The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom direct has finally arrived, and with it a whopping ten minutes of gameplay for fans to scour for upcoming features. Series producer Eiji Aonuma, the man behind every Zelda title since Ocarina of Time, hosted the event on Nintendo’s official YouTube channel earlier today. If you are looking to gather some of the event’s highlights, read on below for a quick breakdown of what the presentation showcased.
Some information about the gameplay has been revealed in the past, like altering the in-game world while playing. However, much has been left to fans’ speculation or knowledge of the Tears of the Kingdom’s predecessor.
The first thing revealed in the direct is that development for Tears of the Kingdom is fully complete. The world itself has changed since Breath of the Wild, with Hyrule reaching far into the sky. Aonuma referred to these pieces of floating land as “sky islands.” He went on to show that they can be reached with a new ability. Link will be able to climb up rocks and use an ability called “recall” to make them fly back up to the sky islands where he can then paraglide onto the land.
Some sky islands are bigger than others, with man-made structures and special trees. These are not found on the surface below. The trees drop unique branches that you can pick up and use as weapons against brand new enemies known as “constructs.”
While the branch is not so durable itself, you can use another one of Link’s new abilities called “fuse” to stick objects together for a more powerful weapon. For instance, the fallen branch is shown combined with a rock to make a durable, stronger melee attack. Rather than fusing two items, players will also be able to fuse two different weapons. If Link is using a bow with arrows, arrows can also be fused with items to give shots special attacks.
Speaking more on bow usage, Aonuma showcases a new item known as a “Keese eyeball.” It can be used with arrows to make shots more precise. Flying beasts such as birds should be much easier to hunt down that way. Other items relevant to combat shown include the “puffshroom,” a mushroom that acts as an explosive shield.
Sky islands present other obstacles such as wide rivers that Link cannot swim across. To get past these bodies of water, players can actually fuse logs with other logs to create a boat. They can then detach such creations and change things around by using a new ability called “ultra hand.”
Wind propellors can be found around the sky islands in Tears of the Kingdom to help players reach high places. They can be combined with structures such as the boat to act as a motor for faster movement. When reaching higher places, Link can also use an ability called “ascend” to reach the floor above him as long as there is a ceiling to phase through.
Stamina was necessary for climbing mountains in Breath of the Wild, but not anymore. The new ability to ascend in Tears of the Kingdom means that Link can just fly up. He can phase through to the top as long as he is within a cave that has a ceiling.
Descending from the actual sky islands is much easier than paragliding from mountaintops normally as Link will be able to actually dive down and land in any body of water. Players can direct him toward the location they want to land in.
You can see this feature and more in the Tears of the Kingdom direct yourself below.
There is still a lot of gameplay that was not shown, but countless new features seem to have been added. Other, older abilities from Breath of the Wild have been improved upon.
If you liked the Tears of the Kingdom direct, you can grab a pre-order copy of the game for $69.99 directly from Nintendo’s store before its official release on May 12.
