Tears of the Kingdom Rank The Dungeons

[Tetra's Wink]

So this game has 7 dungeons IMO - The four elemental temples, plus Hyrule Caste (floating section only) as it has it's own map and a heart container, The Construct Factory (as it is structured like a dungeon and ends in a boss fight and heart container, albeit in an arena elsewhere), and the final descent to Ganondorf, whatever you want to call it - Gloom's Approach? Forgotten Foundation? Gloom's Origin? Central Hyrule Depths? (I will go with the latter as that covers all it's sections)

With that in mind, here's how I rank them:

7 - Construct Factory - The only dungeon I didn't really enjoy. The leadup to it was really cool, but I'm counting only the dungeons here. The dungeon had it's moments, but the technologically based stuff is less to my taste than other aspects of zelda dungeons. Still though, it was fun experimenting with Zonai devices. I'm sure I didn't do some of these solutions the intended way, and I definitely found it the most difficult dungeon too. Boss fight I didn't like. Just way too slow controlling that mech.

6 - Central Hyrule Depths - Not a traditional dungeon hence the low ranking, but I still think it deserves to be included as it is lengthy enough and culminates in the final boss fights. The environment was great, unsettling, atmospheric, and very eerie and threatening. As it should be. I think it did a good job for what it is. The bosses were epic. The army, the 2 forms of Ganondorf, and the Dragon fight. Very good sequence of bosses there.

5 - Water Temple - My least favourite of the standard 4 elemental temples. Still though, it was enjoyable enough. The place looks gorgeous, very pretty looking structure and magnificent aesthetics. Unfortunately though, it is pretty small. You only go 'inside' the temple for 1 room. Still though, I enjoyed it, but could have been bigger. Boss was silly, but in the good way, a cool twist. Though pretty annoying to fight.

4 - Fire Temple AKA Gorondia - Close with the Water Temple but I give this one the edge for being a better sized dungeon. The mine cart stuff and using Yunobo to blast through rocks was really fun. And it is a great looking dungeon also. Boss was pretty decent.

3 - Wind Temple AKA Stormwind Ark - A dungeon on a ship is always a good thing. It is no Sandship, but I still had an enjoyable time here. It was my first dungeon and I found myself thinking that dungeons are finally back. Great environment and great boss. A little on the small side though.

2 - Hyrule Castle - Just a great, intimidating place, and very good moments story-wise. And the fact that it is floating is a cool twist.

1 - Lightning Temple - A true desert temple which I loved. Gave me serious Indiana Jones vibes. And very decent size too. Felt the most like a traditional zelda dungeon for me. Boss really cool, though it gets a bit crazy in the later stages with so much going on.

Overall, a huge, huge improvement over BOTW's dungeons. The divine beasts didn't quite work for me as dungeons (though Hyrule Castle in that game was excellent).

I just wish we had a Forest Dungeon.... maybe dlc?

 

[Thrix]

If I were to follow your definitions of what the dungeons were then my ranking is the following:

Forgotten foundation: I personally wouldn't have counted this as a dungeon but I'll include it regardless. It's a neat gauntlet before the final encounter and does its job. The final moments of build up are exquisite. Not really a dungeon at all imo though.

Hyrule Castle: This is barely a dungeon. More like the Forsaken Fortress in TWW or Hyrule Castle in TP. The atmosphere was top notch though.

Water Temple: Extremely underwhelming to me. Music was great, I liked the boss too. Unfortunately it felt super small, super empty and too much like any sky island.

Wind Temple: Theming is top tier. Music and boss as well. That's about all it has going for it though. It feels very simple and, most of all, empty. It's meant as the starter dungeon so I tend to forgive it somewhat but a lot more could've been done with it.

Construct factory: I wish it was less segmented but it did a good job at building tricky puzzles around Ultrahand. I liked having to escort each piece back. Boss fight was pretty fun and charming, yet not really penultimate dungeon boss material imo.

Fire Temple: I liked this one a lot. Atmosphere and design was super cool. Boss fight was really fun too. I enjoy how it feels large and overwhelming before you start picking it apart. Too easy to cheese though, and not enough variation in its puzzles. Still has some strangely wasted space where it feels like another section of the dungeon but it's just a singular chest to be found.

