At this point, the Game of the Year award may as well be handed out to “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom” because nothing else will likely come close.
The Nintendo Switch exclusive, a direct sequel to 2017’s highly acclaimed “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild,” has pulled in an almost unheard of 97/100 score on Metacritic from 60 reviews thus far.
That puts the game on par with some of the most acclaimed games ever released, including its predecessor ‘Breath of the Wild’ (97/100) – though not quite up there with ‘Ocarina of Time’ which, at 99/100, is the most acclaimed game of all time on any platform.
Other titles to have scored a 97 are “Grand Theft Auto V,” “Red Dead Redemption 2,” “Super Mario Galaxy,” “Super Mario Odyssey,” and the original “Halo”.
This year its next nearest rivals have been the high-quality remakes/remasters including “Metroid Prime” (94), “The Witcher 3” (94), “Resident Evil 4” (93) and “Dead Space” (89). It’s also much higher than the nearest new game release, “Hi-Fi Rush” (89).
Reviews for the new Zelda have dubbed it a “richer, more rewarding” game that pushes the aging Switch hardware to the limit – though, unlike so many other game releases of late, there are no reports of bugs or issues here.
The game, which unfolds both in the skies and below the ground of the land of Hyrule, will be released in stores and online within the next 24 hours.
