“What do you mean? I’ve barely scratched the surface!”

It’s been one whole week since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom launched, and most of us have spent it in a glorious Zelda stupor, a little awestruck and baffled at its enormity and how — even hours into it and with a sound knowledge of Hyrule’s layout from Breath of the Wild — there still seems to be so much to see and do in this new game. Every night this week has gone like this for us: Okay, just another five min—ooh, a Korok! A cave! A Shrine!… *Jump cut to three hours later*.

Not only is the game great, but it’s refreshing to see such a huge release come out and not generate online beef or controversy through its launch state or some inclusion/exclusion. TOTK has been a rallying point for player positivity and creativity, and the perfect bookend (perhaps) for Switch’s remarkable software lineup.

We’ve had drops of #discourse and minor trolling popping up on socials, of course, which we’re not going to bother wading into. Yes, Nintendo’s art direction is top-notch. Yes, Kakariko is a bit frame-y. Yes, gameplay trumps graphiczzzzzzz….

However, the vast majority of players have simply been relishing the new Zelda and sharing their (mostly) wholesome love online. It’s nice, right!? More than once this week, this writer has taken both Joy-Con off the Switch and marvelled at how such a world can exist on this tiny, most modest of consoles.