BOTW. It is truly a masterpiece
TOTK has a lot of not-so-fun time consuming elements, worse combat and is overall more bland
Also TOTK is very, very, very gimmicky
this post was submitted on 01 Jul 2025
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TOTK has more creative combat, such as my kid fusing a bomb barrel to a shield, which blows up enemies when they attack. Other than that, the combat feels very similar to BOTW, and there's new enemy types (and I think more variety?).
It's certainly gimmicky, and I think the puzzles are easier, though neither has particularly great puzzles. I personally think TOTK is the better sandbox game, while BOTW is a little better Zelda game, but they're both kinda crappy Zelda games IMO.
Play BotW first. A few years down the line, if you ever want more and are able to make time for it, play TotK. One should not play them back to back anyway.
Agreed. I waited 2-3 years between them, and TOTK still feels a bit samey, but I do appreciate waiting because I've forgotten enough that there's still a sense of discovery.
Breath of the Wild blew me away emotionally. It felt like Zelda 1 made in modern times to me.
TotK was like a remix with more stuff to do, but I'd already played BotW so a samey sequel didn't impact me as powerfully. I still played the entire thing and loved it, this may sound more negative than it really is.
I think if I could only play one and hadn't played either before, I'd go TotK.
I'm not a fan of BOTW because it doesn't feel like a Zelda game, but a Zelda-themed open world adventure game. TOTK is a better sandbox game, and everything except the abilities and puzzles feel strictly better (though I've only done 15 or so), and the puzzles kinda sucked in BOTW anyway.
I don't recommend either to Zelda fans, but I would recommend TOTK over BOTW for someone considering getting one. If you'll eventually play both, play BOTW first.
It’s actually refreshing to see so many people supporting TotK—that’s not always the common opinion.
Honestly, both games have a lot to offer, and they're both spectacular in their own right. But given your concerns about time, I'd actually recommend BotW. Both games are designed in a way that lets you "play at your own pace" and then wrap up the main quest whenever you feel like it—or not.
But TotK takes that concept to another level. There’s so much more to explore, the mechanics offer an incredible variety of possibilities and skill expression, and if you’re planning to dive into a game for months, TotK is definitely the one to go for. The game constantly encourages you to think, "What if I tried it this way?" or "Would this crazy idea even work?" And you can easily lose yourself for hours trying out different things, which is a ton of fun!
That said, this also means TotK can feel more “padded,” which is saying something since BotW already had its fair share of "filler content". But frankly a lot of TotK's content is just there to give you more opportunities to play around with the sandboxy elements.
And while these new mechanics give you fresh ways to approach the game, their freedom also opens the game up to repetitive strategies and exploits that can become tempting to use just to “get through” a puzzle anytime you get stuck for longer than you find fun. Which can start to happen more and more the longer you play.
Frankly, TotK is the kind of game I wish I had when I was 12 on summer break. But as an adult with limited time, it just makes me wish I had more time, much more. It’s kind of like Minecraft in that way.
BotW has similar issues, but to a much lesser extent. It’s a more focused game with fewer opportunities to “cheese” puzzles, and it doesn’t have as much content purely designed for messing around with mechanics. Most of BotW is made up of puzzles, events, or dungeons that you can complete in one go, giving you a satisfying sense of progress in a shorter time.
I'm playing TOTK right now and while it's better than BOTW (which I enjoyed), I still much prefer other Zelda games. Skyward Sword is my favorite on Switch, followed by Link's Awakening and then Echoes of Wisdom. It's my first time playing those first two, and I absolutely loved them.
I'm a sucker for the classic Zelda formula: find dungeon, solve puzzles, get new ability, use ability to defeat dungeon, repeat.
BOTW and TOTK don't have that, the "dungeons" suck, the puzzles are even more gimmicky, and I absolutely hate crafting mechanics (cooking and elixers suck). But they're still fun, so I play them.
If you'll only play one, play TOTK. If you'll play both eventually, play BOTW. If you're looking for a classic Zelda experience, get something else.
TotK definitely improves upon everything in BotW, but that doesn't mean BotW isn't a masterpiece on it's own.
doomcanoe has explained it well, I think for you, BotW is the way to go.
Though, just to be clear, you can't go wrong with either option. It's like choosing between two of my favourite ice cream flavours and I can only have one. 😀
It would just feel wrong to play totk then botw
Get BotW if you haven’t played either, especially if you like less complexity. TotK adds more gameplay mechanics and areas (the sky and underground). BotW is a bit more straight forward. Plus you will appreciate TotK more after you play BotW.
TotK is better in every way but BotW is once in a lifetime experience due to how contemplative it can be. You’re not going to play both at the same time and they benefit from playing in order. If you’re low on cash buy some used copy of BotW off someone on Vinted* and sell on Vinted once done, then do TotK.
* or Craiglist or OLX or whatever is used locally where you live
It is the time that I can’t afford, not the cash. It is not about playing them at the same time, it is just that it takes me months to finish just a single long game, and there are too many long games I want to play before I die.
I still haven’t finished Skyrim which I started playing on PS3.
