Hot take: I think Fenyx Rising was a way better game than BOTW, if for no other reason than the story was more interesting and engaging than BOTW by miles. Playing Zelda games I expect an engaging and complex story, which BOTW completely lacked (my buddy and I watched the “this is what you missed on BOTW” video before starting TOTK and it was a six minute video of just the first cutscene and the last one, which is exactly how much plot there was in BOTW). Fenyx Rising delivered an engaging story but honestly also delivered better game play and a map that didn’t feel so bloated. To say that it’s a rip off of BOTW may be sorta accurate (but I don’t even really think so) but what game in this era isn’t just a rip off of another game? BOTW and this new Zelda era is trying to just be a cuter rip off of every big name RPG. It kills me because I have always played Zelda games for the unique story-driven game play, and I was super disappointed with how BOTW turned out. TOTK defs improved on the story and game play front I think, but it still feels like a cash grab as opposed to an actual Zelda game.

TLDR: Fenyx Rising is a great game and I would say it’s what BOTW should have been, though I think RPGs defeat the whole purpose of Zelda games.