The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom changes the conversation

polygon.com:

For all of its inquisitive mascots and alchemical mixtures of play, Nintendo has governed most of its games with a controlling hand.

Yes, Mario explores open worlds now, as opposed to the discrete levels in Mushroom Kingdoms of old. And sure, Metroid games now recognize “sequence breaking” and reward players for bending the normal progression rules — but only because Nintendo allowed for it; only because Nintendo said so. 2017’s The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was remarkable, among many reasons, for how sharply it deviated from this philosophy of “controlled fun.” It upended a deceptively rigid series, allowing the hero Link to go almost anywhere, climb almost anything, and toy with the physics of a vast and unpredictable world. Nintendo was still in control, of course — but for once, it felt like the game’s creators were easing up. For once, it felt as if we could drive off the rails.

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Breath of the Wild was a design watershed, an engineering marvel, and an encouraging sign that Nintendo was beginning to loosen its grip. It was also, it turns out, just an overture.

With The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Nintendo has receded even further into the background. Director Hidemaro Fujibayashi, producer Eiji Aonuma, and their team have crafted a layered world in which self-driven