The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom release date, trailers, and news
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has now been fully revealed, with Nintendo having shown off an extended gameplay trailer to go alongside the handful of story teases released so far.
Releasing exclusively for Nintendo Switch, Tears of the Kingdom is the sequel to 2017’s Breath of the Wild, which is widely considered to be one of the best Switch games ever and was the console’s biggest launch title. In other words, Tears of the Kingdom has some big shoes to fill.
Nintendo recently lifted the lid, showing 10-minutes of Tears of the Kingdom gameplay. This gave us our first look at Link’s new abilities, which can be used to fuse objects found in the open world. Here’s what we know so far.
Tears of the Kingdom: cut to the chase
- What is it? The upcoming sequel to 2017’s Breath of the Wild
- When can I play it? May 12, 2023
- What can I play it on? Nintendo Switch
Tears of the Kingdom release date and platforms
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom launches on May 12, 2023. Unsurprisingly for a first-party Nintendo game, it’ll be exclusive to the Nintendo Switch console family.
Tears of the Kingdom was initially due to release in 2022 but, in March of that year, Nintendo pushed the date into 2023, with series producer, Eiji Aonuma, telling fans it was out of a desire to “extend out development time a bit”. You can pre-order The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom now.
Tears of the Kingdom trailers
Latest trailer
Our latest look at Tears of the Kingdom arrived during a gameplay demonstration by series producer, Mr. Aonuma. This is a 10-minute, extended look at gameplay. New abilities like Fuse were revealed, which allow you to stick objects together to create new ones. In the demonstration, sky islands were also shown off, which are floating areas that can be reached in a number of ways. Check it out below:
More trailers
We’ve included some key Tears of the Kingdom trailers throughout this article but you can find all of the Tears of the Kingdom trailers that have been released to date on Nintendo’s official YouTube channel.
Tears of the Kingdom story and setting
In terms of plot, we know very little about Tears of the Kingdom at present. It’s a direct sequel to Breath of the Wild, and Link and Zelda seem to be traveling together to investigate a mysterious blight.
Back in 2019, Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma revealed that the game is going to have a darker tone than Breath of the Wild, and will even be “a little bit darker” than Majora’s Mask (via IGN).
Trailers certainly support this, with what looks like Ganondorf’s corpse being resurrected by a disembodied hand, and seemingly imagery from 2006’s Twilight Princess, which saw Hyrule turned into a bleak shadow realm – largely in response to the far cheerier and cartoonish The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker. That said, it won’t be all doom and gloom – visually at least – as recent trailers have at least indicated that we’ll take to the skies and explore amongst the clouds.
Something that has been apparent since the very first trailer (which is embedded above this section) is that time will be a theme in Tears of the Kingdom. In the reveal trailer, the music appears to be playing backwards, as do some of the scenes shown. In recent trailers, this has been repeated, so it’s likely that Tears of the Kingdom’s story could revolve around time manipulation in some way.
Tears of the Kingdom gameplay
Thanks to a 10-minute gameplay demonstration that aired on March 28, 2023, we now know how Tears of the Kingdom will play. From what was shown, it seems as though the game will very much use Breath of the Wild’s systems as a jumping off point. There are several new abilities, however, which should make the sequel stand apart.
Fuse was shown off, which allows players to combine objects in the open world. A branch was fused to a boulder to create a hammer, and a monster eye fused to a regular arrow created homing variants. Then there’s an instance where a puffball mushroom is fused to a shield. When struck by an enemy, this produced a huge smoke cloud, which allowed Link to move in for a stealth kill.
Ultrahand was shown off too, which is another new ability that lets you glue objects together. In the demonstration, Link uses this to stick three large logs together to build a makeshift raft. A fan is then added, creating a full-on sailing ship. Objects in the wild can be glued together in this way to create new tools, like flying vehicles and even cars. It’s clear that the sky is the limit in terms of crafting in Tears of the Kingdom.
Speaking of the skies, there will be numerous sky islands to explore in Rears of the Kingdom. These are floating landmasses that house enemies and small puzzles. In the demonstration Link uses the Recall ability to reach a sky island. Recall reverses the movement of an object, in this case a falling rock. Link rides the rock as it falls in reverse, rising up before taking the glider down to the sky island.
Finally, there’s Ascend, an ability that we’ve seen before in the trailers. It can be used to move through a ceiling, to get to the upper platform of an area. Caves can be used to quickly scale mountains in this way. Ascend can be used on any ceiling that has a topside that’s exposed to the world. Once Link was done exploring a sky island, he jumped off, using the new skydiving mechanics to reach the ground. It seems like this will be a great way to scout new locations.
Tears of the Kingdom news
Tears of the Kingdom Nintendo Switch OLED revealed
A brand new Nintendo Switch OLED model will be available on April 28, 2023, based on Tears of the Kingdom. It’s a gold and green affair, matching the bright visuals of the game.
Tears of the Kingdom will be $70
Nintendo revealed the pre-order and pricing info for Tears of the Kingdom alongside a Nintendo Direct held on February 8, 2023. The biggest news was that Tears of the Kingdom will cost $70 at launch, an increase from the standard price of other Switch games.