Games Inbox: Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom as the best video game ever

The Monday letters page discusses modern UFO related video games, as one reader advises against a Dark Souls anime.

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Tears of joy
I honestly have no idea how long I’ve been playing Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom for, but it must be at least 200 hours at this point and I still don’t think I’m any more than halfway. I’ve been purposefully avoiding a lot of the story missions, because I don’t want it to end but it seems like that wasn’t something I had to worry about.

I know they were helped by reusing the original map, but I’m still astonished by how big Tears Of The Kingdom is and yet how handcrafted every single element is… while also allowing for complete freedom. I’ve wandered around for seemingly days in the Depths, not really accomplishing much but just fascinated that Nintendo put a whole other world down there, which is literally pitch black unless you light it up. And when you do it’s all so weird and surreal, it’s fantastic.

And then today I was doing a mission where you have to walk a big metal ball back to Gerudo Town. Except it seemed too long so I just made a car out of spare parts that were laying about and drove instead. And then when I got there I picked up two new side quests before I even made it to the woman I was actually there to talk to.

The game is fantastic and I genuinely think it’s the best ever made, even though I once said that about its predecessor. Considering the unique way in which it was made I’m not sure we’ll ever see its like again.
Onibee

Same again
There’s quite a lot of people pointing towards spring 2024 as the release date for the Switch 2 now but I think that was always the most likely choice. The Switch came out in March and launched with a new Zelda. It’s been said before, but I think Nintendo will do their best to replicate this with roughly the same release date and some kind of Zelda director’s cut.

I don’t know what the main new game will be, maybe Metroid Prime or perhaps just something minor like a new ARMS or equivalent. I believe the main draw is going to be the console itself and backwards compatibility, that is able to give all existing games a boost.

It’d be the equivalent of Wii U ports for the current Switch and good publicity for people strapped for cash, and who can’t afford new games. Although I’m wary of how much Nintendo would try to charge for it.
Enguard

Diplomatic embarrassment
I wonder if all this UFO business at the moment is going to inspire a new wave of video games. It seems a shame XCOM 3 isn’t around to take advantage of it and with The X-Files long since gone it seems like popular culture isn’t really giving many outlets for UFO mania at the moment.

Of course, if the aliens are real then we might be in some trouble with them, but really I don’t think shooting extraterrestrials has been in common in games for quite a while now. There’s still plenty of sci-fi games around but they don’t tend to just be ‘shoot the aliens’ type affairs. Maybe that will let us off the hook when start asking about Space Invaders!
Orlet

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Remaster magic
Beginning of this year I had a Reader’s Feature with my PlayStation wishes for 2023. One of them was a remaster of Hogs Of War.

So you can imagine I was rather pleased with GC’s great article and interview last Friday! I had no idea this was in the works, so came as a great surprise. I would be happy if only a basic version is released with polished graphics. Anything on top of that would be a bonus for me. Only downside for me was I’m not too convinced that the original recording of Rik Mayall will be included.

I’ve still got my original PS1 game even though I haven’t got the console to play it on anymore. I had a clear out years ago, of my old PS1 games, but this is one of the few along with Speed Freaks that I couldn’t part with.

I wish the team good luck with the new game and hopefully get chance to play it soon.
Tony- -1975 (PSN ID)

Après-Souls
Unless it’s going to be an avant-garde surrealist horror, which I’m guessing it won’t be, I really don’t see the point of a Dark Souls anime. The minute you start explaining anything in detail it loses all its magic, and normal audience are going to want to know what’s going on.

The only possible hope for it being interesting is to show what happened before or after the trilogy but again that’s probably just going to end up in tons of exposition and knights fighting, which I don’t really feel is the point.
Jack the Lad

Retro stream
I’ve noticed the Antstream app is available in the Xbox store and it looks pretty amazing, with thousands of retro games from multiple older gaming systems. It seems good value for a huge retro collection, with the promise of even more games to come. I was wondering if the GC staff or any readers have used it, and if so what it’s like?

Reviews seem mostly positive, but some reviewers are complaining that the streaming quality is poor, while others can’t even stream at all. There’re also some niggles highlighted about a clunky menu, lack of display, and control scheme options, and not being able to sort games by system.

I’m sure these will be ironed out in time, and the thought of dipping into old favourites like Alien Breed, Speedball 2, and old shoot ‘em-ups like Armalyte on the C64 is appealing. Any feedback gratefully received,
MaJ0R RaNT (gamertag)
Currently playing: Aaero, Wolfenstein: The Old Blood, and Golf With Your Friends

GC: We’ve interviewed them here and here. Streaming is always highly dependent on your broadband connection, but you can just try it for free.

Dead right
RE: 84Colbat’s feature over the weekend where they state: ‘and the hordes were amazing, literally like nothing else before or since.’ I would like to point towards Dead Rising, which had up to 1,000 zombies on screen at once (plus one Frank) and this was back in the Xbox 360 days.

God, I love a bit Dead Rising. They got steadily worse, but 1 and 2… ooosh!
big boy bent

Who you gonna call?
2025 is about what I’d expect for Resident Evil 9, although I have really no idea what to expect from or it. I’m not even sure what I want from it, other than I’m glad they’re ditching first person. I can see the point of it in Resident Evil 7, when they were going for a soft reboot, but once things were back on track I feel it was unnecessary and I’m glad the Resident Evil Village DLC quickly rolled it back.

As for what the theme should be, I’m in too minds. On one hand I feel like I want Resident Evil to do supernatural horror for once, as I’d like to see how that would work out. Kind of like a more violent Ghostbusters, in terms of the tech they’d use. Maybe throw some vampires in there too, as that’s not something we’ve had yet.

The other option is more sci-fi, something more in the vein of The Fly or The Thing. That’s more the roots of Resident Evil, but they’ve been getting away from it more in recent sequels and I’m not sure why. There’s plenty they could do though and considering the franchise still only has one truly bad mainline entry (you all know which one) I’m pretty confident that Resident Evil 9 is going to be worth waiting for.
Taylor Moon

Inbox also-rans
I don’t know what’s funnier, that someone had to explain to Bandai Namco that CNT wasn’t a good name for their beta or that they listened to the explanation and just though, ‘Na, it’s fine.’
Torso

I haven no interest in Monster World so I hope Capcom announce the new one soon, so that we know whatever their next one is after that, it’ll be something worth waiting for!
Alberto

This week’s Hot Topic
The subject for this weekend’s Inbox was suggested by reader Gain2, who asks what is your favourite game that does not have a sequel?

Even if they’re not that that successful, most games get sequels at some point, but which is your favourite that never did? Why do you think it never got a follow-up and does it at least have a spiritual sequel or something similar?

Do you feel it’s too late for a sequel now and if not, how would you like it to look and play? If it’s a game with its first sequel coming up soon, how do you hope it will have evolved from the original?

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The small print
New Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content.

You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word Reader’s Feature at any time via email or our Submit Stuff page, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot.

You can also leave your comments below and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.

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