Lightning Temple: Best one in the game, easily. This gets the closest to nailing the open air dungeon format. It's not a perfect realization of that format but it is still a ton of fun. Love the build up, love the atmosphere, love the puzzles, love the design, love the boss.

 

[Azure Sage]

I really loved all of the dungeons. It was difficult for me to pin down a set ranking, but I tried my best.

1. Construct Factory - This was easily my favorite dungeon and also one of my favorite parts of the game. I stumbled upon it by complete accident long before the story hinted me toward it which was funny. The puzzles to carry the Construct pieces back to the center were extremely well-done and some of them took me a while to figure out how to work it out. It was extremely satisfying. And of course we can't forget the amazing reward. Getting your own personal mech was super cool. I was gonna build myself one to save in Autobuild eventually, but Mineru is super useful and fun.

2. Wind Temple - The parkour through the air to reach it took me over an hour and it was incredibly atmospheric and fun. I think it has my favorite dungeon approach in the game. The dungeon itself was really cool. I loved trying to figure out how to crack it open. The multiple ways to get inside were neat, and of course the boss fight was a ton of fun and a real spectacle, even if it was easy. Colgera is probably my favorite boss just cuz he's so darn fun and the bgm was fantastic.

3. Water Temple - Like the Wind Temple, it has an incredibly fun approach. I absolutely love the low gravity areas. It's easily my favorite environmental gimmick. I wish we could get an ability to turn it on in a radius around ourselves whenever we want. The dungeon itself had its good moments, but what is otherwise just a standard fun dungeon was really elevated for me by the low gravity. That gimmick really made the place for me.

4. Fire Temple - I love this one a lot because I really, really love rails. I love being able to shield surf to grind on them like I'm goddamn Sonic the Hedgehog. It's so incredibly satisfying. The dungeon being full of rails was such a dream for me. It was also fun for feeling linear but also having potential to be sequence broken to hell and back. I enjoyed traversing it a lot. Also extra points because Yunobo is my boy. Love him. Favorite Sage next to Mineru.

5. Lightning Temple - This one just has really nice vibes. The approach was a nightmare because when I was trying to raise the mirror platforms, I actually was trying to turn the wheel the wrong way without realizing it and was really confused when nothing was happening. It was like three hours of wandering blindly in the sand shroud trying to figure out what I was missing and it turned out I was just spinning it the wrong way lmao. The dungeon itself was pretty fun. The first leg being a Raiders of the Lost Arc escort mission for Riju was neat. The mirror puzzles were interesting and got my brain thinking on how to set them up. The boss fight was cool, too.

6. Hyrule Castle - Narrative-wise, your visit is haunting and poignant. Functionally, though, it felt kinda lacking. I think it being airborne was cool, but it wasn't nearly as fun to explore as it was in BotW because it was essentially broken into two disconnected halves, which didn't leave enough space to stretch your legs. It still gets points for the story beats, though, cuz those were delivered extremely well.

I don't really count Gloom's Approach as a dungeon, but it's definitely the most haunting approach to anything in the game. The atmosphere and buildup were phenomenal. I got chills all the way down. Some top-notch stuff down there. Also, I kinda wanna shout out the Great Plateau because its core quest has the same format as a dungeon, just without a boss. If we're gonna count Gloom's Approach, might as well count that too. The quest was pretty fun, almost like its a warm-up for the Construct Factory, and has extremely fascinating lore implications.

 

[Thrix]

It's cool to see others who enjoyed these dungeons. I agree that they still have some ways to go before they've truly perfected the open air dungeon formula, but these are a lot better than many give them credit for.

 

[Mima_sama]

