I have a confession to make: I never finished the last Legend of Zelda game, Breath of the Wild.

I loved playing it, and would tell anyone I met that it is one of the greatest games ever, but I guess I got sidetracked somehow. In my defense, Breath of the Wild (or BOTW as it’s most commonly referred to) was released when my second child was 8 months old, but never mind. A lot of time (and gaming) has past since. There really is no excuse. I’ve got to go back.

Now that the sequel Tears of the Kingdom (or just TOTK) is out, I feel like I need to finish what I started before I allow myself to get into the next game. My last save was almost 5 years ago to the date. 😳

The question now is do I start BOTW all over again or pick-up where I left off?  

I am probably 75% of the way through the (massive) game. I have all but one divine beast left (there are four of these main bosses in total) and I have a ton of weapons, armor, and items in my inventory.

I am so close.

And yet, I have completely forgotten what I’m doing. I don’t even remember the controls, not to mention how to use all my special abilities or which village or area I can get specific recipe ingredients from.

On one hand, I could load my previous save, wander around, explore things casually, slowly experimenting and re-learning what it is to play the game and then finish it off.

On the other hand, I don’t remember enough that re-playing the game again now would probably bring me the same sense of joy and amazement I had when I first played.

A tough choice but I win no matter what.

My year of reading might take a slight hit, but I’m going to do it. I’m replaying Breath of the Wild before Tears of the Kingdom. My summer will be spent in Hyrule!