This does not surprise me, and I’m not even very disappointed. TotK is essentially DLC, more of the same would have felt cheap. TotK gameplay has some new and interesting elements, but it still feels like BotW with extra stuff. And that’s fine, I loved BotW.

The heart of BotW was traversing Hyrule, the map was the central puzzle (sometimes even the enemy). Once Link powers up with stamina, abilities, gear, and teleport locations, the game starts feeling empty. Because at the same time as you’re powering up, you’re removing reasons to have to travel (by completing quests and such) over the map and removing the main challenge.

The first thing I noticed about TotK was how little I had to fight with the terrain. I was still interacting with the map in a fun way, particularly because of vehicles, but it was trivially easy to do. Aside from the depths being locked behind chasms, there isn’t anywhere you can’t go easily if you want to. I started travelling overland when I didn’t have to, but I didn’t have to.

If they re-tread this Hyrule again, I hope they do Zelda’s Time Sage story. Legend of Zelda without Link’s skillset would be a totally different way to interact with the map.

Anyhoo, I’m looking forward to the next version of Hyrule.