https://www.thegamer.com Widely regarded as one of the best games ever made, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild sets Link his toughest challenge yet. With free exploration of a huge open world and a story you can complete in your own order, it is a must-play for the Nintendo Switch. Wed, 31 May 2023 23:45:16 GMT en-US hourly 60 Every now and then a game comes out and does something revolutionary. Something that changes things for future games. These can be small, under the hood elements that some gamers might not notice. Or larger, more obvious elements like mechanics and features.

]]> Wed, 31 May 2023 23:45:16 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/best-underused-game-mechanics-features-list/ The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is one of the most exciting, boundary-breaking games to come from Nintendo in years. By returning to the series' roots as a free-roaming, adventure, Nintendo did the impossible: reinvent a franchise that many had come to feel was staid, predictable, and even boring.

]]> Wed, 31 May 2023 18:30:18 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/botw-secrets/ Tears of the Kingdom’s Tulin is a little sweetie. The young Rito is spunky, determined, and ready to take on the world for the good of his fellow bird people. He has a cute scream/warble that he lets out every time you ask him to gust. And his presence makes me want to deactivate his summoning seal every time I shoot a bird for its precious drumsticks, like an adulterous movie character turning their spouse’s picture down during an illicit tryst. Immersion! So, you know, I like the kid. But he’s no Revali.

]]> Wed, 31 May 2023 17:30:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/revalis-gale-missing-tears-of-the-kingdom-tulin/ For all intents and purposes, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is an open-world RPG. Link grows from a shirtless scrub to a many-hearted, heavily armored battlebot and mech master over the course of the game. You pursue an overarching main quest while completing side quests along the way, and there are many characters to meet, mysteries to uncover, and villages to visit along the way. It’s a better version of the same framework we’ve seen in countless games like Horizon Forbidden West, Assassin's Creed Valhalla, and — dare I say it — The Witcher 3.

]]> Wed, 31 May 2023 16:30:27 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom-xp-rpg-finishing-quest/ Back when God of War: Ragnarok launched, I wrote about how certain elements of its design and technology refused to play nicely with my neurodivergent brain. My mind was convinced it needed to keep fiddling with specific graphical and mechanical configurations until it nailed that perfect sweet spot. This established an awkward stop-and-start momentum which never felt befitting of a narrative blockbuster that required my constant attention.

]]> Tue, 30 May 2023 17:00:19 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/tears-of-the-kingdom-adhd-ocd-neurodivergence/ Many games feature gorgeous cathedrals and fictional churches with stunning architecture. But there are also a lot of notable shrines in gaming that we remember vividly, whether for their significance or aesthetic. If you don't know these shrines for either of those things, then you most likely do because of their generous rewards.

]]> Mon, 29 May 2023 23:45:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/best-shrines-in-video-games/ As Nintendo showed off more of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom in the run-up to release, a contingent of gamers whined about how it wasn’t a ‘real sequel’ because it was reusing the map from Breath of the Wild. I never agreed with this idea. Wonderful possibilities open up when developers are willing to reuse assets, and Tears of the Kingdom’s wells are a great example.

]]> Mon, 29 May 2023 19:00:16 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/wells-zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom-builds-on-breath-of-the-wild/ Hot Tip: Do not develop feelings for a fictional fishman through years of fanfiction, fanart, and headcanons. Hot Tip 2: Do not then jump into Tears of the Kingdom with the expectation that your homosexual aquatic fantasies will soon come true after returning to Zora’s Domain with unrequited love on your mind. Hot Tip 3: Do not then plot to murder his fiancée in revenge.

]]> Mon, 29 May 2023 16:15:17 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/tears-of-the-kingdom-sidon-link-yona-engagement-gay-zora/ It can be difficult to discern what a video game's main genre is, due mostly to the fact that modern titles blend them all. For instance, it can be hard to figure out the difference between a traditional RPG and an action RPG (aRPG). Both tend to include skills trees, leveling up, rich worlds, combat of some kind, and plenty of gear to pick up.

