𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐞𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐙𝐞𝐥𝐝𝐚: 𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐊𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐝𝐨𝐦

                                           𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐞𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐙𝐞𝐥𝐝𝐚: 𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐊𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐝𝐨𝐦

    

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom[b] is a 2023 action-adventure game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. The sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017), Tears of the Kingdom retains aspects including the open world environment of Hyrule, which has been expanded to allow for more vertical exploration. The game's story follows Link's efforts to assist Princess Zelda in preventing Ganondorf from destroying Hyrule.

Tears of the Kingdom was conceived after ideas for Breath of the Wild downloadable content (DLC) had exceeded its scope. Its development was led by Nintendo's Entertainment Planning & Development (EPD) division, with Breath of the Wild director Hidemaro Fujibayashi and producer Eiji Aonuma reprising their roles. A teaser was shown at E3 2019 with a full reveal at E3 2021. Tears of the Kingdom was initially planned for release in 2022 before being delayed to May 2023. It received acclaim for its improvements, expanded open world, and features encouraging exploration and experimentation. As of May 2023, the game sold over 10 million units.

𝐆𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲

Tears of the Kingdom retains the open-world action-adventure gameplay of the prior game, Breath of the Wild (2017). As Link, players explore Hyrule and two new areas, the Sky Islands and the Depths, to find weapons, resources, and complete quests. Exploration can be executed through walking, running, horse riding, climbing, and the use of the paraglider.[1]

New to Tears of the Kingdom are the Zonai devices, which are technological devices that the player can use for combat, propulsion, exploration, and more. The runes from the previous game were replaced with five new powers: Ultrahand, Fuse, Ascend, Recall, and Autobuild. Ultrahand allows the player to pick up and move different objects, and attach different objects together. This can be used with the Zonai devices to create different vehicles or other constructs. Fuse allows Link to combine materials, equipment, or certain objects in the world to a shield or a weapon to increase its attributes and durability. For example, fusing an explosive object to an arrow will cause the arrow to explode on impact. Autobuild instantly recreates a device crafted with Ultrahand, at the cost of zonaite. Ascend allows the player to move upwards through solid surfaces. Recall can be used on an object to "rewind" its movement.[2][3]

Shrines and Korok Seeds return. When cleared, Shrines grant players a Light of Blessing; when four are obtained, Link can use them to either increase the amount of hearts he has by one or expand the size of his stamina wheel. Korok Seeds can be used to increase the inventory capacity of Link, allowing him to hold more melee weapons, shields, or bows.

The Depths, which are accessed via chasms on the surface, house a new threat, a goopy substance called Gloom. Most enemies in the Depths are covered in Gloom. Link is hurt by prolonged contact with Gloom or when attacked by a Gloom covered enemy and temporarily loses one heart of health being unable to heal it unless he returns to the Surface or travels to a Lightroot, a large light-emitting plant found in the Depths to regain his maximum health.[4][5]

Plot

Link's victory over Calamity Ganon has allowed Hyrule's residents to restore it to its former glory. Link and Princess Zelda investigate a mysterious event near the castle. Beneath the castle, Link and Zelda find Zonai ruins, telling the story of a great battle, and witness a mummified Ganondorf's awakening. Ganondorf's powers corrupt Link's right arm and shatters the Master Sword. Hyrule Castle is sent floating upwards into the sky. The two fall below; Zelda vanishes with a mysterious artifact, while Link is rescued by a disembodied arm, which had been restraining Ganondorf. Link awakens in the newly appeared Sky Islands and meets the spirit of Rauru, a Zonai, who gave Link his right arm to replace the latter's corrupted organic right arm. Rauru assists Link to find Zelda behind a door in the Temple of Time, only to witness a vision of Zelda taking the Master Sword.

Link returns to Hyrule, learning that the earlier events, the "Upheaval", has caused chaos in Hyrule. Link gains Purah's assistance to find Zelda and goes to investigate the mysterious reports throughout Hyrule. In the Gerudo Desert, Link assists its chief Riju in stopping unusual sandstorms and defeating the Gibdos. In the Zora River, Link and Sidon team up to stop the sludge that is poisoning the water. In Rito Village, Link meets Tulin, the son of Teba, and the two defeat the source of an ongoing blizzard that threatens the Rito. In the Goron Village, Link finds a brainwashed Yunobo; and upon reasoning with him, the two fight a monster arising from Death Mountain.

