The thing nobody tells you upfront
This game is enormous. Not in a marketing sense, in a slightly overwhelming, where-did-my-evening-go sense. I sat down intending to do one shrine, looked up, and it was past midnight. That's either a selling point or a warning depending on who you are.
Tears of the Kingdom takes everything Breath of the Wild built and adds a crafting and building system that genuinely changes how you move through the world. The Ultrahand mechanic sounds gimmicky on paper. In practice, you'll spend twenty minutes bodging together a flying contraption out of planks and fans and feel unreasonably proud of it.
Who this is actually for
If you loved Breath of the Wild, this is a no-brainer at £39. It's bigger, more layered, and has a proper story running underneath the sandbox chaos. Personally, I think the story lands better than people expected.
If you're new to the series, it's still a good entry point, though be warned: the opening hours are slow. Patient players will be rewarded. Impatient ones might bounce.
My honest reservation is the frame rate. On a standard Switch, it chugs occasionally, especially in busy areas or when you've built something ridiculous. It never breaks the game, but it's there.
The price question
At £39, there's not a lot to argue about. This is a 60 to 80 hour game for most players. AAA titles don't often hold up this well at a reduced price without feeling dated. This one still feels fresh. Spot on value, if the open-world genre is your thing.
