Is The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom the best open world RPG, or does that honor belong to Elden Ring? In many ways, this is an “apples to oranges” comparison that can never be fully answered, since developers at Nintendo and FromSoftware had different design goals and aesthetic ideas in mind when they built their respective RPGs. Separate aspects of each game will appeal more to different kinds of players, and while both are certainly in the upper echelon of open worlds created in recent years, one still stands above the other.
The Lands Between setting of Elden Ring and the Hyrule of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom are both fantasy lands on the brink. In Elden Ring, the shattering of the titular golden rune and the vanishing of Queen Marika triggered a civil war between the Demigods, their wars destroying the Golden Order they each sought to reform. In Tears of the Kingdom, the already fragmented Hyrule is further devastated by Ganondorf’s resurrection, flooding the land with monsters and hurling ancient ruins into the sky. The charm of both games lies in their beautifully post-apocalyptic landscapes, though they have different ideas of what that beauty entails.
Some players aren’t looking for a game that’s brutal, grotesque, or horrifying all the time, as Elden Ring’s open world often is. Instead, they seek out a game with a relaxing ambiance, full of simulated light and life they can wander through and fool around in to their heart’s content. Players like these will probably prefer Tears of the Kingdom over Elden Ring, thanks to the former’s verdant world of rivers, lakes, plains, mountains, forests, and sky islands (plus the Depths for when players do want to be scared). Hyrule’s many thriving villages of friendly NPCs also make the open world in Tears of the Kingdom feel more welcoming than Elden Ring’s omnipresent desolation.
By adapting the punishing combat and exploration mechanics of Dark Souls to a non-linear sandbox game environment, FromSoftware created in Elden Ring an open world RPG where players can never take the sights they see for granted. On one hand, players who are careless will stumble into ambushes by creatively grotesque and varied enemies. On the other hand, players who look carefully and listen for audio cues will spot dangers in advance, find new gear, or identify beautiful landmarks they can travel towards. The distinct look of each region in Elden Ring, from the crystal-covered Liurnia to the Scarlet Rot-infested horror of Caelid, gives players further reasons to mind their surroundings.
Even Breath of the Wild, the Zelda game that preceded Tears of the Kingdom, gave players more mobility options than Elden Ring did. The core form of transportation in both games was for players to mount and ride a horse across the open world (with players being able to summon a spectral steed in Elden Ring). Breath of the Wild, however, also let players ascend slopes like rock climbers and fly from high vantage…
2023-06-18 15:30:03
Source from screenrant.com
rnrn