God of Warcreator David Jaffe has criticizedThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomby calling the game “bland” and “old looking.“David Jaffeis best known for his work on theTwisted MetalandGod of Warfranchises. He served as the game director of the originalGod of Wargame and was the creative director of the sequel.
Jaffe has been playingThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomrecently, and if the game’s early sales numbers are any indication, so have millions of others.The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomhas been a massive hit so far, smashing franchise sales records and earning widespread critical acclaim. In fact,The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomis now one of the highest-rated video games of all time.
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No game is without flaw, however, and Jaffe recently pointed out some of his gripes withZelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Jaffe first stressed that doesn’t care about “amazing production value+visuals,” but said it’s “staggering” howZelda: Tears of the Kingdomcan look the way it does and “not get at least a little dinged by reviews.” Jaffe followed up these initial comments by clarifying that doesn’t care about realism in video games and that he doesn’t think the game is bad. “But this game is pretty bland and old looking IMO and given how important visuals seem to be to others, it seemed worth discussing.”
Jaffe isn’t the only one who has criticizedZelda: Tears of the Kingdom’s graphics. Others online have also pointed out that the game’s graphics are lacking compared to modern blockbusters, whereas others still have pointed out howZelda: Tears of the Kingdomoccasionally struggles with frame rate. However, it seems that most critics weren’t bothered enough by these drawbacks to lower their scores for the game, feeling as though the rest of the game is so good that the pros simply outweigh the cons.
Others may have been more lenient when it comesZelda: Tears of the Kingdomthan games made for PS5 or Xbox Series X becauseZeldais running on outdated hardware. The Nintendo Switch is over six years old at this point, so many weren’t expectingTears of the Kingdomto be some kind of visual spectacle or technical masterpiece. It’s possible critics would have been more hard onTears of the Kingdom’s graphics and performancehad it released on the next Nintendo console, but we’ll never know for sure.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomis out now, exclusively for the Nintendo Switch.