1. Lightning Temple- This felt the most like a traditional Zelda dungeon to me, and its gimmick was also the most fun (imo). Really loved the light puzzles and the overall atmosphere. It makes good use of Riju's ability, and it was fun beating Queen Gibdo's face in. She was a challenge, and I liked that.
2. Wind Temple- I absolutely love this temple, though I feel it's a bit small-- though the approach to the temple more than makes up for that. The music was phenomenal, especially in the boss fight against Colgera (I legit got a lump in my throat when Dragon Roost Island suddenly came in), which was a ton of fun (even if it was a bit easy).
3. Fire Temple- Fun with mine carts! I love any Zelda dungeon that has mine carts. I love the nods to the OG Fire Temple in the music (and the fact that the dungeon is basically in Death Mountain's Crater like it was in OoT), and it was nice to see a Gohma variant again.
4. Construct Factory/Spirit Temple- A bit disjointed, yes, but using the Zonai Devices was fun. And then you get your own mech! And you get to play Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots!
5. Water Temple- Not half-bad, and definitely had some fun mechanics, but the fact that I could see every room kind of killed the joy of exploration for me. Not enough to make this dungeon bad, though, and the puzzles were at least pretty creative and fun. Mucktorock is the funniest temple boss in the game. The way it runs around when not covered in muck reminds me of how the poes that make up Jalhalla from Wind Waker run around.
6. Hyrule Castle- A pretty good time, though it wasn't as good as it was in BotW due to being basically a gauntlet of enemies. It kind of barely even qualifies as a dungeon in this game. That boss fight was pretty cool though.
7. Gloom's Approach- See, the music and the fights against Ganondorf at the end are absolutely amazing, but... I don't really count this as a dungeon, so that's why it's the lowest on the list. It's just a straight shot to Ganondorf and there are hardly, if any, puzzles. Great atmosphere, but less of a dungeon than it is an interactive buildup to the final boss.

 

[BloodyKun]

I have yet to go through the last dungeon, but I’ve spoiled myself on it a bit. Not sure if I’ve seen the entirety of it considering what I’ve seen was from speedrunners, but if that’s it, well, a bit disappointing compared to BotW’s last. As for the others…

1.Fire Temple - very surprising for me, especially considering the whole of Death Mt was a huge slog for me in BotW and Yunobo was your typical weakling type I just don’t care for. Here it’s probably the most interesting bit of character development I find with him and the mask and all that and finding his own inner strength. That and the mountain itself being less restrictive to go through, saving the lava for caves, focusing more on minecarts (maybe a bit too much). I have a fear of the depths but the lava lit it up well enough. The he dungeon itself I found a sort of a neat twist on OoT’s sort of twin spire design. Unfortunately not much shortcuts back up if you fall down but otherwise very fun as an almost 3D Donkey Kong Country kind of thing. Ghoma is a bit simplistic but I enjoy that it’s still a new take on it and using Yunobo is just fun.

2.Lightning Temple - I was expecting this to be my favorite, and it came really close, but there are a few nitpicks I have with it. Riju is still one of my favorites and nice to see her grow, however I feel her arc is still pretty close to her previous one. The entirety of what happens to the desert is probably the most devastating and impressive, but I kind of cheated it having flown over most of it from the memory in the highlands lol. Disappointed there’s no female outfit, and the defense mission part was a bit annoying and not as dynamic as I’d have liked. The dungeon itself was very neat, lots of cool traps and building off the old light mirror mechanics. I just feel the interior designs in this format are still a bit too awkward. I liked the boss but its mechanics also get kind of messy.

3.Construct factory/Spirit Temple - Unfortunately I just really don’t care for Mineru. Don’t get me wrong, robot is a fun unique idea especially with how many dumb things you can fuse to it, but the character herself is just not compelling…same with Rauru for me for that matter, but that’s another discussion. Cool that they made Faron more important, but I’d made it to the sky islands prior and really don’t like how making things more visible is weirdly tied to such a linear part of the story compared to every other main quest. Now I’d said I don’t much like the depths, and this place is much more entrenched in it. I very much enjoyed having much more vehicle and building focus, something I think the others lacked a bit, but I just dread going through the dark and creepy stuff. Boss was fun but kinda on the gimmicky side.

4.Water Temple - I’m not sure I understand people’s problems with this one, I think it’s really neat that it’s an open concept design. Honestly it’s really not that different from any of the others being open ended, this one just has no pretense of closing off the other parts. I also really enjoyed Sidon’s development as a character. The boss I thought was fun, kinda reminded me of Mario Sunshine, Armoghoma, even some MM bosses for some reason. The most fun part is definitely the floatiness, of which I wish there was more of in the game overall. Only reason this is lower on the list is because I feel Sidon’s power kind of sucks and the dungeon IS a bit simplistic. That and cleaning sludge is a bit tedious.

