Video games are no longer just for hardcore pixelheads. As the success of HBO’s recent television adaptation of the PlayStation hit The Last of Us demonstrates, the hobby has gone global and mainstream. Big-name actors have lent their voice talents to games, among them Jeffrey Wright, Keanu Reeves and Idris Elba, who is such a gaming geek that he never leaves home without his Nintendo Switch.
Gaming voice actors have, for their part, become cult figures. One of the biggest draws at last summer’s Dublin Comic Con was Charles Martinet, best known as the voice of Mario from the iconic platformer Super Mario Bros (which has this year spawned a $1 billion-grossing animated feature with Chris Pratt and Jack Black). Meanwhile, the TV version of The Last of Us had cameos from Ashley Johnson and Troy Baker, aka the original Ellie and Joel from the game.
But even amid all this, one fact remains immutable. In the world of gaming, no franchise is more exalted than Zelda, which this month dominates the cultural conversation with the new game The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
There are a few things to bear in mind if you’re coming fresh to the Legend of Zelda video-game franchise. First, Zelda isn’t the main character. That honour rests with Link, an intrepid elf with floppy blond hair, an emo pout and movie-star cheekbones (a look reportedly inspired by 1990s-vintage Leonardo DiCaprio).
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Second, to say the Zelda titles are mere video games is a bit like describing The Lord of the Rings as a brisk read. It isn’t inaccurate, but it fails to capture the addictively immersive qualities of a saga that sucks you into a virtual world that can feel as vivid and heartfelt as reality. Most importantly, however, you don’t need to know any of that to enjoy Tears of the Kingdom, the juggernaut Zelda game that has just come out for the Nintendo Switch and is on course to sell 10 million copies in its first month.
Yes, Tears of the Kingdom is officially a sequel to Breath of the Wild, the 2017 Zelda hit that doubled as a launch release for the portable Switch console and has shifted more than 30 million units. But though a working knowledge of Breath of the Wild will make Tears of the Kingdom a richer experience, it isn’t a Godfather Part II situation. If your curiosity has been piqued by the hype, feel free to jump off the cliff and dive right in.
Jumping off cliffs and diving right in is something Link does over and over early in Tears of the Kingdom, a vast sprawl of a title that reputedly takes up to 70 hours to complete. This all happens after an ancient evil is reawakened and he is separated from Zelda. She is the princess whom Link is sworn to protect. (It’s a bit more complicated than that, but no need to get bogged down in Zelda lore, with its many, many timelines.)
The Zelda series invented the 3-D action role-playing genre more than 20 years ago, with the groundbreaking Ocarina of Time. Breath of the Wild expanded the template via an “open world” where you could wander wherever you wished across the vast Kingdom of Hyrule.
There was a Big Bad to defeat. And, yes, most players got around to that eventually. In the meantime, you could undertake mini quests or enjoy the stunning beauty of the realm Nintendo had wrought. All of that is replicated in Tears of the Kingdom. In fact, the sandbox design has become even more interactive with the addition of a new ability to manipulate everyday items in the world, binding these often entirely random objects together and then juicing them with batteries and sails.
It’s hard to overstate how much satisfaction is to be had from the Minecraft-style amateur engineering. Or how visually breathtaking the world of Hyrule remains
While the emphasis on tinkering and problem-solving initially takes getting used to, it soon becomes hugely satisfying. One early puzzle, for instance, requires you to cross a vast lake. You can’t swim it – Link will quickly tire and, oops, drown. But what’s that? A log, just lying around. And a sail. Great. Using the magic arm you acquired earlier you can glue the sail to the log. Oh, but that log keeps rolling over. Okay, so you need a second log to stabilise your jury-rigged raft. Gum them together, and stick the sail on top. Suddenly Link is crossing that uncrossable lake with the wind at his back.
It’s hard to overstate how much satisfaction is to be had from the Minecraft-style amateur engineering. Or how visually breathtaking the world of Hyrule remains. This time you start on one of several floating islands, framed by gorgeous blue sky and aching sunlight. And by a limitless horizon that contains such wonders as a distant dragon slowly negotiating the wind currents.
It’s jaw-droppingly pretty, even more so considering the Switch is relatively underpowered compared with console competitors such as PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X (or a rival hand-held device such as the Steam Deck).
Video games lend themselves to hyperbole. Many in the hobby are already hailing Tears of the Kingdom the greatest thing since the last great thing
In keeping with the epic tone, the music is melancholy and evocative. That said, Tears of the Kingdom lacks a composition as singular as Song of Storms, from Ocarina of Time, which has been introduced to a wider audience by the Galway-born conductor Eímear Noone, who toured a suite of Zelda scores across the past decade (and which has been cited as an inspiration for the Game of Thrones title music).
Video games lend themselves to hyperbole. Many in the hobby are already hailing Tears of the Kingdom the greatest thing since the last great thing. In truth, it will be months or potentially years before we know where Tears of the Kingdom ranks in the leader board of all time greats. For now, we can say this with certainty: Tears of the Kingdom is fun, beautiful and addictive. And if you’re curious about the hype, be like Link and jump right in.
