The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom: New Gameplay Mechanics and Experiences to Watch For

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is almost here. It has been over six years since the release of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and everyone is eager to go on Link’s newest adventure. Breath of the Wild completely changed the formula for the Zelda franchise and Tears of the Kingdom looks like it not only continues with the new formula, but it adds on to it. So, with that said, what changes can we expect to see in this new adventure? Let’s look at what we know so far.

A handier, more athletic Link

During the build up to the release of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Nintendo has highlighted four new abilities that will be present in the game. Those new abilities will include Fuse, Recall, Ultrahand, and Ascend.

With Fuse, you will be able to combine different items into one item that you can use. For example, you can combine a stick and a rock to form a hammer that you can use in battle. Weapons break after a certain amount of usage in Tears of the Kingdom, and it would make sense that fusing certain items together will factor into weapon durability.

Recall reminds me a bit of using the Force in Star Wars games. Here you will be able to reverse the trajectory of items thrown at you. You will also be able to rewind time with certain items which is how you are going to get to ride a rock back up to the Sky Islands once you see it fall to the ground in Hyrule.

The Ultrahand ability can really change how we play the game. It allows you to put together several items to create a larger item that is needed to accomplish a goal. For example, Link might construct three logs and two fans into a raft that will get you across a river.

Finally, the Ascend ability allows you to pass through ceilings to reach levels above your point of view. For example, inside a cave you might Ascend through the ceiling to get outside instead of having to use stamina to scale to the top. Think of how useful this might be while climbing in the rain, which was damn near impossible in Breath of the Wild.

The map has expanded

Those mechanics aren’t the only changes though. The world of Hyrule has grown with the addition of the aforementioned Sky Islands. There will now be entirely different locations for you to explore, including figuring out the new mechanics to try and get to these Sky Islands. The skies will not be the only thing that you have to explore though as a recent trailer from Nintendo showcased some subterranean action.  The snippet that was shown had Link in a minecart battling another enemy that is in a minecart as you raced through a cavern filled with lava. That might not be all though, as there is speculation that Tears of the Kingdom might feature a whole underground world to explore.

We also aren’t quite sure about whether or not shrines will be making a return in Tears of the Kingdom. As a longtime Zelda fan, I’m hoping for the more traditional dungeons. I will concede though that the shrines in Breath of the Wild offered a fun new gameplay component and were generally well-received by fans, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see the shrines return. There will also be some new towns to explore, and Nintendo has said that familiar places from the previous installment may look dramatically different.

When you first started out in Breath of the Wild it was on the Great Plateau, a place where you could get familiar with the game and its mechanics. Expect Tears of the Kingdom to follow a similar concept, except that the game will begin on one of the many mysterious islands high above Hyrule.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is set to release on Friday, May 12, 2023.