The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom joins the rare ranks of Zelda games that reuse a previous map, with the only other contender being A Link Between Worlds. That said, what was originally Breath of the Wild's map has been heavily renovated, with dozens of changes, both big and small, altering Hyrule just enough for the experience to feel new and unique again.
The major landmarks are the same, with mountains, ravines, and villages all comfortably where you left them. The changes mostly come in the form of new areas and additional content in old ones, which helps make this the largest Hyrule yet.
10 Sky Islands
One of the first things you will notice change about the world is the inclusion of Sky Islands, similar to those from Skyward Sword. This will be because the tutorial takes place on one, but even once you leave the garden of time, these islands will remain an integral part of the game's exploration.
A hefty amount of treasure can be found on sky islands, including device dispensers, and old maps which reveal the locations of even better treasure down below. There are also a handful of mini bosses that can be encountered here, making it easy to lose hours conquering the skies.
9 Proper Caves
Breath of the Wild wasn't a perfect game, and some things only feel like they were missing once we actually got them. This is the case with caves in Tears of the Kingdom. Breath of the Wild had a few small caverns, usually hiding a shrine or Korok, but this game went the extra mile with dozens of fully explore-able caves with genuinely rewarding loot.
There's also a plethora of wells, which act like mini caves, and you will be rewarded for finding them by an NPC in Lookout Landing, the newest town on the map. They can be initially found in whatever well you explore first, and will relocate afterward.
8 New Wildlife
As you explore the new-but-same map, you'll also start encountering new plants and animals. Where did they come from? Who knows. That's not important. What's important is that plants like the Hylian Tomato can now be easily farmed to make better healing dishes, and plants like the fire flower make for easy fire starters.
A surprisingly useful and understated new animal is the Dondon, found in a very specific patch of land just north of the Lakeside Stable in Faron. If you feed these animals luminous stone and then leave, you can come back, and they will have converted the stone to gems.
7 Better Enemy Variety
In addition to new wildlife, the enemy variety has also seen a stark improvement. Fighting the same few enemies in Breath of the Wild got real old after a while, but now there are more enemies, and they seem to be spread out better, with the Zonai robots dotting the map unlike Shiekah robots which were relegated to shrines and temples.
The mini bosses have also been upgraded. Some of them even manage to feel like real bosses, like the Gleoks, which will humble you very quickly if you're too casual about it. Phantom Ganon also makes a return after a long sabbatical, and defeating him almost always guarantees a good reward.
6 Shiekah Towers Are Out - Purah Towers Are In
Breath of the Wild revitalized the way towers could be used in open world games by actually making them useful for exploring. Games like Assassin's Creed don't really give you a lot of options once you're at the top, but in Zelda you could sail as far as your stamina potions could carry you.
Skyview towers have been built by Purah after the Shiekah towers were seemingly destroyed. Probably by Purah. However, because Purah simply doesn't have time for OSHA, these new towers launch Link into the sky where he can glide down, or land on a sky island.
5 Geoglyphs
Tears of the Kingdom is light on its story, just like its predecessor. Continuing the family resemblance, Tears of the Kingdom tells its story through memories that Link can find throughout Hyrule. They can be found in the geoglyphs, massive land paintings, that now cover the map.
While the geoglyphs let Link see a memory, the glyphs themselves also tell an abridged version of the same story, and the quest chain culminates in an emotionally confusing cutscene that raises a lot of questions about farming certain crafting materials.
4 Lurelin Village Meets Tarrey Town
Tarrey Town was a fan favorite location in Breath of the Wild that allowed players to leave their mark on Hyrule. It felt especially impactful because you weren't just building a town, but you were rebuilding a world. This time around, Hyrule is doing ok, so you don't get the chance to build something new, but you do get the chance to rebuild Lurelin village bigger, and better than ever.
It was a very forgettable location in the first game. Giving it this treatment not only makes it more memorable, but it actually gives the player a connection to the place. You also save the village from pirates when you first arrive, so you really get to play hero.
3 Regional Phenomena
As the map was changed, some areas got hit harder than others. The Rito, Gerudo, Gorons, and Zora are having troubles again, with their lands being plagued by some unnatural phenomena. These events radically change the map or locals in the region, and these troubles will completely disappear after confronting their cause.
This creates a serious dynamic change around the map, like in Hebra where the seasons outright change from winter to spring. The series hasn't explored a changing map like this since Majora's Mask, and even those changes were temporary for the current three-day cycle.
2 Temples Are Back
The Divine Beasts were undoubtedly interesting, and they hold a very strange place in Zelda's history, but most people agree - they weren't that great at being dungeons. Tears of the Kingdom must've taken that criticism and played it on loop at the gym for motivation, because themed temples have returned.
We're still a long way from the lengthy temples of the traditional 3D era, but this is a perfected take on the new approach. They're still open-ended, with several objectives that can be done in any order, but the theme-ing and bosses really pull you back into that classic feeling.
1 The Depths
The skies have opened, and the land is reformed. Things look mostly the same just... different. That is except for the depths, which are completely new, very dark, slightly terrifying, and easily found by accident early on. This is where Tears of the Kingdom becomes two games.
The depths span the entirety of underneath Hyrule, and they are packed with unique quests, bosses, mini bosses, treasure, and unease. You start to get into a rhythm exploring the surface by using towers, and, you know, your eyes, but in the depths you really start to rely on instinct and subtle clues in the environment. It's easily the biggest change made to the map.