The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is finally here, and yes, it's already the best-reviewed game of 2023, topping the charts on aggregate sites like OpenCritic and Metacritic, rated 97 and 96, respectively.
Today, however, Metacritic is open to user votes, and almost 1400 people have already left a review, giving it an aggregate score of a still good - if slightly less impressive - 8.4 out of 10.
One negative commenter called it a "torment to play", berating the sequels lack of story and atmosphere, whilst others are critical of the "recycled material" and a perceived lack of improvement from its predecessor.
On the more positive side, many fans are calling it the "perfect games", with the majority of positive user reviews leaving 10/10 scores.
It'll be interesting to see how that user score changes as more and more people complete Link's latest adventure.
ICYMI, we recently discovered that The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom lets you reunite with your horses from Breath of the Wild. If you're using a Switch that contains your Breath of the Wild save data, Tears of the Kingdom gives you all to all of the horses you loved in the first game. All you have to do is capture a wild horse and hot hoof it to your nearest stables to reunite.
Wondering if Nintendo should turn the success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie to other cherished franchises like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom? You're not alone.
"I have to say, I am interested. For sure," Tears of the Kingdom producer Eiji Aonuma said in a recent interview. "But it’s not just me being interested in something that makes things happen, unfortunately."
In our The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom review, we called the open-world opus "a rich, robust experience that builds on what came before" and awarded it 4.5 stars out of 5.
"You make the vehicles you want, fight with the weapons you choose, and explore whatever section of the world appeals to you," we wrote. "Sometimes your tinkering is a success, and sometimes you fail spectacularly, but it never stops being fun.
"Tears of the Kingdom sets a standard for immersive gameplay that most major games don't even try to achieve, let alone match. So yes, though almost intimidatingly big at times, Tears of the Kingdom manages to keep focus and provide a rich, robust experience that builds on what came before. I've basically done nothing but play the game for two weeks, and even now I have no intention of stopping any time soon. What better recommendation could a person give?"
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