The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom In-Depth Breakdown of the Recent Gameplay

Published 04/02/2023, 3:15 PM EDT

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The Legend of Zelda producer Eiji Asonuma recently gave fans an extended look at The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’s exclusive gameplay. The latest gameplay showcase of the Nintendo’s best-selling series’ upcoming sequel has been on the top of many most-anticipated lists. And with the lastest trailer getting a lot of love from fans it seems that Tears of the Kingdom has a lot of details to explore.

But ever since its announcement, Nintendo has not told fans considerably about the game. This, however, changed when Aonuma took the stage. First, he made the fans aware of the fact that the game has finally completed its progression, and then he went on to show 10 minutes of gameplay for it. So, here’s an in-depth analysis of those 10 minutes of gameplay that Aonuma presented.

Hyrule is changed, keep a hawk’s eye to notice the difference

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The first thing that was pretty evident from the latest gameplay video was that the upcoming title is not looking very different from its predecessor, Breath of the Wild. Visually and aesthetically, both of them are pretty identical. There are some differences, yes, but they are not glaring.

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Horse stables from the previous game make a return, and they now have smoke coming from the top of them, which might be to allow players to locate such establishments easily.

What are those mysterious green structures?

During the gameplay trailer, some green, spiral-looking structures were first noticed by keen-eyed fans. There is speculation among the community that these might act as the game’s fast travel locations, but when was fast travel ever so dependent on such things? Previously, players fast-traveled through shrines or towers.

Now there are chances this game has lost its towers and shrines for some reason, and their place has been taken by these green things.

Dragons are more significant and shows the details in Tears of the Kingdom

Those flying dragons from Breath of the Wild are also making a return. One was even visible from one of those flying islands that Link travels to. As fans must remember, these dragons basically were a source of very valuable crafting material that helped players in a number of ways.

It remains to be seen where they will be used this time around.

Original crafting items make a return in Tears of the Kingdom to add more details

Crafting items from the 2017 Legend of Zelda were spotted in the gameplay video. Some mushrooms, that stick Aonuma used again and again, and even one of those logs is seen when he used Ultrahand ability to build that boat.

There was the cooking spit that was spotted in multiple locations, and the biggest things returning, for now, are those stables themselves.

It appears as if all is destroyed in this land, barring those stables.

A bunch of UI changes

Aside from the above-mentioned changes, there were a bunch of new things that were noticed in the user interface, or HUD, of this game. First of all, the L button has some new abilities marked on it, which might indicate that Link uses all his previous abilities in favor of some new ones.

Then there was a newly added food shortcut mapped to d-pad up. The biggest thing is that the minimap in this game now shows its players the coordinates of the locations they visit. This feature might come into play once the game launches and players are running around in search of a bunch of hidden secrets. Also, when defeating one of those construct enemies, Link picks up an item called a Zonai charge, once again confirming the existence of the Zonai tribe in this game.

Crafting and new abilities in Tears of the Kingdom

Now, crafting has been a big topic of discussion amongst fans of this game ever since it was announced. Aonuma confirmed it exists in this game, but it’s actually called “Fuse”. Players can fuse any two items together and end up with something else altogether.

The biggest and best example of that was attaching a monster eye to an arrow to make it a homing arrow. Then comes “Ultrahand”, which allows players to attach multiple objects together in order to create something new. A boat and even one of those vehicles are seen in the trailers.

Finally comes “Ascend”, the ability that allows Link to glide through a structure’s roof no matter where it leads. Today, fans are not seeing much here, but this ability would open numerous paths for players once they get used to it.

Settlements or Structures?

There are a number of spots in this game that people have either ignored or dismissed as nothing special. But those locations have a marked spot, a wooden structure, and a bunch of building materials.

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It appears Nintendo will give fans either the ability to design their own outposts or even complete settlements. Who knows, they might even end up calling this feature “re-building Hyrule”.

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No matter what this is, it’s pretty clear that currently it’s being underestimated by the fans.

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Written by:

Rohit Sejwal

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Rohit Sejwal is a veteran eSports writer at EssentiallySports, with a passion for gaming that has been fueled by over a decade of experience in both playing and writing about games. His deep understanding of gaming and its finer nuances is evident in his engaging and insightful coverage of eSports. With a Masters degree in Science in film-making, Rohit brings a unique perspective to gaming, viewing it as a perfect blend of science and art.
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Edited by:

Jito Tenson