The Legend of Zelda – Tears of the Kingdom

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is a 2023 action-adventure game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. The player controls Link as he searches for Princess Zelda and fights to prevent Ganondorf from destroying Hyrule. Tears of the Kingdom retains the open-world gameplay and setting of its predecessor, Breath of the Wild (2017), and features new environments, including an area composed of floating islands in the sky and an underground area beneath Hyrule known as the Depths. The player has access to various devices that aid in combat or exploration and can be used to construct vehicles.

Tears of the Kingdom retains the open world action-adventure gameplay of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017). As Link, the player explores the main setting of Hyrule and two new areas: the sky, which has several floating islands, and the Depths, a vast underground area beneath Hyrule. Link can climb, ride horses, or use a paraglider to soar through the air. Characters and locations from Breath of the Wild were kept and modified to fit the game’s story. The sky is an area composed of several floating islands that contain puzzles, treasure, and enemies and bosses. 

The Depths is a dark region that requires items to illuminate and contains treasures as well as hazards such as lava and gloom, a harmful substance that reduces Link’s maximum hearts until the player removes this effect by returning to the surface of Hyrule. Tears of the Kingdom features several dungeons that contain puzzles and bosses, similar to previous entries in the Zelda franchise. There are four main dungeons – the Water Temple, Wind Temple, Fire Temple, and Lightning Temple – and three mini-dungeons – the Spirit Temple, Hyrule Castle, and Gloom’s Approach.

Tears of the Kingdom takes place a number of years after Breath of the Wild, at the end of the Zelda timeline. Link and Zelda set out to explore a cavern beneath Hyrule Castle, from which a poisonous substance called “gloom” has been seeping out and causing people to fall ill. There, they find murals depicting the founding of Hyrule and a subsequent conflict known as the Imprisoning War—an ancient battle against a being only referred to as the “Demon King”—which Zelda believes to be related to the mysterious Zonai race.

Upon venturing deeper, they discover a mummy being restrained by a disembodied arm. The mummy awakens and attacks Link and Zelda; in the aftermath, Link’s right arm is wounded and the Master Sword is shattered. Hyrule Castle is raised into the sky, and Zelda falls into the depths below; as Link tries to catch her, she vanishes along with a mysterious artifact. Link is rescued by the arm, awakening later on the Great Sky Island to find that it has replaced his damaged limb. He meets the spirit of Rauru, a Zonai and the source of his new arm, who helps him traverse the Great Sky Island.

Once Link reaches his destination, the shattered Master Sword vanishes and he returns to the surface below. There, he learns that the event in the cavern, known as the Upheaval, has wrought chaos upon Hyrule, and he sets out to investigate reports of strange phenomena throughout the kingdom. Link ventures into ancient Zonai temples after reuniting with his allies; Sidon, the prince and, later, king of the Zora; Tulin, a young Rito archer and son of Teba, a past ally of Link’s; Yunobo, a Goron, now the president of the YunoboCo mining company; and Riju, the young chief of the Gerudo.

After defeating the monsters that have taken over the temples, they find artifacts called secret stones and meet the spirits of ancient sages, who appoint Link’s allies as their successors and pass down their secret stones. After numerous sightings of Zelda throughout Hyrule, Link finds her at Hyrule Castle, where she reveals herself to be Phantom Ganon, a servant of the Demon King, Ganondorf, who disguised itself as her. After defeating Phantom Ganon, Link sets out to find Mineru, the last of the ancient sages, who remains in the physical world via spiritual projection. He assembles a mechanical body for her spirit to inhabit.