Do Dungeons Deliver in Tears of The Kingdom? 

I understand why some aren't fully won over, but the Wind Temple (only one I've completed so far) satisfied my requirements for being more or less "traditional," or at least scratched by dungeon "itch." For me it having a more unique theme, aesthetic, being longer than the DBs, and having a unique boss were the key things. I also liked how it had multiple floors and rooms, and even if there were no keys, there were gates that required puzzles to open them. Music was also a huge plus. I also appreciated that they did something to (kind of?) try to approximate a "dungeon item" by having the Champion ability that is used in some puzzles (or at least I used it in a few). Another thing it did that a lot of more classic dungeons had is having a sort of "gimmick" - in this case the "trampoline" ships in the leadup to the dungeon and also that are occasionally used while in the main dungeon. I also liked how the terminals this time around were actual locks for the boss door, felt more organic.

There’s 2 dungeons that come fairly close to scratching that traditional itch. But I think 2 aspects of traditional dungeons that are missing are the idea of a mini-bosses acting as a halfway point and rewarding an item that allows further progression within that dungeon. Imagine if instead we got the partner abilities after defeating a dungeon’s mini-boss, enabling further progression into new areas of the dungeon.

Wait you were meant to crash through colgera's rings? I flow close enough to spam it with arrows, didn't even imagine you could just kamikaze through!

To me this one certainly felt the most divine-beast-like and one other similarly dive-beasty while the two remaining felt closer to the traditional dungeons with one of them standing out above the rest. I appreciate that this one in particular had this amazing build-up (the climb with the ships) that almost felt like part of the dungeon or the first half of it. All of the dungeons in the game had some sort of build up but I enjoyed this one the most as it felt epic in a way.

I really liked the Rito dungeon, especially diving through the boss.

I’m also surprised you went towards the dive into Colgera tactic. Honestly I flurry rush arrived him like Corrupted Naydra in BOTW. Didn’t even think about diving through the hit points!

It was unclear to me where Tulin would reappear after teleporting midway from reaching the stormwind arc aka wind temple. I did this part at least tree times but it was still fun.

Just out of curiousity, what was the second dungeon that you completed (you can just say what region it was in if you don't want to say the name for other people's sake), and which did you like better between that one and the Wind Temple? And then which boss?

I actually think the Divine Beasts were really interesting.

This boss was easily the easiest I've fought so far. The other ones aren't too bad (other than the Gerudo boss), but I don't think this one ever even hit me. If you just hit him with a fire arrow when he flies up at you, you can destroy him insanely quickly.

I did the same thing with this as my first dungeon, explored for ages without Tulin 🫠

I don’t think classic dungeons would work for this game's mechanics anyway. Dungeon item and all. And to be honest, I think the companions kinda fill that role anyway. I think this hybrid approach was the best system for this game. Best aspects of divine beasts, combined with the look, feel and unique qualities of traditional dungeons. You don’t really need key hunting when a lot of the terminals were locked behind several rooms comprised of puzzles. The key was more so discovering how to get into those rooms. It’s the epitome of puzzle box design. I think most people fail to see is that it doesn’t need to be a classic dungeon in order to be good. Most people had problems with divine beasts due to their samey appearance and themes, lack of unique puzzles, layouts and gimmicks, and the blight bosses. These dungeons solve all that while still retaining the free form progression of divine beasts, and the sandbox puzzle solving of shrines. Frankly I think it turned out for the best.

I 100% agree with you. I've played through all the dungeons so far, and the only one that really felt traditional to me was the gerudo. I am much happier with these temples over the divine beasts, as they feel more traditional, but not quite there.

I like these mini story arc reviews. Would love to see for all of them ratcheting than a large story review in itself.

This is the only story bit I've done so far (im omw to the Gerudo area now) and I think with the possible exception of using keys, this is as close to a traditional dungeon as you can/are gonna get with the new style. Dungeon items are too limiting (and if the other new champions work like Tulin, THEY'RE essentially the dungeon items anyway) and mini bosses would prob throw off the pacing. This new dungeon addresses the biggest issue most people had with the Divine Beasts: a lack of unique aesthetics and unique bosses. If the dungeons continue this path im pleased with them.

I honestly just wonder why they had each dungeon have the same "collect x amount of things" as their goal and showed you where to do and how to do them. It felt like skyward sword when there was an interesting puzzle, and then fi just tells you how to do it. I think the dungeons really don't need a lot of tweaking to be really good, and it's a shame because I have to ask myself... why did they do this? It's hard because I do actually like them this time around, but yeah, I'm very curious why they just did... this again, despite the feedback given. Did every dungeon really need to follow the same objective of "find the 5 terminals?" Are they worried we'd be too lost?

