Breath of the Wild wowed the world when it came out in 2017, with many calling it one of the best games ever made.

In light of this, there was a lot of skepticism as to how its successor could possibly live up to this legacy. When Tears of the Kingdom finally arrived 6 months ago, it managed to shoulder the impossible weight of expectations and impress once again; some even consider it to be better than its revered predecessor.

Of the two, which do you think is the better game, and why?

BotW. No doubt! Nintendo mistakenly thought that the so called abilities had any bearing on what made BotW great, when in reality what really made BotW great was the sense of adventure, exploration and discovery. Everything then felt underwhelming because the same world was used. 

The dungeons are bad. The enemy variety is weak. Game is not challenging enough. Ultrahand actually made exploration kind of pointless. I hate how fuse makes my weapons look. 

I could go on and on, on how this game in the end really disappointed me.   

I've wrote my essay on this, I'll spare y'all the rant

Breath of the Wild, obviously.

To me, it's the same thing I feel toward Doom to Doom Eternal or GoW to GoW Ragnarok. The second game might have objectively improved from the previous one but the novelty of the first game gives it that extra bit of magic. So BOTW all the way.

Both are among the best games of all time, but I give the edge to BotW.

Tears is absolutely an improvement in scale and mechanical depth. But I think it’s a downgrade in terms of atmosphere and storytelling (yes, really).

Ultimately, I prefer the moment-to-moment gameplay in Tears, but I prefer the campaign in BotW.

BotW for me. My main draw is exploration, discovery and world building. BotW did that better than TotK.

First of all, re-using the map was a let down from the start, removing most of the incentive to see what's on beyond that mountain etc. The Depths redeemed that lack of new discovery, but in the end lacked variety. The Sky islands felt like an after thought, while the caves felt repetitive and were all too bright. What were those bright blooms for... (To sell when reaching 999 limit again and again)

Secondly, BotW's landscape was made for its quests and exploration. TotK put some new (good) quests over it yet they obviously weren't as well integrated in the landscape as in BotW. Plus a lot of left over BotW world quest furniture stuck out in TotK. Also being able to simply launch and fly anywhere made exploration trivial, not rewarding anymore. As well as approaching a lot of things in the wrong order and from the wrong side.

The temples in TotK were even more lacking than the divine beasts in BotW. However the approach to the temples was done really well, if you encounter them in the right order that is and refrain from simply flying to the temples. The lightning temple was the only one that felt coherent, albeit still small.

Ultra-hand was fun to use but ultimately broke the game more than adding to it. Shrines didn't feel rewarding to solve since you could cheese most of them with ultra-hand and recall. The 'puzzles' were all very simple anyway, didn't get stuck once. The combat shrines were a big improvement over those in BotW and actually better puzzles than the puzzle shrines. Yet there were too many Rauru's blessing and the shrine quests were very repetitive. Finding and solving shrines was better in BotW.

The fuse system is fun and very useful though. Unfortunately the UI is a piece of crap, so much time wasted looking for things, swapping armor pieces and so many unnecessary steps to get things done.


It's telling I enjoyed TotK the most while ignoring Zonai stuff. Doing the Princess sightings and other stable quests on horseback, not using the launch towers, following the roads, not using fast travel, not using ascend. As well as exploring the depths on foot, no hover bike. Suppressing the blood moons and clearing the land of enemies.

TotK certainly had many improvements and some new fun things, yet ultimately BotW is the more complete, balanced package. I wouldn't replay either though, costs way too much time.

Quoting a wise man: "BotW for me. My main draw is exploration, discovery and world building. BotW did that better than TotK."

I did enjoy TotK very much, but if I had to choose itd be BotW for the previous reason. I didnt feel TotK "wowed" me as much as BotW, perhaps cause it felt too familiar.

Can't say, haven't finished the later yet, but as much as I loved the sense of awe and exploration the original give going around the vast plains and different locals of Hyrule ...

It's just plain obvious that TOTK is the better game of both. To me the additions of the Depths and the Skies and actual cave exploration have made this world just more complete and finally satisfying to strife around.
I also prefer the set of abilities this time. Gets you brain more stuff to rack yourself around.

Anywoo, at this point in time, TOTK is my winner.

I think I have to go with BOTW as well. I think they improved on pretty much everything in TOTK, but it just didnt have the same impact of the first one. Both masterpieces though.

I prefer Botw. I know Tears have much MUCH more content than Botw, but Botw is much more cozy and have a better history (my opinion).