5.Wind Temple - surprised it’s this low, I like the design and the spectacle of the boss is great, and the power you get here is super useful. A lot of it gives Okami vibes even. However, I just do not enjoy most child characters in games…I’d rather have had Teba tbh. If the story was a bit different and maybe if Tulin was a little older and had slightly different temperament, well, perhaps it could have pulled some from Prince Komali a bit. Unlike others, I found the entire trip up to the ship a bit boring and frustrating at points where parts of the platforms would unexpectedly crumble, etc. The dungeon itself, nice design but just far too simplistic sadly. I will say, this being the first region I went to, really set the bar for how dire things were for everyone, big step up from BotW, a good way to set up Ganon as a threat if they were still going to just have him do the same old sitting in his domain the entire game. I feel this rivaled MM at least.

6.Hyrule Castle - I really would have liked to have liked this more. Doesn’t really help I’d already explored a bit of it a few times, not knowing I’d have to come back later. I just don’t think following waypoints is where this game really shines. At least it’s nicer to be able to go around without Guardians. But really I wish there was some way we could have seen it and castle town back before they were destroyed, some time mechanic similar to SS. That all said, I find the boss really fun even if you can technically fight it on a smaller scale prior. I think it’s a neat take on Phantom Ganon without the typical tennis stuff.

Overall I like the new takes on dungeons in general. Maybe back in the original LoZ or ALttP you’d have a case for keys and mazes, even dead ends or trap rooms considering all the bombable walls or being able to buy keys and use them in other dungeons, but by the time of TP they only served to make dungeons extremely linear and boring. In MM at least you’d have more of a larger central puzzle to complete as you go through to at least give the illusion you’re fixing something instead of treading a single path. I feel if they’d go more towards that than simply activating 4-5 switches, it would go a long way to making the experience feel far more organic and less formulaic. Despite being half way down my list, I think the Spirit temple came closest to really shaking things up to a more significant degree.
EDIT: I forgot to mention…going back to 2D maps kind of baffles me. I found the 3D maps in BotW far more useful. My one major gripe with these.

 

[mαrkαsscoρ]

does the construct factory really count? it was dungeon like I guess but it didn't have a map like the others
being someone who hates dungeons, here's what I thought

5. wind temple - ugh, was just wandering around a lot and the cold weather made it extra annoying
4. fire temple - really didn't want to figure out the track routes and just climbed a lot
3. lightning temple - felt like I winged a lot of it and everything just kinda worked out
2. hyrule castle - as much as I hated looking for zelda, there isn't that much to it, spots are just a bit far apart
1. water temple - very easygoing, not much fuss which I like

 

[Thrix]

I need to make a slight alteration:
Construct Factory is actually ranked second, with Fire temple third. It was the first dungeon I did (by accident) and therefore it was a long time ago since I played it. Due to it being early game I also couldn't get the hang of the mech and found it frustrating. I looked back on it proper now and listened to its ost again. It's a lot better than I remembered, I sincerely think a lot of people sleep on it. Mineru's mech is a lot of fun too once you figure out how to utilize her properly. I still stand by my opinion that it has the weakest boss but that doesn't take away from it as a whole. Also it's not like the boss was bad by any means, it just had a lot of amazing competition.

 

[Tetra's Wink]

I'd definitely count the construct factory because it is essentially the dungeon in place of the Spirit Temple, which was just a boss arena. I do wish the Spirit Temple was a proper dungeon though...

I'd still count Gloom's Approach personally, I know it is not that dungeon-like, but I see it as the same thing as other final dungeons in the series, like Ganon's Castle in OOT and TWW, both strayed from the normal dungeon formula in that they were remixes of old dungeons, same with Sky Keep. I also count The Moon from MM tbh though that one is really different. So all final dungeons deviate in some way, therefore I see no reason not to include Gloom's Approach. The Great Plateau quest however I would not include, a bit too far IMO, but to each their own.

On reflection of the TOTK dungeons, I was excited at the time but now I believe that they are (overall) nowhere near as good as the dungeons in the traditional 3d zelda games. However, I still stand by my opinion that they are miles better than the divine beasts. Kind of a bridge between the two.... I really hope the next 3d zelda goes all out with dungeons and lots of them too, but I doubt it

 

[GZ Zelda]

I'll use your list of dungeons, though I would put Hyrule Castle and Gloom's Approach as part of the same dungeon personally. Spoilers, and some details, obviously.

