Finally started the game. I went in with zero spoilers on the opening section.
The starting piece was incredible. Extremely atmospheric, felt like a horror game. Usually "follow the NPC" is bs but they did it well. Felt like one of those Sony games Ive heard about, unexpected for Nintendo.
Tutorial island is interesting, and shows one of the philosophical issues with the game.
They created a whole new area, which is great, so it doesnt feel like we're playing the same game again. But at the same time, I just waned to go down and see how my Hyrule has changed.
That is, had the game been an entire new map, we might have felt like it was BOTW again with a new skin. By using the same map, it almost feels like more of a sequel?
That being said, one thing I really disliked is how they re-used so many of the sound cues. I didnt like having the same (annoying) music theme for the cold area. I hate that the "give power to hand" music is the same as the Sheikah slate stuff. In BOTW, power was granted by the stuff dripping onto the slate. IE, a liquid. So the sound was water. In this game, it's not a drip animation, so why the water sound effect?
Anyway, back to tutorial island. Beautiful. Love the autumn aesthetic. Powers so far are cool.