]]> Mon, 29 May 2023 15:00:17 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/best-beginner-action-rpgs/ Weapons in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild can sometimes be infuriatingly brittle. With every swing of your sword or swish of your bow, your weapon is losing durability and inching closer to breaking entirely.

]]> Sat, 27 May 2023 18:15:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/breath-of-the-wild-repair-weapons/ At the end of 2022, I started a replay of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, my first full replay since devouring the game on Wii U back in 2017. This run was fairly thorough. I did all the Divine Beasts again, sought out some secrets, like the King of the Mountain, that I hadn’t seen in my first playthrough, and generally played the hell out of it. Now, Tears of the Kingdom is here and I’m wishing I hadn’t.

]]> Sat, 27 May 2023 14:00:17 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/tloz-breath-of-the-wild-totk-2023-too-recent-replay/ Having a game console release with hard-hitting launch titles used to be a really big thing. This gen was pretty lacking in that aspect, but historically it mattered a lot with the launch titles determining how successful the initial sales of a console would be.

]]> Sat, 27 May 2023 12:45:16 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/best-launch-titles-of-all-time/ Videos of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom have been going viral every day over on Twitter, and the things that impress me as a player are never the same things that impress actual game developers.

]]> Fri, 26 May 2023 18:00:16 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom-game-dev-players-dont-understand/ Nintendo invites you to play The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom however you like. It doesn’t present any right or wrong answers for puzzles or combat encounters. The design philosophy is built around providing you with a few tools and limitless possibilities for how to use them. Gameplay is weakest when it takes this freedom away and forces you down a binary path of progression, like temple puzzles or shrines that tear away rampant experimentation in favour of traditional design the series will benefit from leaving behind. In a way, it invites you to break the game.

]]> Fri, 26 May 2023 15:22:13 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/tears-of-the-kingdom-patching-out-duplication-glitches-is-a-massive-bummer/ In The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, I sprinted to upgrade my stamina as soon as I possibly could. Hyrule was big, and riding a horse sucked. At any given time you might run into a mountain that needed scaling, and the options at your disposal were limited. If you wanted to see all the game had to offer, you needed to get some green.

]]> Wed, 24 May 2023 19:01:16 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/stamina-less-important-botw-zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom/ Where are the Divine Beasts in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom? I haven’t reached the end of the game yet, I’m not even close, but it seems like they’ve just disappeared off the face of Hyrule. After being created as imposing guardians of the land and then lying dormant for a century before performing a crucial role in Link’s defeat of Calamity Ganon in Breath of the Wild, you’re telling me that they just… Left? Well, good riddance.

]]> Wed, 24 May 2023 16:26:57 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/legend-of-zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom-temples-pinnacle-of-design/ Spoiler warning for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

]]> Wed, 24 May 2023 16:00:17 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/tears-of-the-kingdom-zelda-memories-playable-geoglyphs/ After the epic final trailer for Tears of the Kingdom that showed its new-look Ganondorf for the first time, it was hard to imagine where Nintendo might go from there aside from actually launching the game. It decided to go an entirely different way with its next ad, showing a man traveling to and from work, seemingly downtrodden by his life in general and having something light up inside him when playing his Switch.

]]> Wed, 24 May 2023 09:33:08 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/the-legend-of-zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom-sad-guy-ad-amazon-review/ There's a shrine in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom that had me solidly stumped for about 30 minutes. It presented two rails moving up toward the finish line, and provided planks and fans to build a car to travel up it. The problem was that about halfway up, the two rails ended and were replaced by one central rail between them. To make it the rest of the way, I had to figure out how to get my rail car onto the central rail without falling off and having to start again. Eventually, I found a solution, but that process of tinkering towards it is where Tears of the Kingdom is at its most electric.

