6. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (2023)
- Final score: 72 points
- Total placements: 5 lists
- Highest placement: #3, Casey
Schnei writes:
At the start of making this list, the most glaring problem was what to do with this game. After much thought, here’s what I concluded: TotK is 150% of BotW, but 90% of that is the same game, 40% is boring new stuff that’s just expansion filler, and 20% is good new stuff adding real value. On the whole, objectively it’s a more polished and evolved game, but the ratio of magical-to-non isn’t quite as high, and therefore this [editor’s note: Schnei ranked ToTK #6] is where it goes.
Casey writes:
I agree that there’s a slightly bad feeling to devoting this much of the list to a game that is so similar to Breath of the Wild, but I ultimately placed the game as high as I did because it still grabbed me and pulled me in, despite agreeing roughly with Schnei’s assessment. I’m definitely a dabbler when it comes to media, so if the game really didn’t offer something to keep me at it I wouldn’t have logged another hundred hours in this installment. But I did! I’ve savored this game very slowly, playing mostly when I can dedicate an entire afternoon to it, wandering from task to task, mostly ignoring the first thing I thought I’d do when I booted the game back up. I’m excited to see the ending for the first time soon using the Switch 2’s improved graphics and load times. In a lot of ways I really appreciate that this game will kind of bookend my experience with the Switch’s lifespan and bridge into the next one.