The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom teaches us (again) how to play video games

Whether you play it or not, whether you like it or not, it’s a title that will surely be talked about for a long time, a bit like its predecessor with a legacy that has given and still gives a lot to the gaming world.

But that’s not what we’re talking about today – or rather, we don’t want to talk so much about the “size” of the game in general, but rather about the size of the game The first two hours of playthose of the “Tutorial” in which Tears of the Kingdom (here is our review) can go to school so very difficult to describe in words.

It’s in all likelihood one of the “strange” incipits of the E-series in some respects very unusual in the sagaboth from the narrative point of view and from the gameplay, which even deviates from it breath of the wild so clearly that you can hardly believe the feeling of “home” that the game tries to convey right off the bat.

And it is precisely in the early stages that one needs to know not only the events that will begin the narration of Tears of the Kingdomintroduces the player to the main mechanics of the title, embodied in the four abilities that we’ve all come to know through the various trailers and gameplay over the last few weeks: Compositor, Ultramano, Reverto and Ascensus.

I’ve already told you everything, now take care of yourself

On the one hand, however, the title seems to suggest a structure not too dissimilar to this one breath for the wildthen an area is created, starting with four trials to complete to gain access to each of the four available skills, on the other hand, building for the player, a gigantic playground of creativity.

And the gigantic tutorial is aimed at exactly the latter Tears of the Kingdom Tip: It’s not so much about the form in which powers are revealed and granted to the player, nor about the turn puzzle that tries to explain how they work. Nintendo is doing something completely unexpected and unsettling in this case: nothing.

It is limited to giving the player four pieces of information about the power of the move, explaining to him the buttons to press and presenting him with a first very trivial experience of the same, only to say: “Okay, that’s more or less. “What you can do in practice”. Then he throws the player overboard and challenges him to learn to swim.

I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say I haven’t seen anyone complete the tutorial yet Tears of the Kingdom in the same way I finished it, at least in those first few hours after the title was available to the general public.

To make it so special and unique experiences Of all players it is creativity education which implements the game immediately and reveals its cards from the very first moment: if you can think it, you can definitely do it, and if you can’t think it, we’ll explain how you have to learn to think.

And that is undoubtedly a priceless experience. Tears of the Kingdom teaches gamers how to play video games and does it with all the calm and patience in the world, without ever (or almost) trying to match them. The reward is satisfaction and (re)learning a video game.

Just take any title with sandobox or similar mechanics as an example and check out their tutorials: these are generally “levels” in which the player is provided with a tool to use in a certain way to to achieve a specific effect.

Then, level by level and situation by situation, it continues to reject every possible aspect of the tool in order to have “taught” the player how to use it once the tutorial is complete.

Tears of the Kingdom does exactly the opposite: it offers an entire map, the island of origins, so to speak forced playground must learn to think for yourself and actively stimulate your imagination.

In just a few hours, Nintendo manages to answer all of the questions that come with the title’s sandbox nature: But if you put logs and a fan in front of a lake, doesn’t it make sense that I need to build a boat?

Yes, however, it’s what happens behind that lake that explodes your brain. The lake is just one of many situations in which the game shows in practice what you can build. After this lake you are alone in front of a frozen mountain that you cannot climb because you slipped.

You have limited time to think as the cold is slowly draining your life and all of nature is available to help you understand how to climb that mountain.

It’s up to you now. AND without the fan and protocols at your disposal to guide you.

It’s a bit like them old LEGO boxes which contained the classic pamphlet that showed how to make certain connections to form this or that shape and then left you in the middle of a sea of ​​confused bricks: the only help was knowing how to put the pieces together and what to do Much of this information was left to the child’s imagination.

A communicative and creative force that, frankly, no one would have dreamed of, being faced with a multitude of situations and combinations that are difficult to keep up with.

Experiment

Experiment is the word that best describes the first few hours of gameplay, which do nothing but non-stop pounding on the right brain hemisphere, inviting you to try, combine, and discover whatever two crossed keys create on your screen.

The magic of Tears of the Kingdom (You can if interested Buy it here) it’s all there: a disarming simplicity of action for an almost overwhelming amount of content, creating and destroying our video game idea minute by minute, constantly inviting us to do so define us in our gameplayShe teaches us not to be afraid to fly a glider or to throw ourselves into the void just to see what’s underneath—or if there’s anything underneath at all.

The appeal is constant, from the weapons in the hands of the enemies that make us wonder “how”, to the rails scattered around the island that continue to make us wonder “where”, to the material depots and donors of the Zonau devices Let’s continue to resonate a “what”.

Tears of the Kingdom will no doubt rewrite the genre, starting with the tutorial has already begun to redefine our conscious gaming behavior.