Apologies for my scatterbrain. In that case I’d go with BotW because it’s shorter/focused (others will say it’s too minimalist) and you’ll get to experience a modern Zelda game. Also, if you don’t own Switch 2 it runs good enough while TotK was just a bit too much for Switch 1.
Eh, TOTK runs fine on my Switch OLED, though it's less fun in handheld mode (I almost exclusively play on TV).
Shorter/focused sounds good. And yes I only have a Switch Lite and I am unlikely to get a Switch 2.
Thanks for your suggestions, very helpful.
Totk ran fine for me on the switch. I guess some parts had lag, but I can’t remember having any serious performance issues.
Everyone has different cutoffs for what performance is acceptable to them. I thought TOTK was fun but the low resolution and regular FPS dips made me realise I'd rather wait for the switch 2 to experience it properly.
They're both great. One is a sequel to the other. Get BotW.
I've tried botw 4 times now. It's the whole reason I bought a switch. It bores the living fuck out of me every time I play.
I know a lot of people love it, and you might too. But I've never been able to play more than 3-4 hours in without being bored off my ass and going to play something else instead.
TotK makes BotW obsolete
I loved BotW.
I wanted to love TotK. It brought some very welcome quality of life improvements, a darker side of Hyrule, new mechanics, and more spaces to explore. I appreciated all these things, and enjoyed it for a while, but ended up getting bored and wandering off.
Despite all that it brings to the table, TotK feels repetitive and uninspired to me. It didn't draw me in. It didn't make me care about anything. Every time I pick it up again, I get bored again, and leave. I usually end up starting another BotW play-through, and having fun all the way to the end. (Edit: The DLC's Trial of the Sword was a good challenge that I intend to repeat, too.)
I vote +1 for Breath of the Wild.
I finished BotW 100%, and am currently nearing 100% completion with TotK. Here's what I would do if I were you.
Get the BotW demo. It's free, and it contains the entire first portion of the game, the Great Plateau.
Play that, and when you're finished, read the story synopsis on Wikipedia or wherever. Then acquire and play through TotK.
The Great Plateau gives you about 80% or 90% of what's great about BotW in a tight, controlled package. If you've played Metal Gear Solid V, this is basically Ground Zeroes.
TotK is so amped up over BotW that there's no "tutorial inside area" that showcases the mechanics of the full game, it'd basically be a carbon copy of the entire thing.
In terms of gameplay, this should give you something pretty close to the full experience.
Edit time! Looks like the BotW store demo was not actually generally available, let alone "free". Since you're only hurting for time, not money, you could still get the cartridge version of BotW and sell it after completing the Great Plateau. The rest of my reply should still apply.
I'd say BotW has less complexity for sure. TotK adds in a fusion system to its core gameplay, not only for vehicles but for weapons and your shield.
I loved BotW's story, atmosphere, combat... It just had an unmatched sense of wonder. TotK is great but didn't recapture the magic to the same degree.
Breath is barely a Zelda game. It's fun, it's great, but the magic formula is missing.
Tears goes a long way towards fixing that, and is just a better game overall. But it is a very direct sequel to Breath, and I worry that it might not make as much sense plotwise as a standalone.
Neither make sense plot-wise. The opening to TOTK doesn't even follow BOTW's ending IMO. I haven't finished it, so I don't know if they tie things together later, but the reuse of the world doesn't feel plot-relevant at all.
Musings
It could make sense as a prequel though, but as a sequel, it feels like a stretch. We'll see how the game progresses.
I do recommend playing TOTK after BOTW, but not for plot, but because it's the same world and TOTK is simply more populated with things to do (more enemy types, more towns, etc). Both are fun games.
If you're looking for a Zelda game though, this just doesn't feel like one. Yeah, you play as Link and do Link things, but the classic formula (find dungeon, get new equipment, solve puzzles, beat boss, repeat) isn't there.
combat in totk seems easier and it's 2.25x the area to explore
I kinda like them both but totk seems like the best bang for the buck
If you want a fun game with great story telling, BOTW wins for me, unlocking all of the story required exploration and learning the map in a way that TOTK ignored.
If you want more robust fighting mechanics and a world that 2x bigger and a sandbox creative mode for the last 1/3 of the game, TOTK wins.
Thanks. Sounds like BotW is my type.
Botw seems to have more mods available if that might be a consideration
TOTK felt like an upgrade to BOTW to me as well, the sandbox is incredible, BOTW felt too static once I experienced TOTK
Related question: If someone wanted to see what all the hype behind the series is about, which game should they play first?
I typically like to start at the beginning, but the first Zelda game (I think for NES) couldn't hold my interest for 2 seconds or my attention for 2 minutes.
That's a good question, since it doesn't have a trivial answer. Zelda is basically three or four different types of games in a ~~trench coat~~ tunic.
There's the open world adventure that the original Zelda established, which is probably best represented by BotW.
There's the 2D tile-based action puzzler, the quintessential of which is probably LttP.
