{"id":133878,"date":"2023-05-22T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-05-22T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/#article-149826"},"modified":"2023-05-22T17:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-05-22T17:00:00","slug":"soapbox-zelda-totks-shrines-are-brilliant-at-making-an-idiot-feel-like-a-genius","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2023\/05\/22\/soapbox-zelda-totks-shrines-are-brilliant-at-making-an-idiot-feel-like-a-genius\/","title":{"rendered":"Soapbox: Zelda: TOTK’s Shrines Are Brilliant At Making An Idiot Feel Like A Genius"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"TotK<\/a>
Image: Nintendo Life<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they’ve been chewing over.<\/em> Today<\/em>, Ollie wants to share his love for Tears of the Kingdom’s shrines and the newfound freedom they afford players…<\/em><\/p>\n

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I’m really not a very clever man. Okay no, that’s not entirely<\/em> true; when it comes to useless information like who was the second Pharaoh of the First Dynasty of Egypt or what Queen Victoria liked to eat, then I’m surprisingly clued up. Throw a reasonably tricky video game puzzle at me, however, and there’s a good chance I might just wind up curled up in a corner, shaking back and forth.<\/p>\n

This isn’t to say I can’t do video game puzzles at all<\/em>, mind. I’ve gotten through Ocarina of Time<\/a>‘s Water Temple all on my own, and I would consider the Portal<\/a> games to be two of the best ever made (heck, just check out my review of the Switch collection<\/a> if you don’t believe me). But to say I thrive on solving puzzles would be a straight-up lie. I got through the Water Temple, sure, but not without a good deal of head scratching, muttered swear words, and the occasional thinly veiled threat to chuck my controller across the room.<\/p>\n

Breath of the Wild<\/a> was very much the same; at least in my own experience. The shrines were mercifully brief in comparison to earlier dungeons, but many of them required a good bit of brainpower to solve; brainpower that, in my case, had practically depleted thanks to an addiction to useless historical facts. I often wandered into a shrine, took a long hard look at the equipment and structures lying around, and promptly left, certain that I just wasn’t in the right frame of mind to tackle the puzzle at that moment in time. Hey, at least I unlocked a fast-travel point, right?<\/p>\n

\"BotW<\/a>
Nightmare fuel… \u2014 Image: Nintendo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When I entered the first few shrines in Tears of the Kingdom, I experienced a similar sense of dread, but it wasn’t long until I realised that these shrines were quite different. That dread quickly turned into excitement; I simply couldn’t wait to see what else Nintendo had up its sleeve. But why the switch?<\/p>\n

Well, it’s all to do with the new abilities; or perhaps most crucially, the Ultrahand ability. It’s no secret that Ultrahand \u2014 which, if you’re unfamiliar, basically lets you manipulate objects in the environment and stick them together \u2014 has taken the freedom that Breath of the Wild afforded players and cracked it wide<\/em> open, and nowhere is this more obvious than within the shrines themselves.<\/p>\n

While Nintendo may have crafted each and every shrine with one specific solution in mind, its implementation of the Ultrahand ability has basically made it so that you can complete most shrines in whatever way you see fit, just so long as the relevant equipment is available to you. Can’t reach a specific platform? No problem, just stick a couple of planks together and use it as a bridge. Still not working? Whack a couple of fans on to give it a bit of airtime. Still<\/em> not working? Well just wiggle everything about a bit until it does, just like this Twitter user:<\/p>\n