Whether you love, hate, or are fairly indifferent to Zelda, you’ll no doubt have seen hundreds of clips circling on social media since the game launched. Tears of the Kingdom is a game where you really can do anything, and the variety of clips highlights that. Whether players are coming up with bizarre ways to punish Koroks, constructing creative solutions to all of their problems, or just thirsting over the characters, whatever you want TOTK to be, it is. And I’m not complaining - if anything, we need more Purah positing. But I don’t think I’ve seen a single clip of combat, and that tells you everything you need to know.
I’m not against violence in video games. My most desired video game adaptation is Sin City, and I love Red Dead Redemption, Resident Evil, and Dead Rising - all very violent video games. I’m looking forward to Mortal Kombat 1 (despite its silly name and multiverse shenanigans), and not one iota of my cells is thinking ‘golly gee I hope it’s not too violent’. If anything, I’m hopeful D’Vorah returns to rip more flesh open. I just think the combat derails the Zelda experience far too often.
I’m a self-confessed outsider to all this. Breath of the Wild never landed for me at all, and so far Tears of the Kingdom is leaving me similarly empty, despite the sick skateboard. I’ve been given a few points on the map, so off I go to them. But I’m frequently attacked by the same dull enemies over and over again, spoiling everything. While a couple have been bigger creatures designed to scare you away from areas you can’t go yet, most are just irritating. You defeat them easily enough, but break your weapons and your flow in the process, then do it again and again and again.
Everyone loves Tears of the Kingdom. Clearly, the Zelda team can design a better video game than I can. Maybe without combat the world would feel too empty, Link would seem less heroic, the threats to the kingdom less powerful. It’s just a shame that even as someone who doesn’t get Tears of the Kingdom’s magic, I can see the spectacular world design that pulls players in, and combat feels like an unnecessary addition to that.
Along the way, there are natural boundaries that gate your progress. Rivers you can’t cross, cliffs you can’t climb, environmental hazards you can’t survive. These are all far more effective ways of pushing players away from the ‘wrong’ areas and into the ‘right’ ones, and they give a sense of power when you overcome them. With the Bokoblins, they’re often just a nuisance.
A generous interpretation might suggest this is the point - you are free to run away from combat and it’s not the main focus of the game, so it’s generic to avoid players seeking it out. There’s also the fact that boss battles have more weight to them, and it’s natural to want weaker, easier enemies to teach you the ropes. Some of these boss battles have been shared online too, although usually to show off a rocket powered gundam rather than the battle itself.
Of course, Tears of the Kingdom is not in need of people’s generosity. The reality is just that the combat is boring and by far the game’s weakest aspect. Tears of the Kingdom is a very clever video game that reinvents systems and makes its world seem fresh despite largely being a reskinned map. But even away from the breakable weapons, which complement the game’s philosophy despite their controversy, the combat just stinks.
It bores me, and even when I’m trying my hardest to get into TOTK, fighting instantly puts me off. It’s not like I’m getting faced with constant Game Overs and being too stubborn to understand I’m not strong enough yet - I’m winning. It’s still boring, and wanting to explore somewhere then being dragged into too many fights usually makes me put the game down.
Saying ‘this one thing in Zelda is bad’ feels futile, because those absorbed by it love it unconditionally, and those who don’t get it have a laundry list of complaints. But this is surely the one thing to unite us - combat in Tears of the Kingdom is so, so boring, and it’s okay to admit it.