Tears of the Kingdom’s release is rapidly approaching, and it has already garnered a great deal of praise, in spite of being the latest Zelda game to be released on a console that is now more than 6 years old.
Some people have criticized TOTK’s outdated graphics, citing Twitter trends such as “20FPS,” and feel that the new game suffers as a result of lacking graphical conveniences like ray tracing, 4K resolution, and high frame rates.
The game’s visuals have been referred to as “bland” and some players have even gone so far as to modify modded PC versions of the game to include ray tracing.
All that being said, many others are not too bothered by the graphics and still love the game regardless.
This is because, at the end of the day, the game still has a lot of other things to offer.
First of all, players’ inventiveness, which has ranged from Tony-Hawk-style shield-surfing to the construction of full-fledged Gundam mechs and even a fully functional rocket ship are reason enough as to why the game still holds up.
Furthermore, whether it’s torturing Koroks or the silliest ways to die, we have also seen humor in a wide variety of forms.
Perhaps more so than with Minecraft, Tears of the Kingdom has given the community access to its creative side.
That’s not to say the importance of graphics isn’t important; it was a very valid reaction from gamers when it was revealed Redfall wouldn’t support 60FPS.
At the same time, those issues paled in comparison to the game’s long list of other issues that even prompted Xbox boss Phil Spencer to apologize for disappointing fans.
Although Tears of the Kingdom doesn’t have the most visually stunning graphics, it has a strong sense of personal style.
It makes excellent use of the clouds and even the lack of draw distance, which invites you to explore the murky unknown and teases you with what mysteries might be hidden there.
More importantly, they are aware of their limitations, and whether or not as a result of this, they have made good use of the resources at hand.
With that being said, it may be worth considering more often, whether we sometimes get a bit too caught up on the graphics and neglect the elements that can really make a game memorable.
