The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom - Nintendo's Highly Anticipated Sequel

Nintendo is experiencing a record-breaking year. Last month, "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" grossed more over $1 billion. This Friday, the firm will release "The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom."

According to Gene Park of the Washington Post, the new game is definitely worth the six-year wait.

"I think anyone who liked 'Breath of the Wild' will absolutely love this one," Park said.

The critically acclaimed "Breath of the Wild" game, released in 2017, changed open-world game design and paved the path for the Nintendo Switch's record-breaking sales figures. "Tears of the Kingdom" broadens and deepens the breadth and complexity of its predecessor.

"The game is more than double the size of 'Breath," Park wrote for the Post. "Islands, caves, and dungeons dot the sky, while an underground region lies beneath Hyrule's land."

The most significant change, however, is how "Tears of the Kingdom" encourages player ingenuity. Link, the protagonist, has new skills that allow him to reverse time, manipulate items, and create sophisticated contraptions.

"If you need a car to get across the world, you can just build yourself a car," Park explains. "There were many times when I needed to cross an endless pit, so I built myself a little roller coaster."

While railway lines aren't new to the series, "Tears of the Kingdom" equips you with the means to build rockets, airships, and even fire-breathing robots – technological wonders for the usually magical Hyrule.

The plot was also fine-tuned. "Breath of the Wild" lets its gorgeous landscape speak for itself with little dialogue and rare cutscenes. The sequel adds a significant amount of plot, along with side adventures.

"There's even a quest where Link becomes a print journalist — a whole newspaper company is there." Park claims. "Finding Princess Zelda is part of your mission."

Zelda may be absent from "Tears of the Kingdom," but Nintendo is not short on ambition.

"I think it's safe to say that Nintendo is slowly approaching the level of Disney in terms of being a multimedia company," Park adds.

While the firm may be successful at the box office and in its theme parks, "Tears of the Kingdom" demonstrates that it still understands how to develop games that keep people going back to Hyrule.