Following the release of the first two parts of the Ask the Developer interview session with game developers for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, we now know that we will see a handful of changes in the Kingdom of Hyrule. Although they will mainly include newly added gameplay features and improvements to the game’s graphics and sound in the same world as breath of the wild.
In the Q&A, the team spoke at length about their intention to expand Hyrule Tears of the Kingdom. This was a conscious decision to breathe new life into the franchise with the launch of breath of the wild Consequence. In the new title we see newly introduced features such as vehicles and skydivingallowing Link to better observe the kingdom and dive straight from Sky Islands to the surface of the overworld.
Takuhiro Dohta, the technical director for Tears of the Kingdomwent into detail about the importance of implementing changes of this magnitude in a familiar environment.
If you were completely unfamiliar with a location, you’d probably hesitate to dive down from the sky, but since it’s a world you’ve already explored in the previous game, these methods of transportation make sense.
Takuhiro Dohta, Technical Director
In addition to crossing the kingdom with the help of vehicles and parachuting, we’ll experience a deeper immersion in the world of Hyrule through better graphics and sound. The development team acknowledged that this would be more difficult than creating a new world altogether, citing the musical direction as a particular challenge.
With that, we can expect to hear some tonal changes in the sound effects, but they’re still noticeable inside Legend of Zelda Franchise. In addition, ambient sounds will be given greater prominence throughout Hyrule as more realistic birdcalls and the like are added.
Longtime franchise fans have expressed approval of these improvements Reddit and other forums. Given that the franchise has achieved such success in the nearly 40 years since its debut, it’s refreshing to see changes like these being added with new installments. Stay up to date with the Ask the developer Interview sessions on the Nintendo website and check for updates in our The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom leads hub.
