God of War Creator Calls Tears of the Kingdom “Ugly” For Its Visuals

David Jaffe, creator of the older God of War games stormed Twitter in a fit of rage claiming the graphical fidelity of the newest Zelda title, Tears of the Kingdom is extremely lackluster. He went on to show some of his own footage and claimed that players usually take the idea of graphics seriously, but here they seemed to have turned a blind eye. No doubt David likes the part of the game he has played, but for him, the graphics are its straining factor.

I don't give a **** about amazing production value+visuals. A great game is a great game. Just starting and so far, so good.

But given how much everyone goes ape **** over visuals, it's staggering how this game can look like this and not get at least a little dinged by reviews. pic.twitter.com/Fffb5grdI1

— David Jaffe (@davidscottjaffe) May 12, 2023

David goes on to say that reviews for the game do not focus on its graphical aspect, which could be why its reviews are so high. Since David comes from major titles like God of War, the graphical aspect is certainly important for someone like him, but his hate for the titles’ visual fidelity is very sided, the only reason reviews did not focus on the graphics was that every other aspect is so refined and perfected.

Although many can argue that David is in the right. Many reviewers change their expectations based on which console a certain game was released. If a Sony exclusive does not have graphics that rival reality, it is most likely going to receive some backlash, but if a game releases on a Switch, which many players are all acutely aware of its hardware restraints, will go easy on that game and blame the hardware, seems hardly fair now, doesn’t it?

David in a follow-up tweet quite clearly called the game “ugly” and said that it had bad controls. He also sarcastically adds that despite this the game also has a huge chance of being a front-runner for the game of the year, all while making a mockery of Nintendo fans. 

Can a video game have ugly visuals and bad controls and still be a front runner for GAME OF THE YEAR?

I say yes!

How about you?

Oh, but don't tell Nintendo fans about this video cause they are ******* out of their ******* brain panz.https://t.co/FYXnr1kfGR pic.twitter.com/zgpEgQJltl

— David Jaffe (@davidscottjaffe) May 16, 2023

The debate surrounding the importance of graphical fidelity in games changes with reference to consoles, biases, and previous iterations of the game. David Jaffe’s recent outburst on Twitter serves as a reminder that individuals can have distinct expectations and standards when it comes to graphics. Although this discussion is very open-ended, there does exist some rift between players on standpoints such as this.

David expressed his opinion on the newest Zelda game, and many players, myself included can agree with this statement to some extent. Although graphics will never be enough to support a game, it is an extremely important aspect of any game. But the fact that David seems to dislike the game in general, definitely shows some bias on his side, probably for disliking the Switch port restrictions.

"Decent Graphics" is a huge stretch lol. The game looks like a WII Launch title which was developed for the game cube. I don't doubt that the game is fun and the mechanics are great but it's a fact that looks like a ******* game cube game at best.

— Dave (@TheDovahBear) May 13, 2023

A lot of gamers share the same response on the Twitter thread, showing how players actually feel. But many are on the other end of the stick going against David wholeheartedly. Players have their own preferences, reviewers for Tears of the Kingdom don’t target reviews for a reason, and that’s because everything else is already in a fantastic state, the only problem is which player prefers what aspect over what aspect.