]]> Tue, 23 May 2023 19:00:17 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/zelda-totk-shrines-open-world-design-levels/ In The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, finding Koroks was rarely all that hard. You’d lift up a rock, and one was there, waiting. You’d push a stone into a gap in a circle, and wow, a Korok. Sometimes they’d give you a little task, like following a white flower as it teleported from place to place, or shooting a balloon with an arrow. Of these tiny tasks, my favorite were the little block puzzles you needed to use Link’s Magnesis power to solve.

]]> Mon, 22 May 2023 17:30:17 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/tears-of-the-kingdom-reference-botw-korok-magnesis-puzzle/ I’m not doing the weapon degradation discourse again. I simply refuse. I do find it funny, however, that Nintendo decided to make 99 percent of weapons in Tears of the Kingdom physically degraded from the moment you pick them up (the only weapons that aren’t are weapons found in The Depths and makeshift weapons like Sticks and, um, Long Sticks). If this isn’t a message to Zelda players saying, “Suck it up, this is the direction we’re going in,” then I don’t know what is.

]]> Mon, 22 May 2023 16:30:16 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/hylian-pine-cones-secretly-tears-of-the-kingdom-best-weapon/ The creativity Zelda fans demonstrated immediately once Tears of the Kingdom launched this month has been pretty remarkable. It's also exactly what the sequel's creators were hoping you'd all do with the game. Gamers managed to be more creative with Breath of the Wild than its developers expected, and it was videos of those creations in the first game that convinced the Tears of the Kingdom team to build its follow-up around players using their imagination to make everything from ATVs to working podracers.

]]> Mon, 22 May 2023 12:26:48 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/the-legend-of-zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom-inspired-breath-of-the-wild-videos/ Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma has always been cryptic when it comes to the timeline, and Tears of the Kingdom is no exception. Despite desperate fans scouring Hyrule for clues, Aonuma won't tell us where Tears of the Kingdom fits on the Legend of Zelda timeline, leaving fans to come to their own conclusions.

]]> Mon, 22 May 2023 12:00:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/the-legend-of-zelda-timeline-eiji-aonuma-tears-of-the-kingdom/ The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is an immersive sim. Strange as it is to see Link and Ganondorf lumped in with the likes of Corvo Attano and Andrew Ryan, the new Zelda shares design principles with all things 0451. Tears of the Kingdom rewards player experimentation and lateral thinking. It encourages multiple playstyles; if there’s a problem to solve in Tears of the Kingdom, there are roughly one million ways to proceed. Breath of the Wild already incorporated this design, but TotK doubles down on the kind of creativity that makes games like Dishonored and Prey sing.

]]> Sun, 21 May 2023 18:00:17 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/tears-of-the-kingdom-weird-games-redfall/ The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has revealed us for the monsters we truly are. We were never especially fond of Breath of the Wild’s Koroks, but the worst things we could do to them was drop rocks on their heads after finding one or leave a pile of metallic items at their feet before retreating to a safe distance as they were struck by lightning. You know, good innocent fun.

]]> Sun, 21 May 2023 18:00:17 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/tears-of-the-kingdoms-korok-minions-zelda/ Link has always been an androgynous reflection of the player. A silent, optimistic hero who is destined to save the world and protect Princess Zelda from evildoers that loom over Hyrule. While the character always goes by masculine pronouns and is viewed as a man by all those he stumbles across in each game, Link has often acted in defiance of gender norms.

]]> Sun, 21 May 2023 17:31:17 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/the-legend-of-zelda-trans-link-queer-gender-tears-of-the-kingdom/ This article contains spoilers for Eventide Island in both Tears of the Kingdom and Breath of the Wild.

]]> Sun, 21 May 2023 15:30:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/breath-of-the-wild-eventide-island-tears-of-the-kingdom/ Tears of the Kingdom fans are mourning the loss of one of Breath of the Wild's most helpful healing items - the Hearty Durian, which could temporarily increase your maximum heart count when cooked with.

