Game Review: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is a fantastic Nintendo Switch game, but still lacks accessibility
The Adventure Continues
Hello, dear readers! My name is Victor and I am a blind gaming, technology, and entertainment journalist. I am also an ambassador for universal design and an accessibility consultant. Last Friday, the nice people at Nintendo released The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom for the Nintendo Switch, and as this was one of the most anticipated games of 2023, it seemed like everyone was playing it and talking about it online. By Monday we already knew that the game is a huge success, becoming over the Weekend the bestselling title of the year in the UK and in other areas of the world.
We received a review code for it as well and as Alina absolutely loves The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, we redeemed it, freed up some space on the Switch and after the download, she started her new adventure in the sprawling kingdom of Hyrule.
Although I would have loved to be able to play this myself, sadly even in 2023 Nintendo continues to ignore blind gamers when it comes to accessibility in their games. I know that they pride themselves on universal design, but with all due respect, their notion of universal design is dated and flawed as it excludes hundreds of millions of potential players living with one or more disabilities or severe impairments. It’s 2023, PlayStation and Xbox both have accessible consoles, have released games that are more and more accessible, and have spoken openly about their commitment to making the world a better place for the blind and other impaired players.
Nintendo on the other side doesn’t even communicate on this subject and this most recent game from them is another clear sign that they lost touch with reality – that the future of the Gaming Industry needs to be as accessible as possible.
To quote the cool girl from Girlfriend Reviews, this is not a review of me playing The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, because I can’t do that as it is not accessible to me. These are some impressions and thoughts on The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom based on the experience my wife Alina had with the latest game from Nintendo and the sequel to one of the best Switch titles ever.
Let’s get this out of the way from the get-go, if you are not severely impaired, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is a masterpiece, a fantastic game that encompasses everything players loved in Breath of the Wild and builds, improves and expands on that with even more mechanics, abilities, a touching story, three huge areas to explore, enemies to defeat or outsmart, temples to visit, shrines to search for and mysteries to unravel.
The world is gorgeous, colorful, filled with life, settlements, challenges, and activities. The map is the same as in Breath of the Wild but offers some new areas to explore with the Sky Islands above Hyrule and especially in its dark underbelly. The musical score is heartbreakingly beautiful, joyful, dramatic, and exhilarating. From the very first notes, we are wrapped in a wonderful soundscape that is both epically mesmerizing and highly immersive.
The player will have to use one or more of Link’s powerful new abilities to make innovative weapons and craft creative ways to travel across the challenging and dangerous landscape.
Just like in Breath of the Wild before it, Tears of the Kingdom offers almost unlimited freedom and encourages the player to experiment with the tools they have at hand as they discover new destinations, dangers, sights, and puzzles that will require wits and resourcefulness to overcome and to fight back against the malevolent forces that threaten this magical kingdom. As I said above, the story is great, but for fear of spoiling anything for you, I’ll stop here and won’t talk about it.
It is extremely easy to get lost along the way in this unique adventure and even I have appreciated the epic music and the great sound design. Sadly, with no text-to-speech, menu narration, navigation assist, or many other much-needed accessibility features, I was excluded from taking part in the complete experience.
Alina will return again and again to Hyrule in order to continue her adventure and I will join her vicariously, quietly wishing that with the next generation of Nintendo consoles, which I understand are just around the corner, blind players will not be left in the dark once again.
In conclusion, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is the game everyone and their mother were waiting and hoping for.
It’s bigger, it’s better and it’s more Zelda, more Link, and more epic and unforgettable moments in Hyrule. If you loved Breath of the Wild, you’ll be blown away by how awesome The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is.
If you have a Nintendo Switch you must not miss Tears of the Kingdom and if you don’t own a Switch, you should consider getting one just for this series!
Review copy provided by Nintendo
Victor Dima
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