I think TotK improved on a lot of things of BotW. It was obvious BotW was kind of a “testing ground” for an open world Zelda. To me TotK is just BotW 2.0, there’s a lot to like, but because it’s so similar it carried over a lot of the downsides of BotW as well IMO.

It’s vastly improved, but I still think there’s a lot of room to improve even more. Here’s hoping we get a third game in the “series” and they can keep the momentum going

Some things I thought that improved:

1. The powers. I think the powers in TotK feel way mroe fun than the powers in BotW, and mix a lot better with puzzle solving.
2. The building. Adding a Garry’s Mod-esque building system is perfect for a “make your own fun/solutions” kind of game that an open world incentivizes
3. Temples. It’s nice to finally have temples. They could still use a bit of improvement as they’re rather straightforward and don’t require any crazy interesting puzzle solutions, but it’s better than nothing.
4. Shrines. The shrines in BotW were fun but I feel like the shrines in TotK had more thought put into creative puzzles and puzzle solutions since there was a lot more we could work with (powered flight, reversing time, being able to move through things. Manipulating items to fit into things. Fusing)
5. I think they did open world pretty decently, but overall I still think having a large open, but linear set of areas makes for a better paced game.

Some things I thought still needed improving:

1. I know this is a supier lukewarm take, but I still think these games would be vastly imrpvoed without a durability system
2. The story, while present, left a lot to be desired. I know they’re not ultimately the main draw of the game, but I still wish they put a bit more effort into it and didn’t have so much of it be so on the nose.
3. The depths. They’re a great addition and add to the minute to minute gameplay, but really it just kinda felt like a place to go just to farm specific materials or gather poe. I wish it had more a larger impact on the story or lore.

Some random things:

1. I LOVE the music
2. Playing this game on Yuzu at 60FPS and 1440p is very very nice.
3. There’s some clever puzzles and interesting things you can do to the point that I wish they included some kind of sandbox mode where you can just build and test machines to your hearts content