Hogwarts Legacy and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom are two very different games. One is a licensed multiplatform title, while the other is a Nintendo Switch exclusive. And this is only the first of many things that make these games so different from each other.
But there are some similarities between them too, the biggest of which is their success, Hogwarts Legacy sold close to 12 million copies within two weeks. On the other hand, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom sold over 10 million copies within three days of its launch.
Their popularity is pretty evident from these sales figures, but which one deserves to win the GOTY?
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Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom or Hogwarts Legacy—which one should be GOTY 2023?
Game of the Year is awarded to a title that is perfect in every way. It has unique aesthetics; its gameplay is groundbreaking; and it introduces something new to the industry. Games like Arkham Asylum, Arkham City, Spider-Man 2018, Skyrim, and Fallout 4 have won GOTY awards over the years.
And they were deserving of that name too; they introduced the gaming industry to something no one had seen before. Arkham Asylum gave us a superhero game like no other; Skyrim is basically Skyrim; Spider-Man gave us exactly what Arkham Asylum did but in Marvel’s universe; and Fallout 4 was Skyrim with guns.
Hogwarts Legacy
Hogwarts Legacy is a game that introduced the gaming crowd to something they had wanted for years. A game set in the Harry Potter Universe that gives them the freedom to be what they want. They wanted to explore Hogwarts, kill people using forbidden spells, and much more. This game gave them exactly that.
And that’s why it was such a success; it gave Harry Potter fans exactly what they wanted: freedom to do whatever they want.
On the other hand, Tears of the Kingdom came out as a sequel to a GOTY. Breath of the Wild was a game that set its players free. They can do what they want; they can do it just the way they want to do it too. Six years later, this sounds pretty trivial, but to this day, developers mention how that game inspired them to make their own games better.
Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
And that’s where Tears of the Kingdom stood before launch, in the shadow of a mammoth game in the shadow of a GOTY. Nintendo was under immense pressure to do something that exceeded everything that Breath of the Wild did.
And it did exactly that; it expanded upon the breath of the wild in every meaningful way possible. A better story, somewhat better visuals, a larger world, and much-improved gameplay mechanics. It gave players a solution to every problem they faced in its predecessor. And it also featured something that blew everyone away: an ability called Ultrahand.
Read More: From Hogwarts Legacy to Spider-Man 2: 2023 Is Becoming an Exquisite Year for the Gaming Industry
Imagine seeing just about anything in-game and deciding to attach it to the next thing you see, and imagine the surprise when you see that developers actually thought about this weird combination and it actually worked for you.
This game basically broke the bounds of what was possible in a game before. People create their own weapons, finding their own solutions to puzzles rather than having to figure them out.
Both of these games have something special to offer their players. It becomes increasingly hard to decide which one of them should win GOTY when both are keeping their players increasingly happy. It remains to be seen which one of them will win it, though.
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Possible new contenders
There are a couple of games incoming that might give these two titans tough competition in winning this prestigious title. One is Spider-Man 2, whose prequel won a GOTY and proved its worth years ago; no doubt this one would improve upon it in every way.
The second Starfield is the latest game from a developer that is known for churning out Game of the Year-worthy titles. This year is going to be a hard one for those in the business of predicting such things.
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The results, though, would only be clear at the end of 2023, when The Game Awards are broadcast.
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