The new Zelda game is a glimpse of pure humanity
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The new Zelda game is a glimpse of pure humanity
Some people are wholesome as hell
It’s not often I write an edition of The Rectangle simply to gush, but today is one of those days.
On May 12th, Nintendo released The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom — henceforth known as TOTK.
A sequel to the era-defining (and one of my favourite games of all time) Breath of the Wild, in many ways, TOTK picks up where the previous game left off.
Fundamentally, much is unchanged; there’s a huge world to explore, addictive gameplay, and an unrivalled sense of adventure.
Yet, there is one big difference between the two titles: the introduction of construction.
To put that another way, Nintendo has introduced building mechanics into TOTK. Players are able to meld different objects together to complete quests in the game.
For example, in the video above at the 6:57 mark, Link (the main character) traverses a patch of un-swimmable water by melding together several logs and a fan, making a boat.
What really separates TOTK though is how flexibile these construction abilities are. Nintendo has made a sandbox, an adventure game mixed with Minecraft.
And while I’ve been slowly plodding through the game? People online have been manipulating these mechanics in the most wonderful ways.
The breadth of invention is breathtaking — so let’s look at a few.
First, we have the folks making full-blown, anime-inspired mechs to rain terror down on unsuspecting enemies:
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Or others creating videos that go through eras of combat history, moving from medieval ramming objects into fully operational bombers:
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Or, perhaps, most breathtaking of all, a multi-stage rocket launch:
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And this is to say nothing of the other brilliant videos floating around, whether that’s bizarre death machines, strange tributes to Vietnam war movies, or Frank Sinatra inspired bits.
There’s endless Good Shit™ out there.
But it’s thinking about all this in a wider context that warms my cockles.
Nintendo must’ve known that people would experiment and do ridiculous things in the game, yet went ahead anyway. Risk be damned.
And the people making these videos? Yes, on one hand they’re creating for the likes (and cool newsletters like The Rectangle), but, overall, this is coming from a space of joyous experimentation.
Trawling through all these clips is akin to visiting a science fair, it’s enthusiasts playing, pushing their creativity to the brink for our enjoyment. No one is making millions from silly TOTK videos, people are just pumping endless hours into a game and having some fun.
The magnificence of the modern internet is that we get to enjoy the fruits of their labour.
There’s no grand narrative, no pushing of agendas, just humans doing cool human things.
So thank you, Nintendo and TOTK, you’ve made me a happy man.
But, before I go, I’d like to leave you with my favorite video so far:
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I like to think the world would be a better place if every game allowed users to make giant monsters with exploding penises.
There’s a message in there somewhere.