1. Wind Temple -- Not as strong as the sandship, but a worthy successor. The atmosphere is great, I felt very smart on a couple of the puzzles, loved the design of the boss (and didn't mind the low difficulty, all the bosses were easy anyway), the approach is dramatic and incredible, the music, especially for the boss, is epic.

2. Lightning Temple -- Stronger than the Earth Temple in Wind Waker, the design felt much more linear than the other dungeons, like an ALttP dungeon almost. I can't really decouple it from the incredible buildup, but starting with a taste of the boss was unique and smart. The light mechanics aren't super interesting on their own, but the temple made the most of them. Great cohesion, also loved the music as it built towards the boss fight.

3. Fire Temple -- Incredible atmosphere, and good name, but the lore is not expanded on sufficiently and the mystery is glossed over. It felt a little disjointed, but each of the puzzles themselves were very strong. Over-reliance on minecarts which I didn't find that interesting, and hydrant puzzles are my least favorite in the game and there were a couple of them.

4. Water Temple -- If the others weren't so, like, barely dungeons, this would be last place. There is no atmosphere here, there's just floating sky islands. The Thunderhead Islands had more interesting puzzles, that floating ball above the Gerudo Highlands was more interesting than low gravity rocket-shielding my way to all the terminals. The best part of this dungeon was the part with the fire, and I LOVED the boss when I first saw it, but they could have made it about three times bigger and it would have actually had some menace. As is, the temple seems like it wants to be taken as a joke.

5. Gloom's Approach -- Loved this part of the game, the approach is kind of "same-y" as the rest of the depths, until you realize you're back where you started, my mind was blown. Great musical build-up, very tough enemies, confined spaces, a little bit of an over-reliance on Horriblins. But loved the area.

6. Hyrule Castle -- They didn't create a comparably-sized dungeon playspace as they had with Hyrule Castle in BotW, and the twist was so...obvious?...as to be genuinely underwhelming once I reached the boss. It felt more like a fetch quest than a dungeon. Battle Belt Galaxy vibes, without the launch stars.

7. Construct Factory + Spirit Temple -- I found this area very early cuz I did all the lightroots first once I realized they connected to the shrines. Then, in the process of completing all the shrines (which I did before any dungeons), I entered Thunderhead early, blindly manuevered until I found her headpiece, brought it to the depths and waited until I completed the rest of the dungeons, as I thought that her ability would be very powerful and I didn't want to beat the dungeons super easily. Upon returning to the dungeon, I realized that it wasn't a dungeon, it was the Great Plateau mission again, except with four disjointed and unexplained shrine puzzles, followed by a walk down a corridor, followed by a bad boss fight. Very underwhelming, made me sad especially because I think Mineru is a super interesting character, sucks that her dungeon has to be not-a-dungeon. Cohesive atmosphere is actually my number one most important thing when it comes to dungeons, and this dungeon didn't have it at all.

 

[MW7]

Overall I think the elemental dungeons were a big step up from the Divine Beasts, but I think they were kind of like Wind Waker level of quality in that they are solid but nothing exceptional like in Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Twilight Princess, or Skyward Sword dungeons. I think they need to put more effort into dungeons and have a lot more of them since that's what people commonly say is the best part of Zelda games.

1. Lightning Temple - This had a cool atmosphere, and I liked how there is a pretty lengthy lead up to the main room of the dungeon with the elevator. The light based puzzles were fun, and for me personally finding an enemy with a mirror shield is when I first realized you could put a mirror on a shield to make your own mirror shield. That felt like a neat Easter egg to have inside of a dungeon since that is a recurring dungeon item in older games. This also had my favorite pre-dungeon quest with the defense of Gerudo Town. I thought the boss was one of the weaker in the game though. Overall I think this was a good dungeon, and it felt similar to the Earth Temple from Wind Waker which I think is one of the best from that game.

2. Water Temple - I really enjoyed the puzzles in this dungeon, but it was pretty short. I especially had to think for a while to figure out the spinning column, and if anyone knows a solution other than bullet time, I'd love to know what that is. I tried a bunch of things unsuccessfully before using bullet time. There felt like a good variety of puzzles in this dungeon which I appreciated. Like the Lightning Temple, I enjoyed the pre-dungeon quest but thought the boss was one of the weaker ones.

