Let's be real: if you own a Nintendo Switch (or the shiny new Switch 2), these two are almost certainly on your list. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and its sequel Tears of the Kingdom are the games people point to when they want to explain why the Switch was special. Between them they've swept Game of the Year awards, sold tens of millions of copies, and quietly redefined what an open-world game is even supposed to feel like.
But they're both premium first-party titles, and buying both at once is a real spend. So the question every new Switch owner in India eventually types into Google is exactly the one you did: which one should I play first? Here's the short version, then the full breakdown.
⚡ The 10-Second Verdict
New to Zelda? Start with Breath of the Wild. It's the origin point, the tighter story, and the "wow, I can climb anything" magic hits hardest when it's fresh. Everything Tears of the Kingdom does assumes you already fell in love here.
Want the bigger, wilder, more creative one and don't mind minor spoilers? Tears of the Kingdom is the more ambitious game — sky islands, underground Depths, and building contraptions that shouldn't be legal. It's a sequel that respects your time but rewards imagination.
Honestly? Most players buy both eventually. The only real question is the order — and BOTW first is the classic, safest call.
The Two Contenders
Both are available at LevelUp Games — 100% genuine, factory-sealed, with a GST invoice and official Indian warranty. Live pricing pulls straight from each product page below.
Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Nintendo Switch · 2017 · The Original
- The perfect entry point into modern Zelda
- Tighter, more focused adventure (~50 hrs)
- Genuine · sealed · GST invoice · warranty
Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Nintendo Switch · 2023 · The Sequel
- Bigger, bolder — sky, surface & the Depths
- Build machines with Ultrahand & Fuse (~60+ hrs)
- Genuine · sealed · GST invoice · warranty
Round by Round
Five things people actually care about when deciding. No story spoilers — just how the two games feel to play.
World & Exploration
Breath of the Wild gave us that legendary "see a mountain, climb the mountain" freedom across a huge, quietly haunting Hyrule. Discovery is the whole point — you stumble into things and the game trusts you to figure them out.
Tears of the Kingdom takes that same map and stacks two brand-new layers on top and below it: floating sky islands and the pitch-black Depths. It's roughly the same footprint made three times as dense, and returning players get the eerie thrill of a familiar world gone strange.
Edge: Tears of the KingdomPowers & Creativity
BOTW keeps it elegant: bombs, magnesis, stasis, ice pillars. Clean tools, clever puzzles.
TOTK hands you Ultrahand and Fuse and basically says "go build a car, a bridge, a flying death-machine — whatever gets you across." It's a sandbox of engineering chaos, and no two players solve anything the same way. If you love systems and tinkering, this is the most creative Zelda ever made.
Edge: Tears of the KingdomStory & First Impressions
BOTW's melancholy, post-Calamity tone lands hardest when it's your very first taste of this Hyrule. Waking up on the Great Plateau with no memory is one of gaming's great openings.
TOTK has arguably the stronger, more cinematic main story — but it's built as a follow-up. Playing it first spoils some of BOTW's quieter emotional beats and skips the natural learning curve.
Edge: Breath of the Wild (as your first)Newcomer Friendliness
Both games drop you in and let you learn by doing, but BOTW eases you in more gently. TOTK assumes a baseline comfort with the movement, cooking and combat — its opening throws a lot more at you at once. For a first-ever open-world Zelda, BOTW is the softer landing.
Edge: Breath of the WildLength & Value
You're looking at roughly 50 hours to see the heart of BOTW and 60+ hours for TOTK, with both easily doubling that if you're a completionist. Rupee for rupee, both are among the best-value single-player games on the platform — you're paying once for a game you'll live inside for weeks.
Edge: Dead heat — both are enormousSpec Sheet
| Breath of the Wild | Tears of the Kingdom | |
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2017 | 2023 |
| Setting | Post-Calamity Hyrule, ground level | Same Hyrule + Sky Islands + The Depths |
| Core Hook | Discovery & survival | Creativity & building |
| Signature Powers | Runes (bombs, stasis, magnesis) | Ultrahand, Fuse, Ascend, Recall |
| Approx. Playtime | ~50 hrs main + extra | ~60+ hrs main + extra |
| Newcomer Friendly | ★★★★★ | ★★★★☆ |
| Plays On | Switch & Switch 2 | Switch & Switch 2 |
| Best For | First-timers & purists | Sequel players & tinkerers |
So… Which One?
Skip the overthinking. Find yourself below.
Buy BOTW First If…
- This is your first-ever open-world Zelda
- You care about experiencing the story in order
- You want the tighter, more focused adventure
- You prefer the gentlest on-ramp into the series
Buy TOTK First If…
- You've already played BOTW (or watched enough)
- You love building, physics and creative freedom
- You want the biggest, most ambitious package
- Minor spoilers don't bother you
Our take, if we're being honest with you: play Breath of the Wild first, then Tears of the Kingdom. That order gives you the cleanest emotional arc and makes TOTK's sequel-magic land the way it was designed to. But there's no wrong answer here — you're choosing between two masterpieces, and the "loser" of this comparison is still one of the best games on the console.