Yes! Another Switch 2 upgrade version review, this time we dive deeper (ha) into Tears of the Kingdom, the sequel to Breath of the Wild – and it looks incredible. So, if Breath of the Wild was about rediscovering a broken world, Tears of the Kingdom is about rebuilding it. And now, with the full power of the Nintendo Switch 2 behind it, Link’s second act soars, literally and figuratively, to even greater heights. We already knew this was a masterwork on the original Switch. But on the new hardware? It becomes something closer to magic. You can read my original review right here, and I urge you to do so before jumping into this one.

The sky’s no limit

Tears of the Kingdom picks up after the events of Breath of the Wild, but this is no mere expansion. A strange corruption plagues the land. The sky has shattered, revealing ancient islands above and mysterious caverns below. Zelda has vanished (again), and Link’s arm, yes, his arm, is replaced by Zonai tech, granting him strange new powers. It’s darker, weirder, and more ambitious than its predecessor in every direction. But what makes it special is how it embraces chaos. You’re not just climbing anymore, you’re building. Flying machines, time-reversed boulders, moving puzzles, and bizarre contraptions of your invention. It’s creativity unleashed in Hyrule, and it never feels out of place – okay, maybe those monstrosities you see online are a bit out of place, but hey, Nintendo gave us free will to create whatever we want.

Next-level performance

Where the original Switch sometimes buckled under the game’s ambition, the Switch 2 doesn’t even flinch. The framerate is finally locked at 60fps, even in the busiest moments, whether you’re fusing items mid-battle or watching lightning arc across the clouds. The game now renders in native 4K when docked, and the HDR implementation makes the skies above and depths below burst with color. I couldn’t believe how much better this world feels to explore. Ultra-hand, Ascend, and Recall are now snappier than ever, thanks to both faster processing and tighter control inputs from the new Joy-Con 2. Whether I was diving off a sky island or launching a homemade aircraft, it all just felt… right. Combine this with loading times, our should I say, what loading times? Fast travel, shrine entry, and dungeon transitions are lightning quick. We’re talking less than 10 seconds in most cases, and that alone makes replaying this world a joy. I found myself experimenting more, failing more, and laughing more, because the game never punished my curiosity with long waits. Exploring the world (both above and below) felt easier and way less clunky, which resulted in a much smoother start to my new save file. I compared it on both the S1 and the S2 with both a new and an old save file, and I could make combos and jumps in both battle and exploration on the Nintendo Switch 2 version that I could not do on the Switch 1. I wouldn’t even be mad if they had pushed this to be a launch game for the Nintendo Switch 2, to be honest. But hey, let’s not look a gift horse in the mouth.

Zelda Notes: even smarter

Just like Breath of the Wild Switch 2, the Zelda Notes app returns and this time, it’s more tightly integrated than ever. Now, it doesn’t just track shrines and Korok seeds, but also blueprints you’ve discovered or built, caves explored, and enemy strongholds. Oh, and they let you share the blueprints of your creations with an easy QR code, so even crazier additions to your building shenanigans. And it enables you to pin sky islands or cave entrances for later visits. It’s bright, clean, and never intrusive – just up to you to use it, but I will be using it to achieve that 100% completion for sure.

Conclusion

Yes, it’s the same Hyrule. But with sky islands, deep underground labyrinths, and revamped surface areas, Tears of the Kingdom feels bigger in every way. And with the Switch 2’s horsepower, it’s finally free to express its full potential. I spent nearly 100 hours with the original version, and with this upgraded version, I still have more to do. The world reacts more richly, the physics engine is pushed even further, and the story, especially Zelda’s arc, lands harder than I expected (although I’m still setting my voice acting to Japanese, I just don’t like her English voice, sorry VA). So, to conclude! Tears of the Kingdom on Switch 2 isn’t just the best version of the game. It feels like the version the developers originally envisioned, finally unshackled (like Ganon, ha). The sharper visuals, faster loading, and enhanced control scheme elevate what was already a game of the year contender into something worthy of the brand ‘Zelda’. Oh, and if you thought you’d seen everything Hyrule had to offer, think again. The skies are waiting.

9.5/10

Tested on the Nintendo Switch 2.