3. Wind Temple - This dungeon seemed to have simpler puzzles than the two I ranked above it, but I still think it was enjoyable. The challenge in this dungeon felt more like finding your way around rather than solving puzzles. This also had a good pre-dungeon quest, but what really stood out was the boss. Colgera in my opinion is the best boss the series has had since Koloktos in Skyward Sword.

4. Fire Temple - This dungeon felt like the difficulty was entirely in navigating it. I honestly can't remember a single puzzle. I think the atmosphere was cool like all the other dungeons, but I think minecarts just aren't my thing. I did like the pre-dungeon quest the least of the four elemental dungeons, but I thought the boss was solid.

5. Construct Factory and Spirit Temple - This felt almost like a chore to me, but there were some good puzzles. I think my issue is that when working with Zonai device based puzzles, the solutions are sometimes too obvious so you are just spending time building a solution that you see at first glance. Some of the rooms you had to figure out were pretty interesting though. I liked the mystery surrounding finding the fifth sage in the lead up to this area, but I also have to say that the boss fight was far from my favorite.

6. Hyrule Castle - I liked the atmosphere, but I think the process of going from location to location fighting monsters was tedious. The ending was cool from a story perspective, and I was lucky to have never encountered Phantom Ganon before the boss fight so that was a neat reveal for me.

7. Central Hyrule Depths - This has a great atmosphere and music. The gameplay is not that interesting though for me as there's just a bunch of enemies that I've fought hundreds of times already and no puzzles. The final boss fights were cool, but I thought they were a little easy. The very final fight felt epic.

 

[Moblinking5000]

Construct>Lightning>Water>Fire>Wind>GA>HC

Construct Factory(or the Spirit Temple) is a top five series dungeon for me. Love how it really put your Ultrahand ability/creativity to the test with its puzzles, and the concept/theming is so ****ing dope; you get to build your own robot, pilot it around and whoop some ass with it(how quickly that Hinox died made feel badass) and then fight the boss in a ****ING BOXING MATCH! That's something I didn't know I needed in a Zelda game. Loved every second of this place. Excellent music, as well.

Lightning is a very close second; the atmosphere and booby traps made it feel like some Indiana Jones kind of ****, which is always appreciated. The puzzles are pretty cool, if not the most creative; we've seen these kind of light puzzles in OoT's Spirit Temple and TWW's Earth Temple. It's still a nice throwback to those dungeons, and might be my favourite of these kinds of dungeons yet(although OoT's ST might come out on top if I'm that hardpressed). Great labyrinthine design, and the boss is a cool throwback to Mothula(especially considering that in ALttP, Mothula was the boss of Skull Woods, which had alot of Gibdos).

Water was a really cool, unique take on water dungeons; it felt like a combination of the Swamp Palace, Water Temple(OoT), and City in the Sky. I liked the openness of it, and the puzzles(especially the multistep one where you had to complete the current) were clever. Can't go wrong with the low gravity jumps, either. The boss is meh, though; easily the worst dungeon boss in the game, IMO.

Fire had some decent navigational challenges, and I liked the mine carts. I do wish that some of the puzzles weren't so simple, though, and that parts of it didn't feel so empty. I liked the boss quite a bit, though.

Wind was too simple from a gameplay standpoint IMO, although it is the one you're supposed to start with, so I get it. Great boss and atmosphere, however.

GA is just another enemy gauntlet similar to HC, more or less. Good atmosphere, though, and all three phases of the Ganondorf fight(including the DD) make for quite possibly the best Ganon fight the series has ever seen.

HC was just a enemy rush followed by a boss; it served its purpose, but it doesn't compare to any of the five sage dungeons. Excellent boss, though.

 

[Alan85]

Hello, I'm new here.

Just wanted to say, I hate dungeons unless they're the sexy kind.

I literally spent my entire evening doing the first dungeon, Rito Temple, which I found more difficult than the final boss fight in the previous game. It was literally a whole evening of trying to figure out where to go.

No boss fight level in any video game should take an entire evening to complete, especially if you can't turn off the game and come back to the exact location where you left off!

Bring back the short divine beast dungeons! If people love dungeons then just make more of them instead of making them longer!

 

[Farore's Chosen]

That's a nice number of dungeons.