Analyst predicts Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom could spend "years" in the bestseller lists

Zelda Tears of the Kingdom horses
(Image credit: Nintendo)

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is finally here, and yes, it's already the best-reviewed game of 2023, topping the charts on aggregate sites like OpenCritic and Metacritic, rated 97 and 96, respectively. 

Consequently, industry experts are already wondering how Tears of the Kingdom will impact the charts not just over the next few weeks… but even the next few years.

Quote-tweeting a message from OpenCritic, which said "The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is currently the #1 highest-rated game of all time on OpenCritic", industry analyst Mat Piscatella commented: "Sometimes I wonder if a game can last a few months on the top 20 best-seller charts. 

"In this case, I'm wondering how many years it'll be."

Even legendary producer, Naoki 'Yoshi-P' Yoshida - producer of Final Fantasy 14 (and the upcoming Final Fantasy 16) - can't get enough of it.

Yoshi-P leads regular live streams breaking down upcoming content for the beloved MMO, Final Fantasy 14, but during the intro for the most recent stream, which breaks down the content of Patch 6.4, he made an unusual entrance. 

Instead of sitting down as normal and providing his usual greetings to fans, he dropped in while playing Tears of the Kingdom on the new, special edition Zelda-themed Switch.

In our The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom review, we called the open-world opus "a rich, robust experience that builds on what came before" and awarded it 4.5 stars out of 5.

"You make the vehicles you want, fight with the weapons you choose, and explore whatever section of the world appeals to you," we wrote. "Sometimes your tinkering is a success, and sometimes you fail spectacularly, but it never stops being fun. 

"Tears of the Kingdom sets a standard for immersive gameplay that most major games don't even try to achieve, let alone match. So yes, though almost intimidatingly big at times, Tears of the Kingdom manages to keep focus and provide a rich, robust experience that builds on what came before. I've basically done nothing but play the game for two weeks, and even now I have no intention of stopping any time soon. What better recommendation could a person give?"

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Vikki Blake
Weekend Reporter, 12DOVE

Vikki Blake is 12DOVE's Weekend Reporter. Vikki works tirelessly to ensure that you have something to read on the days of the week beginning with 'S', and can also be found contributing to outlets including the BBC, Eurogamer, and GameIndustry.biz. Vikki also runs a weekly games column at NME, and can be frequently found talking about Destiny 2 and Silent Hill on Twitter.