After years of silence when it came to information regarding The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the KingdomNintendo has released a 10 minute gameplay overview trailer showing some of the additions and improvements coming to this highly anticipated sequel. Those hoping for a big mix-up breath of the wild won’t find this here, but fans of zelda Open-world angle should be happy about the offer.
Right off the bat, we’re shown one of the ways you can access the parts of the sky Tears of the Kingdom. Links Sheikah Slate will have access to new powers, one of which is Recall. By standing on a fallen piece of debris and using Recall, you can rewind the rock back into the sky and jump higher once.
A new enemy is introduced in the form of the “Construct”. It looks like a smaller version of the Guardian Scouts and can use environmental weapons just like Link.
The trailer then reveals that weapon durability still matters Tears of the Kingdom, but there is a new angle. Using the Fuse ability, you can combine weapons with items in the environment and with other weapons to create newer and more powerful weapons for dealing with enemies. You can also use this as a semi-repair function.
A few different executions of the Fuse ability are also shown. The first one involves Link combining a branch with a boulder, creating a makeshift hammer. After that, Link tries to shoot a bird out of the sky but can’t keep up with his speed. He fuses some arrows into Keese’s eyeballs and creates a homing arrow. It feels very much like the weapon combo system Dead Rising 2just a little freer.
To continue this angle of experimentation, Nintendo is calling another new ability Ultrahand. This is where the vehicles seen in previous teasers come into play. Link can bind large objects with Ultrahand and a sticky substance.
In this Direct trailer, we see how a makeshift raft is built, which can then be modified on the fly to change its shape. Series producer Eiji Aonuma added that the vehicles shown in previous trailers are not available as seen since everything is customized by the player.
Finally, the Direct trailer covers the Ascend ability seen in a previous teaser. This allows Link to phase through caps, although there are some caveats. While Aonuma says that “as long as there’s a ceiling, you can use it anywhere,” you probably won’t be able to slice through solid rock.
To round out this Direct, Nintendo has unveiled a special edition OLED Switch console Tears of the Kingdom. It costs $359.99 and will be released a few weeks before the game on April 28, 2023. Tears of the Kingdom will follow on May 12, 2023 and will retail for $69.99. A Special Pro controller will also be available.
Featured image via Nintendo.
