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As much as I enjoy The Legend of Zelda<\/em>, it\u2019s never really been a series that I get out of bed for. Before today\u2019s TotK<\/em> (pronounced \u201ctok\u201d) presentation, I figured I\u2019d invest however long it\u2019d take for me to finish a review and never pick it up again. But seeing Link take a monster eye and fuse it to an arrow to create a homing missile, I felt my brain crack open and spill everywhere. It was an \u201coh… oh no<\/em>\u201d kind of moment. I could see the nigh limitless potential of the kinds of shenanigans I could get up to running around Hyrule. And I know that, just like I did with Elden Ring<\/em>, I will spend hundreds<\/em> of hours futzing about, either creating the stick sword to end all stick swords or maybe a bespoke Hylian Aston Martin<\/a>. In that one moment, I saw my beautiful doom. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n And! We haven\u2019t even seen all the game has to offer yet. Nintendo coyly didn\u2019t reveal anything about the story or other mechanics. Why is Link\u2019s arm all chewed up? Where\u2019s Zelda? Why is Ganon back? How\u2019d those islands get up in the sky? Where are the shrines (are they even there anymore?) and what kinds of puzzles will be in them? If the presentation had addressed those questions and nothing else, I\u2019d feel decently hyped for the game. That my butt is firmly planted on the hype train without knowing any of the details I\u2019d normally get hyped for… oh yeah, come May 12th<\/a>, it is over for us all.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Breath of the Wild<\/em> is arguably in the top tier of games of the last 20 years, maybe even of all time. Six years later, players are still<\/em> finding new ways to play<\/a>, beat<\/a>, or fight<\/a> in Breath of the Wild.<\/em> That\u2019s not only a testament to the awesome power of the Sheikah Slate but also the game\u2019s \u201ceverything is permitted\u201d level of freedom and, of course, player creativity. Tears of the Kingdom<\/em> seems like that level of open, unrestricted creativity amped up to an incalculable degree. I am going to lose my mind and my life to this game, and I genuinely can\u2019t wait to give them up.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n