Tears of the Kingdom is releasing very soon after years of delays and push backs! We have finally got an in depth look at the new gameplay mechanics and updated world of Hyrule, we've put together 5 reasons why you should pick up The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom on May 12th!
1. A New expanded world!
It was revealed early on in development that Tears of the Kingdom would use the same overworld as Breath of the Wild with its vast, detailed environments and citizens of Hyrule that go about their day to day lives. In recent gameplay footage we've seen that the world seems to be rebuilding itself with new towns as well as new towers that emerge from under Hyrule to unlock the map! A huge change to the map is the introduction of Sky Islands, allowing Link to take his exploring and adventures high above the lands we explored in Breath of the Wild! But beware, as these unfamiliar lands are home to new enemies and strange civilizations not seen before!
2. New enemies!
Part of the joy of Breath of the Wild was learning to conquer the many different types of monsters and enemies. From learning how to perfectly dodge a charging Lynel to successfully parrying your first Guardian laser beam, the game challenged the player to learn and implement so many different combat styles. Tears of the Kingdom is shaking things up with the introduction of new enemies that roam and fly around Hyrule! The Constructs were introduced to us as Sky Island inhabitants that descend to the surface and are made up of a green stone like material with ethereal energy holding them together! They can wield weapons found around it's environment and come in a variety of different shapes and sizes. Enemies that were seen in Breath of the Wild have also had a glow up as well as new, bigger variants that play and fight differently! We've also seen the introduction of new flying enemies and a quick glimpse of a larger, dragon like creature that sits atop the Bridge of Hylia!
3. New Story!
Even though very little has been revealed about Tears of the Kingdom's story, we can see that from trailers this new game will take Link and Zelda deep below Hyrule where they uncover the captive corpse of Ganon! After awakening the Demon King himself, our heroes are split up with Link acquiring the hand of the entity that was holding Ganon and his Malice at bay, searching to rid the land and skies of Hyrule from this returning evil!
4. A new console to play it on!
Playing the previous game on the original switch meant that players could battle and explore where ever they wanted! With the new OLED switch available for purchase at Total Cards, you can return to Hyrule on a vibrant 7 inch OLED screen!
5. New Abilities
The biggest appeal about Tears of the Kingdom is the new abilities that have been introduced in the latest gameplay trailer. Here's our breakdown of what they are and how they work:
- Ascend: Scaling entire mountains and running out of stamina has become a thing of the past! As long as any room or cave has a ceiling compatible with Ascend, Link will levitate through the structure and end up on the top of that mountain, cage or even building!
- Fuse: The durability of weapons in the first game was controversial as many fans thought that the durability of higher level sword and shields were lower than they should have been. Fuse allows players to take any object from the overworld and turn it into a brand new weapon! This means that if you do break your mighty sword then a creative solution is nearby! These apply to fusing elements to arrows to give them properties such as fire and ice, or even enemy homing functions!
- Ultrahand: Traversing Hyrule was a huge and enjoyable part of Breath of the Wild, but with Nintendo reusing the same map, fans may get bored quickly of exploring every nook and cranny again. So we are now able to create vehicles using the new Ultrahand ability! Taking materials and fallen engine parts from the Sky Islands, Link can now make cars, boats, rafts and even flying machines with the simple drag and drop! This leaves endless possibilities for players and hours of creative fun!
- Recall: Manipulating time has always been a staple of Zelda games and with the new Recall ability Link is able to reverse the momentum and trajectory of objects to his advantage! Reverse falling rocks from and hop aboard to reach the new Sky Islands or take out enemies with rolling boulders coming your way!
Hopefully you have a better understanding of why Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is going to be one of the biggest games of 2023! If you're interested in pre-ordering, be sure to click the button below or check out our related products! If not, be sure to check out our full offering in our Gaming section!