]]> Sun, 21 May 2023 14:29:41 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/the-legend-of-zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom-fans-mourning-the-loss-of-hearty-durian-botw/ There are lots of enemies to encounter in The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild, and each have their own mechanics that you need to master in order to defeat them. While some enemies are easy to best in combat, others require complicated movements to win against.

]]> Sat, 20 May 2023 19:45:17 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/zelda-breath-of-the-wild-master-kohga-boss-fight-guide/ This article contains spoilers for the Lightning Temple in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

]]> Sat, 20 May 2023 17:30:19 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/lightning-temple-zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom-easier/ There are 120 Shrines in Breath of the Wild. There are 900 Korok Seeds, and the reward at the end is poo. Literally. Early reports suggest that there are the same number of Koroks hidden across Hyrule in Tears of the Kingdom, and 32 more Shrines in the sequel – my guess is that those are in the sky. That’s a lot of things to collect, even if they do level up Link by deepening his pockets or fueling his stamina bar. The trouble with Tears of the Kingdom is, there are loads more things to collect now, too.

]]> Sat, 20 May 2023 15:00:17 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/legend-of-zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom-too-many-collectibles/ The Legend of Zelda has been around for over 30 years and has launched on every single Nintendo gaming platform. The canon timeline itself is up for debate in many circles, and the addition of new titles has certainly muddied the waters when it comes to the Hero and his escapades throughout Hyrule's history.

]]> Fri, 19 May 2023 17:31:21 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/legend-of-zelda-file-size-every-game/ One of the very first questions my colleagues asked me when I started The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom ahead of release was whether or not you could pet the dog. Previously you could feed the canines and make friends with them outside stables and villages, but Link was forbidden from laying his hands on any puppers. Walk around in a circle and they might chase their tails and spring forth a few love hearts, but petting remains off the table.

]]> Fri, 19 May 2023 16:45:20 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/tears-of-the-kingdom-petting-the-dog-wholesome-nintendo-marketing/ Whenever people talk about wanting a Pokemon game like Breath of the Wild, they mean a very specific thing. A large open world with freedom to go anywhere, more traversal options, roving Pokemon who impact the environment in meaningful ways, and a story that lets you carve your own path. For some, Scarlet & Violet’s openness was the first step towards that, despite the issues with the game at a launch and many still present today. That’s not really what I mean though, and it took me until Tears of the Kingdom to realise that.

]]> Fri, 19 May 2023 14:30:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/pokemon-still-waiting-breath-wild-moment-zelda-new-formula/ As a sequel to Breath of the Wild, there are plenty of familiar faces in Tears of the Kingdom. However, as Link seems to have been away for what seems to be at least a year, things have changed since you last explored Hyrule.

]]> Fri, 19 May 2023 12:30:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/the-legend-of-zelda-breath-of-the-wild-tears-of-the-kingdom-major-character-changes/ Tears of the Kingdom is out, and it’s incredible. I played it all weekend, and can’t stop thinking about it when I’m supposed to be working (which actually is not that big a problem in this line of work). There are so many quests I want to do, chasms and floating islands I want to explore, vehicles I want to build, shrines I want to solve, and temples I need to visit that I'm having a hard time imagining ever being done. It’s a great game, and while it isn’t quite giving me the same feeling of discovery I got from Breath of the Wild — that seems basically impossible for a direct sequel — it’s not for lack of quality. In every way I can think of, it’s an improvement on its predecessor.

]]> Thu, 18 May 2023 18:00:14 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/after-zelda-totk-what-makes-breath-of-the-wild-special/ Patricia Summersett is nothing like Princess Zelda. But to many, she is our Zelda. Matthew Lillard’s Shaggy or Keanu Reeves’ John Wick are just a few examples, and despite initial reception, Breath of the Wild’s take on Hylian royalty now occupies similar territory.

