The Shrine of Light Sensor sound effect in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is making me lose my mind two beeps at a time. Not because it is unpleasant or incessant but rather because I so desperately want to hear it as I hunt for the last few Shrines in the game. But now, when I do hear it, the Shrine it is pointing to is so obscure that I spend hours trying to find the source of the noise.
I am far beyond the friendly sight of the bright green spiral reaching into the sky that I can see from miles away. I have found every one of those. Looking out into the distance, I see the occasional green door signaling a Shrine I have already discovered. Every single time, without fail, it makes me think I have finally found a new Shrine before coming to the same realization I have come to dozens of times before.
I have already been there.
At this point, I have resorted to using Hero’s Path Mode and the general layout of the Shrines I have already found to ballpark locations where a Shrine might be. If I haven’t walked through there yet and there are no Shrines in the immediate vicinity, I head in that direction and hope for the best. This has resulted in the discovery of a new Shrine 15% of the time.
On the occasions when I do hear that beautiful couplet beep alerting me a Shrine is nearby, my heart skips a beat and I alert everyone in my household to quiet down while I start the process of sniffing out an elusive shrine that can’t be seen from the surface. Last night, I circled the Veiled Falls of Zora’s domain for two hours as the beeping sound slowly bore its way into my skull. I found six cave entrances on the mountain east of Zora’s Domain. Each opening inspired certainty that I had finally found my Shrine, only to be rewarded with a Bubbul Gem, of which I no longer need as I have purchased all of Koltin’s goods. At this point, he wants all of them, and I don’t care enough to do him that favor. It was the sixth and final cave entrance that finally revealed the Shrine I was desperately trying to find.
It has gotten to a point now where walking through my neighborhood, the violent barks of the dogs who consider me to be encroaching on their territory sound like the Shrine beeps. Looking at this display of aquarium pieces at my local PetSmart, all I can see are possible Shrine locations and opportunities to use Ascend to get higher into the sky. Maybe there is a Shrine I missed that I can see from the top of that Nate & Jeremia™ Wood Tower.
Perhaps worst of all, my Ring security system, which sounds a gentle beep whenever a door opens in my home, uses a sound effect called “Navi” that sounds remarkably similar to the Shrine beep from Tears of the Kingdom. Every time I open the door to let the dog outside, or leave to go anywhere, I have to remind myself, there is no Shrine nearby. Your trip to Target to pick up sparkling water and butter will not result in a Shrine discovery. Calm down.
I have 35 hearts and full stamina in Tears of the Kingdom. I don’t know how many Shrines I have left, and I refuse to look up any hints of any kind. I only hope that, like in Breath of the Wild, the statues of Rauru and his wife, Queen Sonia, will let me know I have found them all and will similarly offer me a reward I will never use because I will be done playing at that point.
Maybe it’s time to look up a walkthrough. Or I can just keep talking to Patricia. Glory to Master Kohga.