As Link finds similar artifacts, secret stones that increase the innate power of their users, the regions' Sages appear, and give their stones to their successors. They reveal that long ago, during the Imprisoning War, Rauru, the first king of Hyrule, led the Sages to oppose the Demon King Ganondorf, but were overwhelmed, forcing Rauru to sacrifice himself and seal Ganondorf, withering away into the disembodied arm. Zelda, who has been brought to the past, tasks the Sages to help Link. Zelda in turn transforms herself into the Light Dragon to restore the Master Sword. In the present, Link retrieves the Master Sword, and heads to Hyrule Castle. There, Link falls into Ganondorf's trap. Beneath the castle, Link fights Ganondorf's army before engaging in combat with Ganondorf himself. Nearing defeat, Ganondorf transforms himself into a demonic dragon in an attempt to beat Link. Zelda in draconic form assists Link in defeating Ganondorf. Zelda then regains her true physical appearance and the two fall onto the surface of Hyrule.

Sometime later, Mineru, the deceased Zonai sister of Rauru who had assisted in Ganondorf's defeat, bids goodbye to Zelda and Link (who has regained his right arm), while the Sage's successors vow to protect Hyrule.

𝐃𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭

Like Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom was produced by Aonuma

Development of Tears of the Kingdom started in 2017 after Breath of the Wild was completed. Initially, new ideas were thought of for DLC but eventually it evolved into a new game when too many were gathered.[6] It was announced at E3 2019 as a sequel to Breath of the Wild.[7][8] At E3 2021, Nintendo debuted a trailer revealing gameplay, story elements and a 2022 release window,[9] but Nintendo later changed the release window to Q2 2023.[10][11] More information was revealed in the Nintendo Direct presentation held in September 2022, including the title Tears of the Kingdom and a release date of May 12, 2023,[12][13] and another Nintendo Direct in February 2023 teased more gameplay elements.[14] A playable version of the game leaked online in the form of a disk image two weeks before release.[15][16]

As with Breath of Wild, Tears of the Kingdom was directed by Hidemaro Fujibayashi and produced by Eiji Aonuma.[17] The game was conceived after the team was unable to use every idea planned for Breath of the Wild's downloadable content.[18] New elements include floating islands above Hyrule, with players able to soar between them in a style similar to The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (2011).[19][20][21] While he was shown early demos for the game, the involvement of Shigeru Miyamoto in its development was minimal in comparison to previous Zelda games due to scheduling conflicts with his role as a producer on Nintendo and Illumination's The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023).[22]

The development team came up with ideas for the game during the development of Breath the Wild. Aonuma said that the team had all agreed that the sequel would return to the same version of Hyrule. Technical director Takuhiro Dohta said that he was inspired by Wii Sports Resort to use the same place but add new mechanics: "The idea of having new discoveries in the same setting was striking to me". He also noted that using familiar locations is useful for players when diving from the sky.[23]

Due to its similarity to Breath of the Wild, the developers experienced "strong deja vu" while developing its sequel. Aonuma said that the development team was trying to create something new but also something similar to the previous game and realised that some aspects "were already as they should be". Fujibayashi also said that there were occasions where they struggled to differentiate between the two games.[24] The developers approached Tears of the Kingdom with a list of ideas that they had wanted to include in Breath of the Wild. Aonuma wanted the player to go underground in Breath of the Wild but was restricted by the technical limitations of the Wii U. Tears of the Kingdom reintroduced large dungeons into the series, which are connected to Hyrule's surface. Technical director Takuhiro Dohta said that the dungeons were designed with regional characteristics to make them unique to their respective environments "just like traditional The Legend of Zelda games".[25]

One of the core concepts in the game is the ability to build new items. Fujibayashi said that immediately after the release of Breath of the Wild players began experimenting with various elements within the game and posted videos of their accomplishments on social media. This gave the development team the confidence to create more tools in Tears of the Kingdom that players could use to create their own unique gameplay experience. Zonai devices were introduced to encourage greater experimentation, but this also required a balance to be set between allowing the player to be creative and maintaining limitations to ensure players were not able to break gameplay with infinitely powered devices.[26]