]]> Thu, 18 May 2023 16:30:14 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/patricia-summersett-interview-zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom/ In most Zelda games, solving a puzzle is only useful because it solves the puzzle. You figured out how to Z-target a weird tentacle in Jabu-Jabu’s belly? Great, you can keep moving through the dungeon. You figured out where to position the mirrors in Wind Waker to direct a beam of light? Cool, carry on. This was even true in Breath of the Wild to an extent. Though you could pick up some new techniques in shrines — like using your metal weapons to conduct electrical current — most of the shrines asked you to use your powers to solve a single, specific problem that wasn't replicable in the world outside.

]]> Wed, 17 May 2023 17:00:16 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom-shrines-teaching-moments/ Nintendo’s magical whimsy tends to fade away when you look into its operations and realise how litigious the company is not just to its consumers, but also fellow development studios and creatives. Nobody does it like Nintendo, although how much of that is thanks to patents that ensure nobody is capable of doing so in the first place? Judging by Tears of the Kingdom, perhaps more than previously thought.

]]> Wed, 17 May 2023 15:00:16 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/nintendos-zelda-patents-tears-of-the-kingdom-innovation/ Tears of the Kingdom has brought back a lot of what made Breath of the Wild great and added to it in a way that makes the prior game feel like a dry run. However, the sequel has also taken some well-loved things away, the Master Cycle among them. For those missing what was easily the best way to get around Hyrule before now, one player has already made a Tears of the Kingdom version of the Master Cycle.

]]> Wed, 17 May 2023 13:14:16 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/the-legend-of-zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom-master-cycle-build/ I can’t get enough of Tears of the Kingdom’s shrines. Back in 2017, when The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild came out, I was impressed by how well Nintendo had managed to weave Zelda’s puzzle-solving into the framework of an open-world game. Sure, traditional dungeons were gone. But the game had something that was a better fit for a game so focused on exploration.

]]> Tue, 16 May 2023 17:00:16 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/tears-of-the-kingdom-shrines-botw-smart-exterior-design/ When Nintendo showed off The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’s new skills a month-and-a-half ago, I was impressed by how wildly different they seemed from Breath of the Wild’s. Though Ultrahand had clear similarities to Magnesis, it took the basic utility — moving an object around with telekinesis — in a completely different direction. The other powers Nintendo revealed in that presentation, Fuse, Ascend, and Recall, were even stranger, pushing the game into brave new frontiers that Breath of the Wild had left untapped. As exciting as these all seemed, I held out hope that TOTK would bring the old abilities back, too.

]]> Tue, 16 May 2023 16:45:16 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/missing-remote-bombs-zelda-botw-tears-of-the-kingdom/ Video games look better than ever these days. I remember driving around the cities in Burnout 3: Takedown and thinking 'video games will never get any better than this’. I remember sailing the seven seas in Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag and thinking 'video games will never get any better than this'. I remember riding across the plains in Red Dead Redemption 2 and thinking 'video games will never get any better than this'.

]]> Tue, 16 May 2023 14:00:14 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/tears-of-the-kingdom-proof-games-care-less-graphics-performance/ Ever since The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was first announced, there has been a nostalgic yearning from fans, but there has been no link to the past. While many have embraced the series’ new, experimental direction towards puzzle solving and enemy encounters, others want a return to tradition.

]]> Mon, 15 May 2023 20:00:17 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom-evolution-nintendo-legacy-future/ Link’s house in Hateno Village is no more. Zelda has taken up residence since the events of Breath of the Wild and claimed the abode as her own. I like to think the couple are living together, since the place is certainly decorated to accommodate two people while the conversation must have been had that the house was available and Zelda could move in if she wanted to. So many questions with answers that only feed my fanfiction-addled mind.

]]> Mon, 15 May 2023 15:00:17 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/zelda-house-tears-of-the-kingdom-champions-tunic/ Role-playing games (RPGs) have been thriving in the video game community for generations, now, and every day more and more people are introduced to some of the best RPGs that we have to offer.

