New Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom gameplay revealed
Yesterday, Nintendo shadow dropped a 10-minute gameplay reveal where a lot of new details were revealed. Until this point, we've been limited to some limited story trailers where we saw slight glimpses of what gameplay changes the latest Zelda game has made from the 2017 original. With this deep dive, Eiii Aonuma showed off a whole host of new features that points to Tears of the Kingdom being one of the best games of the year. If you want to go into the game completely blind, though, you may want to give this trailer a miss.
The reveal started with a short introduction from Aonuma before diving headfirst into some gameplay. The first noticeable thing was how Link looked. There's been a lot of speculation about the hero's spectral arm, which isn't explained in the video, but it seems to tie in with some of the new powers that are touched on later. One of the first things we can see is how certain locations have changed since Breath of the Wild. The Dueling Peaks Stable has been expanded, with small stalls and additional characters making the area feel more populated than before. We can also see that the HUD elements remain mostly the same with the return of the temperature gauge also indicates the return of weather mechanics.
The next thing we see is a rock falling from the sky, which Link uses to shoot up to the so-called sky islands. He does this with the use of one of the new powers added to his arsenal. The 'rewind' power allows any object (and maybe enemies) to be rewound to an extent. By using this on the rock falling from the sky, you're able to stand on it and ride it up to where it began its descent.
This is apparently only one of the many ways you'll be able to access different locations in the sky. Next, it was confirmed that breakable weapons were returning with a short combat section introducing a new enemy- the Construct. Although this is contentious to a lot of fans, I'm of the opinion that the breakable weapon system fit in with Breath of the Wild's world quite well. On top of this, the introduction of a new enemy type is very welcome after the lacking enemy variety offered in the 2017 gam
After this section, we're treated to the second new power available to the player. This is known as Fuse' and allows the combination of weapons with different items and objects around the world. We see this in the reveal with the combination of a weak stick with a boulder to create a sturdier, harder-hitting hammer-like weapon. This also allows you to merge items with your shields and arrows to create some very inventive combinations.
These include a tracking arrow made from a monster's eye or a fungal shield that explodes upon impact, blinding enemies. Tears of the Kingdom is not only following on from but also significantly expanding the freedom offered to players in Breath of the Wild. Given how many different items there are in the game, the fuse power looks to be one of the most exciting new tools yet.
The next power shown works in a way similar to fuse and allows different aspects of the environment to be attached to each other. As teased in previous trailers, the new ‘Master Hand’ ability will unleash creativity in the Zelda community like never before. With it, you can create different contraptions and machinations that allow you to traverse the ground, skies, and mountains in whichever way you, please. All of these creations will be entirely made by you from scratch- meaning Tears of the Kingdom is tearing down even more limitations than its predecessor
The final new ability shown was 'ascend', which is sure to be a favorite for those who weren't too fond of Breath of the Wild's long climbing sessions up mountainsides. This power allows you to traverse through cliffs and roofs (quite literally) with the use of some classic space travel magic. You can use this in a small cave under a cliffside and pop up on top of that cliff- no climbing required. Since so many of Breath of the Wild's hard to get to areas were restricted by the need for a high stamina bar, these sections were walled off as late-game areas. This may not be the case with the ascend power, which looks to offer more freedom than ever
After that, the showcase ended off with a quick dive into a pool of water from 1000m above ground. Aonuma also confirmed that the game had gone gold- meaning development was complete. This means there are no more possibilities of delays past the May 12th release date- so this is a good time to pre-order (if that's what you're into). With just over 5 weeks until Tears of the Kingdom finally comes out, this is the perfect time to get hyped over what could be the best Zelda game yet.