(SPOILER WARNING FOR ALL THE TEMPLES, BOSSES AND FINAL BOSS) in order i did wind temple, fire temple, water temple, lightning temple and spirit temple. the combination of music and gameplay when i jumped on the top of those ships around the blizzard and finally diving inside the storm with the big white text displaying wind temple and the music to go along with it. i was so excited. the puzzles werent as good. while it did make you explore the dungeon and look for work arounds. i do think the puzzles could have been better. they mainly relied on tulins ability and nothing else. the game was just pushing the fact that you have a companion and will have a companion with these abelites after this dungeon. the boss was really cool i liked colgera alot. that fight, gliding and diving around was really fun and while it wasnt a difficult boss it was a cool one. the fire temple was meh. yunubo just dosnt shut the fuck up. but diving into death mountai, and walking upon the fire temple was pretty damn cool. the design looked sick. the padlocks on the gate inside the temple locked like something from a past zelda game i cant quite place it. while the temple in design was really cool. there was too much going on and it all looked the same so i got lost really easy. the puzzles were just annoying to be honest. the boss fight was fairly difficult when i did it. it was a really cool looking boss but at that stage i didnt have the best gear so it was a medium difficult fight for me. after this i did the water temple and i dont even really want to talk about it. the puzzles were just shit, the design was shit. the boss fight was pathetic. the music was pre cool. the lightning temple good lord. seeing it rise out of the sand, going inside it and having to go under it and then pop out in the middle of the temple felt like some indiana jones shit. it was so cool. the puzzles i really liked it reminded me of some ocarina of time puzzles. queen gibdo was a hard boss. i really liked queen gibdo because it was difficult and took me 3 tries. spirit temple is barely even a temple. the puzzles you do, you dont even do inside the temple. you just get to the temple and a boss appears. for me this boss was a dog wash because i had attached a frost emitter to mineru so i just had to freeze him and wack him into the wall. for what this game lacks, it makes up for everything it does really well. for the bosses and dungeons, all though you may find they sucked. the final sequences and boss were so fucking cool. diving under hyrule castle and defeating these bosses were semi difficult. but the music and atmosphere created such a deep tension. going through those cave systems with that music. the music was so perfect. finally walking into that room where all the army forces spawn and it looks like link has to fight them by himself was nuts. but then the sages rock up and back you up. ganondorf was a really good fight. he was much ahrder than gloom hands and phantom ganon. i havnt beaten him fully yet because i was greatly under prepared when i fought him but the fight so far is reeally good. its difficult. overall this game and its dungeons and bosses are way way way better then breath of the wilds. everything that made breath of the wild good, this game did better. everything that made breath of the wild bad, this game improved on and thats all i couldve asked in this sequel. overall, really really good game

the lead-up action is cool, the aesthetics are cool(er), and the scale and length of the Temples are a big improvement over the Divine Beasts… but I think I preferred the puzzling of the Divine Beasts. moving the whole structure around was really neat, but it was just disappointing that you could complete the dungeon in maybe ten minutes.

I did the same exact thing, I didn't hit the green thing and nothing happened. I couldn't figure it out, and also I was like, why is it completely silent, there's no music, that's kind of boring. 😂

The thing that got my attention the most was the hype between “traditional dungeons” are back. Now I realised that the only thing back is aesthetics, which I guess is better than nothing. But damn, I missed the feeling of getting lost in a labyrinth and slowly making my way through the dungeon to the boss (which I have to admit, the boss was pretty cool). Now I can’t get lost, because how are you supposed to get lost in a maze when you’re given a map right at the start? I know this game wants to be open and non restricting, but I think that moments of being restrictive help bring out the fun of Zelda games. Like, I think it needed those restrictive moments to balance out the open world because it would bring a sense of momentum. Have fun wandering around outside, but then in the dungeons have it so that it makes you focus on one goal and you feel propelled forward. So far, only played the Hebra one, but if all of them are like this then I’ll be disappointed

I think the dungeons were a step up but definitely nowhere close to traditional dungeons. I think the open/do it in any order gameplay that they took from the world and applied to the dungeons really hurt them. I wish they played more like really long dungeons that are linear puzzles that had a mid boss and main boss.

Personally TOTKs dungeons were missing two things a mini boss and a more linear structure

The dungeons are between alright and good for me, but the rest of the game more than makes up for it.