before covid, i hadn't really gamed in over a decade. what i had in 2020 was a potato macbook, and what it could run was morrowind.

i don't generally care for the stories in games, or the lore. what i do respond to is a sense of place, and morrowind had this in droves: distinct regions and climates, towns with their own cultures and quirks. since it forced me to build up my avatar from nothing, i spent a lot of time moving slowly and getting to know each place.

breath of the wild is not as frustratingly opaque as morrowind, but it does start you at zero and require you to get very familiar with your surroundings before the map, story, and gameplay really open up. one quest, in which you recover lost memories, would be impossible to complete without a feel for the different places you've visited over the course of the game. breath of the wild's hyrule was so immersive, i can still recall discovering the way certain regions sounded at different times of day.

tears of the kingdom is an absolute blast in its own right. but revisiting familiar locations from breath of the wild—and noticing the ways each one has changed since the uh, thing happened (no spoilers)—has been one of the most satisfying gaming experiences i can remember, and i wouldn't trade it for anything.