Why Tears of the Kingdom won’t be just Breath of the Wild DLC

With The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom release date close at hand, plenty of critiques are pouring in over what the experience might be. The most common worry is that the new game will just be a glorified DLC package for Breath of the Wild since it's a sequel to a game in the same area with the same characters. Now that there have been three trailers and a gameplay showcase, though, there's plenty out there to dispel that notion.

Why Tears of the Kingdom will be more than glorified DLC

Given the fact that gamers will be returning to the same that was in Breath of the Wild, it's natural for fans to wonder whether a second game was necessary. In order for Tears of the Kingdom to really stand out on its own, it would have to provide a full game's worth of new content.

The reason why I feel that this game won't be just a more expensive DLC package is that Nintendo has demonstrated that there certainly is a full game's worth of new content in Tears of the Kingdom. This is clear in terms of gameplay, exploration, and story.

Breath of the Wild was innovative in how it took the Zelda formula and added survival game elements into it instead. With the crafting in Tears of the Kingdom, it looks like that formula is going through a big change again.

Crafting will change how players go through the game at a core level. A big part of the experience of Breath of the Wild was getting access to powerful weapons that could be used against tough monsters. In this sequel, though, it will be more important to be able to craft the right weapons for the right job.

Related: Should you play Zelda Breath of the Wild before Zelda Tears of the Kingdom?

As for exploration, the Hyrule that has been shown in trailers looks very similar to the one in Breath of the Wild. There also looks to be plenty to explore in the sky, however. The sky islands cover every corner of Hyrule. It would be tough to call a title DLC when it has a Hyrule-sized addition of area to cover.

Finally, there is certainly going to be a larger emphasis on the story in Tears of the Kingdom. Of course, most of the story in Breath of the Wild was told through the memories that players could pick up at their own pace. This made sense for that game because most of the story occurred before Link went to sleep.

Based on the initial trailers, there is going to be way more to cover in Tears of the Kingdom. For instance, Ganondorf is making a comeback, the Zonai are getting fleshed out, and Zelda is falling off a cliff and then going through her own journey. The more plot points that this game tosses in, the less it can be compared to DLC.

While I think the sequel will be much more than DLC, it's understandable why gamers are worried about paying 70$ for a game that might be similar to Breath of the Wild. After all, many gamers are still playing Breath of the Wild and finding out new things to this day. I just think that come May 12th, we are getting $70 worth of gameplay.

Want more Zelda guides? Pro Game Guides has you covered with Is Zelda dead in Zelda Tears of the Kingdom?