The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom, is almost here and it’s been six years of fans begging for a sequel to 2017’s The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild, now we are less than a day away from that sequel’s release. While Breath of the Wild did many things right, some fans were also left wanting when it came to a few of the game’s mechanics.
Leading up to the release of the sequel, entitled The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom, there have been a number of new features showcased, however, there were also a few things that we spotted that weren’t explicitly mentioned. Here are five things we’re excited about in The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom!
Sky Islands
The most obvious change in The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom is the presence of mysterious islands in the sky. These Sky Islands float high above Hyrule and Link will not only start his journey here, but it seems he’ll be able to gain new abilities which will aid him when back on the ground.
Plus, it seems we’ll be free to return to these islands at any point once Link has made his descent. I’m also quite excited about how the islands have levels that float at different altitudes and aren’t necessarily connected.
Underground Locations
While we’ve visited some underground locations in other Zelda games, this is something that wasn’t present in Breath of the Wild. However, it seems that we may be visiting some locations under Hyrule during the adventure in The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom. In one of the trailers, we can see Link engaged in combat with a Stone Talus in an area littered with stalactites and some luminous stones in the background.
Another shot sees some Bokoblin and Lizalfos mining something in an area with large mushrooms, plus another trailer shows Link firing an arrow into a bioluminescent mushroom in order to light up a dark area. It’s going to be interesting to see just how large and possibly labyrinthian it might be, or if we’ll be able to visit it at any time or just during certain parts of the story. I’m banking on the former.
New Abilities
This is a big one and possibly one of the reasons I’m most excited about The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom. In the previous game, abilities played a big role when it came to traversal, solving puzzles and combat. It’s no different, but at the same time, it feels as if some of them are geared towards addressing some of the gripes players had with the first game. The first ability shown in the gameplay showcase with series producer, Eiji Aonuma, is Recall, followed by Fuse, Ultrahand and finally, Ascend.
Recall allows Link to reverse the movement of an item, which is helpful if a giant stone falls straight down from one of the Sky Islands. Fuse seems to be mostly combat-oriented, making it possible for Link to attach an item to a weapon to change the way it performs. We got a glimpse of how we’ll be able to create homing arrows or a club by fusing a tree branch and a rock, but I think this also addresses the weapon durability mechanic somewhat, which some players took issue with. Depending on the combination, it should yield some interesting stat changes.
Ultrahand allows Link to connect different items to create something completely new, like a raft or something as complex as a carriage or even a makeshift quadcopter. I feel like it could also have a combat application but I’m not sure what it could be just yet. I suppose raining arrows from the sky while riding a contraption could be one! Finally, we have Ascend, another exciting one which gives Link the ability to pass through solid objects above him.
This is a fun one for climbing tall structures if there’s some kind of cave or opening at the bottom. It’s mentioned that it may even be used to pass through certain enemies, which might hint at fairly large foes to conquer. It makes the traversal a little more fun and also won’t depend on having multiple stamina meters. Not to mention that the community is going to have a field day experimenting with new combinations to pull off some insane tricks.
New Enemy Types
Breath of the Wild had a decent range of enemy types, but we’re getting even more in The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom; some new, some returning. The various trailers have shown off some new flying enemies, which seem to have some kind of relationship with Bokoblins as we see one being carried by a bat-like dragon. There’s also a new large enemy that looks like some kind of Golem. It’s incredibly large and towers over Link but emits a green glow on some of its blocks. If anything, they won’t be a common foe but maybe a boss or miniboss, but it looks fantastic.
Some familiar series enemies also seem to be showing up in The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom, namely the ReDead and the Gleeok. ReDead were introduced in Ocarina of Time and emits a terrifying scream when they notice Link. When in range, they’ll paralyze you with their gaze and then slowly make their way over before launching an attack. The Gleeok was introduced in the very first Legend of Zelda and over the years has been depicted as a dragon with multiple heads.
Based on what we’ve seen thus far of The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom, there will be different elemental types such as Fire and Ice Gleeok which have three heads. There may be variants with two heads but that’s just speculation right now. There may be even more new and returning types but we’ll only be able to tell once the game is released. Hopefully, we’ll get something optional but challenging like the Lynels from Breath of the Wild.
Companions
Where Breath of the Wild had Link interacting with the fallen champions from the four different tribes, The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom seems to take that one step further by pairing you up with a member of that tribe, possibly a champion, to complete a quest. It’s unknown how long they may stick around since I’m speculating this based on a clip of Prince Sidon fighting alongside Link, but I’m looking forward to having a companion at my side, even if just for a little while.
There’s just under a week before The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom launches worldwide on the Nintendo Switch but it still seems too far. Needless to say, we’re incredibly excited to get our hands on the game!
The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom Trailer
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