Daily Debate: Did Tears of the Kingdom’s Sky Islands Soar to Your Expectations, or Did They Fall Flat?
Posted on December 10 2023 by Nick Miller
At the forefront of Tears of the Kingdom‘s marketing were Sky Islands. This concept has been visited in Zelda games like The Minish Cap and Skyward Sword, but Tears of the Kingdom promised to do deliver a more fleshed-out, fully explorable land above Hyrule. This allowed Tears of the Kingdom to expand the map in a meaningful way and provided a reasonable excuse to alter some aspects of the surface landscape that so many of us had become familiar with in Breath of the Wild. That being said, did the final product, however, deliver on those promises? Did the Sky Islands meet your expectations?
After the game’s introduction, Tears of the Kingdom drops players right onto the Great Sky Island, a ginormous land mass hovering just west of the Great Plateau. This is the quintessential Sky Island. It features varying climates, lakes, rivers, and some unique assets to test your new Ultrahand ability on. Traversal through the Great Sky Island is fairly linear but given that it is a tutorial area, it gets a pass. What the Great Sky Island did was set that bar for what the other Sky Islands had to offer. If this was only the first island you visited, and you’ve barely familiarized yourself with Link’s new abilities, what other surprises await us?
Well, it’s a mixed bag. Some standout areas have temples and boss fights. Others are wrapped in storm clouds, with high winds and lightning making traversal more difficult, or adding a new layer to puzzle solving. My favorite islands are long vertical channels that feature skydiving mini games. Weaving headfirst through floating debris at terminal velocity is exhilarating! Such areas, however, are the exception and not the rule. You will soon find that most of Tears of the Kingdom‘s Sky Islands are small, linear Shrine quests, or platforms with a single treasure. They all share common theming and begin to feel repetitive after a few visits. Much like the Depths, surprises in the Sky Islands are in short supply. This doesn’t mean they’re unsatisfying or poorly executed, just that none lived up to the bar that was set by the Great Sky Island, and their inclusion in the game was less significant than marketing let on. So, I wouldn’t say the Sky Islands fell short of my expectations, because the Great Sky Island delivered on all of them, but they didn’t deliver much outside of that.
So, tell us what you think. Did they Sky Islands meet your expectations? What do you think they did well? Are there any ways that the Sky Islands can be improved? Let us know in the comments.
Nick is a writer for Zelda Dungeon and a longtime fan of the Zelda franchise. In his free time, he enjoys fishing, archery, skateboarding, and some good ol’ fashioned family time. He’s an advocate for physical media and an avid video game collector. His favorite Zelda game is Ocarina of Time, though Breath of the Wild and the Link’s Awakening remake are close contenders. His other favorite video games series include Kingdom Hearts, Fallout, and Ratchet & Clank.
