Why Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’s Spirit Temple Quest May Be the Future of Zelda Dungeons

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was the next step down the road Breath of the Wild paved. Returning to the first open-world Hyrule, Tears of the Kingdom refined and added to the winning formula pioneered by its predecessor. It wasn’t enough that TotK remixed BotW‘s map, injecting its towns, fields, and monster encampments with a new flavor, as it also introduced aerial and underground layers. Players didn’t retread the same map they knew, and the land’s lingering familiarity served to emphasize just how different it really was.