The theme of "hands" was used as an overarching element within the game as a way to express the concept of connecting. It is present in the game mechanics, story, visuals and sound. Takuhiro Dohta, the technical director said that "joining hands" and cooperating with other characters is a major aspect of the game, along with Link's ability to use his hands to create items. Link's right arm was created as a way to distinguish him from previous iterations of the character, but is also used symbolically to solve puzzles and open doors. Aonuma said the theme is also present within the story, which involves connecting to Hyrule's history.[27]

The Ascend ability was developed from a debug feature that Aonuma and Fujibayashi used to exit the game's caves. They agreed that it was a "pain" to navigate all the way through the caves and wanted a cheat to get to the surface. Its implementation posed other challenges, such as ensuring that the player would not ascend into an empty space due to data loading issues.[28]

Aonuma cited inspiration from the open-world games Red Dead Redemption 2 and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.[29][30][31]

Reception

Reception

Aggregate score

Aggregator Score

Metacritic 95/100[32]

Review scores

Publication Score

Destructoid 10/10[33]

Digital Trends [34]

Edge 10/10[36]

Eurogamer [35]

Famitsu 40/40[37]

Game Informer 9.75/10[38]

GameSpot 10/10[39]

GamesRadar+ [40]

IGN 10/10[41]

Nintendo Life [42]

The Telegraph [43]

The Guardian [44]

Video Games Chronicle [45]

VG247 [46]

According to the review aggregator Metacritic, Tears of the Kingdom received "universal acclaim", based on an average score of 95 out of 100 from 104 reviews.[32]

Several critics praised the expansion of the open world introduced in Breath of the Wild. Tom Marks of IGN praised the addition of the sky islands and caves as "massive" and "brilliant complements to the more traditional surface activities".[41] Edwin Evans-Thirwell of Eurogamer praised the seamlessness of the "loop between underworld and sky", noting that while the game's "caverns aren't always worth the toil of discovery, none of the sky islands feel dispensable", praising the "irresistible, toylike specificity" of their design.[35] On the differences from Breath of the Wild, Steve Watts of GameSpot praised the "subtle ways" the game's world had changed, stating "not everything is exactly the same or where you'd expect it to be, and the map is marked with myriad opportunities for exploration and curiosity."[39]

Critics praised the addition of powers and building features to traverse and interact with the game's environment. Tom Marks of IGN wrote that "the sandbox is bigger, richer, and somehow even more ambitious", praising the building system as "walking the line of powerful but approachable extremely well", "tons of fun", and "woven into every part".[41] Steve Watts of GameSpot described the powers as "much more flexible" than its predecessor and a "beautifully implemented evolution of what made Breath of the Wild so special", stating "these tools give Tears of the Kingdom a particular flow that feels unique to the Zelda franchise."[39] Mike Mahardy of Polygon similarly praised the game's emphasis on "self-driven experimentation" as "paramount in traversal, combat, and discovery [...] experimenting with each of [the] powers and discovering how they interact is the game."[47]

Upon release, several critics were mixed on the impact of performance issues on the game. Alana Hagues of Nintendo Life wrote: "It's evident that Tears of the Kingdom is pushing the system to its limits", citing frame rate drops to the "low 20s" during "busy fights and locations", although stating "it's not hugely disruptive, and it didn't feel any worse than Breath of the Wild...but it serves as a staunch reminder of the now-six-year-old console's limitations."[42] Writing that "the Switch continues to show its age", Mike Mahardy of Polygon noted "the frame rate can still be abysmal, especially in dense forests or areas with busy water effects. Loading times are unpredictable, ranging from two seconds to 10."[47] Steve Watts of GameSpot noted concerns about the aging Switch hardware, he "barely ever saw a hitch while playing mostly in handheld mode... even then, the performance dips were minor and temporary."[47]

Sales

More than ten million copies of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom were sold within in its first three days of release, making it the fastest-selling game in The Legend of Zelda franchise, as well as the fastest selling Nintendo game in the Americas.[48]

Accolades

Awards and nominations

Year Ceremony Category Result Ref.

2020 The Game Awards 2020 Most Anticipated Game Nominated [49]

2021 Golden Joystick Awards Most Wanted Game Nominated [50]

The Game Awards 2021 Most Anticipated Game Nominated [51]

2022 Golden Joystick Awards Most Wanted Game Won [52]

The Game Awards 2022 Most Anticipated Game Won [53]