The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom releases to universal praise

The sequel to 2017’s Breath of the Wild (BOTW) has finally been released, with both critics and fans giving the game near-perfect scores overall, causing the game to become the highest-rated title of all time on OpenCritic.

The details:

• The long-awaited Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (TOTK) arrived on May 12, and it appears that Nintendo has delivered yet another smash hit. So far, most critics have given the game a perfect score, with those who haven't usually giving it no less than a 9 out of 10. Fan reaction has been similar, with many praising the game on social media and some claiming that it "blows BOTW out of the water,". We're bound to see this response echoed on Metacritic once user reviews become available.
• The game has now become the highest-rated game of all time on review aggregation site OpenCritic, with an average score of 97 from 63 critic reviews that all recommend the title. This is a slight improvement over its predecessor, BOTW, which received a combined score of 96 and currently sits in third place behind Mario Odyssey, though the score may even out as more reviews are published.
• The launch will likely be a big source of revenue for Nintendo, with the game’s price coming in at $70 instead of the standard $50 that the company has slowly been moving away from to be more in line with its rivals, Xbox and PlayStation. A limited edition OLED Switch was also released ahead of time, and overall Switch sales are expected to increase as Nintendo has reportedly increased unit production in anticipation. However, some argue that the increased Switch production was an odd decision by the Japanese gaming giant, given that BOTW being a launch title aided system sales significantly.

More Nintendo news:

• Nintendo has confirmed that it will be an exhibitor at Gamescom 2023. The event will be held between August 23 and 27 in Cologne, Germany, and it's unclear what to expect from the company, which previously stated that it didn't have enough major releases to justify attending the now-canceled E3.
• Mario series creator Shigeru Miyamoto has confirmed that Nintendo intends to release more films based on its IPs in the future, owing to the massive success of the Super Mario Bros. Movie. Many fans believe that Zelda's or Luigi's Mansion will be adapted for the big screen in the future.