There's the 3D "interconnected small rooms", which got its start with OoT and was so successful that to this day players are arguing that the newest two games are not really Zelda even though they stick to the original concept much more closely.
Finally, there's Adventure of Link.
The way Nintendo's been behaving, I would ask you to buy neither for awhile longer. Continue to be patient.
Easier combat isn't either game I don't think; compared to Wii and earlier Zeldas the combat is faster and more involved, often involving split second timing and ability to read subtle cues about the enemies. It's not exactly Dark Souls, but even basic enemies have tactics.
Breath of the Wild has much tighter design, everything in the game serves everything else very well. Except rain. The story actually makes sense, it's thin on the ground...literally but it functions. There is an aspect to Breath of the Wild...Classic Zelda games often presented puzzles to the player and ask them to solve the puzzle. There is one and only one solution to the puzzle, and the game will block you from circumventing it. Not Breath of the Wild; it presents problems for you to overcome. A complicated maze? Climb the walls. Big spikey death ball rolling across the path? Put a block in front of it. Many problems have several potential solutions. You have a toolkit, and if you use those tools to reach the goal you are succeeding at the game. I played through Breath of the Wild several times, maybe someday I'll run through it again.
Tears of the Kingdom is bloated. The story doesn't make sense, a lot of the mechanics are in each other's way, it has what? four different crafting mechanics? Upgrading clothing, cooking food/elixirs, weapon crafting, vehicle crafting. The game has done so much trying to be everything to everyone that no single mechanic has room to actually shine. There is a greater variety of enemies, not many of the new ones are very fun to encounter. All of the new overworld bosses I had the exact same experience with: "What is that?" Get closer, before I could even process what I was looking at I was immediately killed. The actual dungeon bosses are visually spectacular but pose no challenge at all. It's also very hazy. The one thing I said over and over again during my one and only run of ToTK was "What am I looking at?" There's just this persistent thick fog throughout the whole thing, you can't see. Frankly, I don't think it's a very good game. It's a miraculous piece of software, all of the crafting systems interacting with the physics system, and it seems to function perfectly...I don't think it's very fun. I've played it through once, I'm never touching it again, I'm probably done with the Zelda franchise. Been a fan since 1991, I think this is where I get off.
Totk is the better game, but botw is amazing and I strongly recommend starting with it
TotK is more story focused. If that matters to you.
Play them in order, you get more story out of it that way. I promise it will be worth it! BoTW is a master piece, and somehow they topped it with ToTK
I can only play one.
Then I'd pick BotW.
Like another poster said, BotW is a once in a lifetime experience, and somehow strikes a kind of beautiful perfection even as, oddly, TotK is mechanically better in most respects.
BotW achieves something unique by dropping you in what's left of Hyrule a century after Hyrule was defeated. And it's a wilderness that could have been desolate, but it's not: it's beautiful. Things are growing back, despite everything. Wildlife, but settlements, also. It's all sparse, this renewal, and there's so much woe yet to fight. But it's there. And the mood is both mournful, and quietly hopeful in a way I find comforting and deeply healthy.
BotW is built around a core of emptiness, but that emptiness is not a void: there are countless secrets and little wonders to unearth everywhere, everywhere. Sometimes it's a treasure, or a trace from the past. Sometimes it's the shapes that rain drops draw on wet moss. There's wonder everywhere, just a wander away. BotK understands this, and elevates the wandering.
Where TotK is full of activities and minigames and quests everywhere, so you're never at a loss for what to do next, and it's by all measures a richer, bigger, fuller game. But it's also, squarely, a lesser experience.
Of the two I'd pick BotW in an eyeblink and it's not even close.
But that's my answer, not yours. Only you know what you're looking for in a video game.
It took me so many attempts to get into BotW. It’s so big and scattered and just never hooked me. When it finally did I was happy I had to play very purposely I had 5 goals and just beelined each one. Get the master sword, kill the 5 bosses. Done. I didn’t do any side quests and I’ve never gone back to it. I had 95 hours in TotK in like a month which is crazy for me. Game is amazing and I did a lot more in it. I think combat is about the same. I do think TotK may be more complicated but you can simply not engage with the features you don’t want to.
I will say though TotK hits better after BotW
I think both are kind of donkey shit, but TOTK is, clearly, better.
I haven't tried it myself. But, if time is your main constraint, and if a switch emulator has it, save states may be really helpful. Saving during the middle of a boss or puzzle can be a time saver. Restarting in the middle of a boss fight or puzzle so you don't have to return to the beginning each time you screw up.
You don’t need an emulator to suspend and resume a game. Just press the power button on the switch and you can get back to exactly where you were. That makes things easier but doesn’t magically give me more time to play.
I'm not talking about suspend resume.
I'm talking about saving in the middle of a boss fight, and reloading back to the middle of boss fight if you can't beat it.
Some people might say that's cheating. But if you are facing a tough game, and you have limited time, save states can be really helpful for feeling like you were able to overcome a challenge, but in a manageable timeframe.
Or, just being able to skip thru repeating dialogue or cutscenes.
Save states are the only way I was able to get thru harder older games like mega man
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