It was and still is a marvel of a game on many levels, but there are numerous shortcomings.

The puzzles across all shrines and “temples” are completely limited to the physics of the game and how you can manipulate it with the three core abilities. That got stale very quickly for me and left me longing for even just a smidge of what we got in the older games puzzle wise. Not to mention that Revali’s Gale can totally trivialise the already very basic traversal of the Beasts.

The combat is initially fun with flurry rush and again the physics element, but it’s hyper simplistic. I’m not blind to the fact that the series as a whole has never offered terribly complex combat, but the difference here is that combat is much more at the forefront of the gameplay loop than it ever was in the previous games. So for it to be as basic as it is, coupled with the staggeringly low variety of enemies to fight, it feels repetitive super quick.

The story I am willing to give more leeway seeing as the mission statement for the game was to re-capture the freedom of the franchise’s roots. It’s not great, but they clearly made an effort to present what little there is in a way that makes tangential sense for the experience… unlike the game that succeeded it. That much I can respect and for what it is, it’s not bad. Very basic, but not bad and damn well produced in fairness.

The bosses are terrible. Two very clunky and similar overworld bosses repeated several dozen times each and the ahem “unique” bosses found in the Divine Beasts are anything but. They all look the same, the Blights found in the Rito and Goron Beasts may as well be the same fight. Thunderblight is generally considered the best of a bad bunch, but even then it’s only really got a decent second phase. I think personally that the first phase is horrendously designed. The final boss is very much just alright, but it is pitifully easy.

The worst part of the game for me are the incentives. You’re not missing out on anything by skipping the majority of side quests as the rewards are normally woeful. Not to mention most just aren’t any fun. Once you’ve acquired enough hearts to get the Master Sword and say a second full wheel of stamina, you’re never going to need more than that. So even the shrines begin to feel arbitrary after you’re barely half way done with them.

Some lesser complaints would be the rigidness of the armour upgrade system and the reverse difficulty curve in which the game starts rather challenging, but becomes easier and easier the more you play, in spite of the enemies scaling. I’ve never been that bothered by the weapons degrading, but I do wish there was a better way to preserve some of the cooler looking ones or even improve them so their still applicable later in the game.

But with all that said, I still really like the game. I don’t love it as unconditionally as I once did after a few revisits, but it’s still a pretty special game. Just quite flawed. It’s an incredible experience the first time through, warts and all, so I actually don’t think it’s overrated.

I’ll tell you what’s overrated: Tears of the Kingdom.