Even in 2026, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom remains one of the most expansive adventures on the Switch. Its Hyrule is packed with caves, sky islands, and characters who need Link's help. Yet not every side quest feels like a heroic detour. Some are tedious, some are vague, and some hand out rewards that make players wonder why they bothered. Is it worth chasing every quest marker? For many, the answer is no — especially when these particular side quests turn a fun exploration game into a chore.
❄️ Cold-Endurance Contest!
There is nothing worse than a side quest whose main objective is doing nothing. That is how many fans feel after completing Cold-Endurance Contest! Players must climb to the top of Mount Granajh in the Gerudo Highlands and talk to Rahdo, who lives there in a tent. Rahdo challenges Link to survive the freezing weather without dying.
Players can easily bypass the danger by eating a meal or elixir with cold resistance. But even then, they still spend most of the night standing on a pillar. Who wants to sit through that? The quest is not difficult, just painfully dull, and it feels like a waste of time when Hyrule is full of more exciting mysteries.
🔥 Cash In on Ripened Flint
Throughout a playthrough, players smash countless mineral deposits and collect Flint. It can be fused to weapons or used to start fires, so it is genuinely useful. Then they meet Gomo near Bedrock Bistro, who offers 1,000 rupees in exchange for ripened Flint. Sounds generous, right?
The catch is that Gomo only accepts 20 or 50 pieces at a time, and players have no way of knowing whether a batch randomly contains ripened Flint. Some players save and reload before trading, but others find it a waste of perfectly good Flint. The randomness makes the quest feel like a gamble rather than a rewarding exchange.
📸 A Picture for the Closed Stable
This series of side quests begins at Gerudo Canyon Stable, where players encounter Piaffe after freeing him from a pile of boxes. He then asks Link to help the stable by taking pictures for the frames on the wall. Simple enough — until his requests become oddly specific.
Piaffe wants a photo of Spectacle Rock smiling and a photo of a giant sword. These vague clues confuse many players. After all that effort, the quest only rewards a few Pony Points and some meals. Is that really worth the confusion? For most, it is a pretty lousy prize.
🗳️ Mayoral Election
Once players arrive at Hateno Village, they discover that a mayoral election is the talk of the town. Fashion designer Cece is running against incumbent Reede, and both are keeping secrets from those closest to them. Link must uncover those secrets while also helping influence turnout.
Here is the frustrating part: nothing Link does actually changes the election result. Cece and Reede eventually decide to work together. Completing the entire Side Adventure rewards players with a Cece Hat, which is purely cosmetic. Unlocking Cece's clothes shop is a nice bonus, but it is a lot of busy work leading up to it. 
🐉 Monstrous Collection
This side adventure in the Akkala region can only be unlocked after completing previous side quests, such as Mattison's Independence and The Search for Koltin. Upon returning to Tarrey Town, Koltin asks players to take photos of various monsters so he can turn them into replicated statues for decoration.
Players do not need to defeat the monsters, only photograph them. That sounds easy, but some monsters are hard to capture clearly. Others are located only in The Depths, which makes for an exhausting hunt just for a picture. The rewards are semi-decent at best, and the whole process can feel like a monster-sized photo album chore.
📜 Ancient Era Tablet Hunt
This side quest initially seems vital to the main story. After discovering a stone tablet that has fallen in the center of Lookout Landing, players meet Wortsworth. He is studying ancient texts and asks Link to find more of them throughout the Sky Islands that recently appeared over Hyrule.
For some, it is a fun excuse to explore the skies and receive Wortsworth's decipherings in Kakariko Village. For others, the reward is meaningless: only 100 rupees for each text, plus a fabric for Link's paraglider. After all that hard work, a small pile of rupees and a cosmetic cloth can feel like a joke.
Why These Quests Miss the Mark
| Side Quest | Main Problem | Reward |
|---|---|---|
| Cold-Endurance Contest! | Long wait with little action | Bragging rights and little else |
| Cash In on Ripened Flint | Random batches and limited trades | 1,000 rupees, if lucky |
| A Picture for the Closed Stable | Vague photo clues | Pony Points and meals |
| Mayoral Election | Choices do not affect the outcome | Cece Hat and shop access |
| Monstrous Collection | Tedious photo hunt, some in The Depths | Statues and modest rewards |
| Ancient Era Tablet Hunt | Long sky exploration | 100 rupees per tablet and fabric |
Tears of the Kingdom is still a masterpiece in 2026, but not every quest respects the player's time. Completionists may push through them for the sake of a full map, while casual adventurers might skip them entirely. After all, why spend a night freezing on a pillar when there are dragons to ride, caves to explore, and real adventures waiting across Hyrule? The best side quests make players feel clever or heroic. These six mostly make them check the clock.
Insights are sourced from OpenCritic, and they help frame why side content in massive games like Tears of the Kingdom can feel uneven: when optional quests hinge on waiting, RNG, or vague objectives, they often land closer to “filler” than meaningful exploration, making players weigh completionism against pacing and payoff.
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