year before ultimately deciding to play God of War (2018), which may seem like sacrilege but I simply considered myself to be playing a game and then its prequel. Nothing is real, you can do whatever.
But alas, the order in which I’m playing the two mainline Zelda games on Switch is not actually what this yarn is about! It’s actually about the game itself, and some worries I had when it came to problem-solving.
Enforcing my wishes with Ultrahand
From the get-go, you are given the Ultrahand ability. This allows you to pick big shit up like Syndrome in The Incredibles does, except you can also stick said big shit to other stuff with Mystery Goo. It’s arguably one of the game’s most-used features, and you’ll find yourself using it to build all kinds of things to solve any problems. After some time, you’re also given the Fuse ability, which lets you stick things like monster teeth or raw meat to your fighting sticks. It’s a riot.
As we’ve seen online, from the Big Dick Fella to the Torture of Koroks, people have been using these abilities in a variety of different ways. I myself have been attempting to experiment with different structures and way to complete puzzles, and I’ve also been simply doing what seems like the easiest option. And then, I’ve found myself doing one thing repeatedly in particular: rocket shield.
Need to get up high? Rocket shield. Need to get up higher? Rocket shield. Need to climb up a wall, and you only have a few logs? Rocket shield. Fusing a rocket to my shield has solved almost all of my problems. In fact, attaching a rocket to anything has done wonders. Yes, I have also attached a rocket to a Korok to send it forward as quickly as possible. I’m a monster, I know.
It was after a fair few iterations of rocket shield creation that I had a thought: Am I doing this right?
Sometimes, certain Fuse weapons and Ultrahand contraptions felt like I was cheating. I could just drop a boulder on a Bokoblin and that fucker was dead immediately. Is this really how I was supposed to be playing? I almost felt like I was somehow playing this game wrong. And then, after seeing a certain video, it hit me: There’s no wrong way to play Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Oh my god! She said it! She said the thing!).
This game, perhaps even more so than Breath of the Wild, is a fine example of how much fun you can have when you’re essentially allowed to solve problems in whatever wacko way you can think of. Even looking up a walkthrough of some sort to beat a certain puzzle will give you a way that the writer managed to beat it rather than a set way you’re supposed to do it. Isn’t that so special? Every solution is unique to the player!
(Editor’s note: I’ve spoken with multiple friends playing over the weekend and not one of us has progressed through the early game the same way. Everyone’s got a different story. Brilliant. — David)
And you know what’s the most amazing thing of all? The video in question that made me realise that you can literally play Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom in any way that you like was this video. Have a great day.
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