Definitely there on Other M too. The story is pretty mindless but the gameplay is pretty addicting and the FPS missile context switching is as fascinating and creative as it is awkward.
In general, I’m tired of seeing this trend of open world being just a superior format to linear gameplay. It feels like this encroaching new version of “3D is objectively better than 2D”, and watching Nintendo IPs fall into this trap one by one is kind of depressing. Open world is for players crafting their own story, and linear is more fitting if you want to tell a story. It’s certainly why the delivery of TOTK’s story is so repetitive, and how most open world games aren’t really open world because it just ends up on a linear track as soon as you reach an objective. Meanwhile, Metroid Dread the first go around honestly feels like an open world game despite being a total rollercoaster because the game design pushes the player’s intuitions so well, combining what the industry learned from games like Half Life, Mirror’s Edge, Uncharted, etc.
Honestly just in general BotW was so amazing when it came out because it really was this break in formulaic gameplay that was really needed, but as soon as you complete a casual campaign or two it wears thin as the flaws start setting in. Seeing TotK really focuses hard on those flaws while also spelling out a future of even more formulaic games than ever before. Considering that Eiji Aonuma hinted that TotK is the baseline for future Zelda games, it seems clear that they’re falling in the exact same trap as they did with OoT, the trap that he acknowledges in that same interview. It kind of feels dooming for the future of the mainline Zelda, since we already see the flaws of this style very early on.
Super hyped for Echoes of Wisdom though. That one looks like it could be fun if executed well.