]]> Mon, 15 May 2023 15:00:17 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/best-appropriate-rpgs-video-games-for-children-kids-esrb/ When I say ‘tutorial shrines in Tears of the Kingdom’, your mind probably jumps to the quartet of challenges across the Great Sky Islands. Introduced by Rauru, these locations are built to introduce Link to a repertoire of new powers and simplistic puzzles in which to test them out.

]]> Mon, 15 May 2023 14:30:17 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom-tutorial-shrines-combat-training-challenges/ Despite being unable to pet the dog, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is now the highest-rated game on Open Critic and one of the top five games on Metacritic. It has also just enjoyed the biggest launch of a Zelda game in franchise history.

]]> Sun, 14 May 2023 17:49:13 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/the-legend-of-zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom-totk-biggest-launch-history/ The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild completely transformed the Zelda series. With an open world and a bunch of different ways to approach challenges, it was like no Zelda game before it. Even so, it's safe to say that it managed to win over the fanbase, quickly solidifying itself as one of the most popular games on the platform. So, when it came to a follow-up, it was no surprise that Nintendo stuck with these changes.

]]> Sun, 14 May 2023 17:03:22 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/the-legend-of-zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom-new-format-going-forward-sequel/ It's safe to say that many of us across the world were excited for Tears Of The Kingdom from the day it was announced to the moment it was launched. That being said, Breath Of The Wild is still quite fresh in our minds for the huge impression it left.

]]> Sun, 14 May 2023 16:00:17 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/tears-of-the-kingdom-breath-of-the-wild-comparison/ The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild launched on the Wii U, a swansong for that ill-fated console, while being a launch title for the Nintendo Switch. The brilliance of the game helped to jumpstart sales of the hybrid and Nintendo has not looked back. Some six years later and the Switch is the third best-selling console of all time, Breath of the Wild has been hailed as the greatest game of all time, and its successor Tears of the Kingdom is a global phenomenon.

]]> Sun, 14 May 2023 15:38:47 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/legend-of-zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom-hides-breath-of-the-wilds-glider/ The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has sadly removed one of the most popular speedrunning strats from Breath of the Wild - the infamous unlimited whistle sprint.

]]> Sun, 14 May 2023 12:27:44 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/the-legend-of-zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom-whistle-sprint-removed/ Although it has been severely overhauled for the sequel, Tears of the Kingdom's Hyrule is incredibly similar to the one many of us traversed in Breath of the Wild. Certainly not a bad thing, and turns out the map isn't the only thing that has been carried over from the prior game either. All of your horses are in the new Hyrule waiting for you, kept safe in their stables until it was time to begin your new adventure.

]]> Sun, 14 May 2023 09:13:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/the-legend-of-zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom-horses-breath-of-the-wild/ The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has made some pretty big changes to one of Breath of the Wild's most iconic locations - the Shrine of Resurrection.

]]> Sat, 13 May 2023 12:33:17 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/the-legend-of-zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom-resurrection-shrine-quest-yiga-takeover/ Tears of the Kingdom is equally accomplished as Breath of the Wild, which revolutionised the current landscape of open world games with its innovative approach to gameplay and exploration that put player expression at the forefront. Sure, it had towers we could climb to unveil the map, but how we got there and what actions we performed as the world was revealed to us was a total mystery. Nobody played it the same way.

]]> Fri, 12 May 2023 16:00:16 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/tears-of-the-kingdom-breath-of-the-wild-obsolete-zelda-upgrades-improvements/ Well, the results are in. Tears of the Kingdom is just Breath of the Wild again. Oh sure, the characters are more developed, the narrative more nuanced, the powers Link has at his disposal even more inventive and far more open to creativity than before. But the general consensus is that Breath of the Wild is the best game of all time, and Tears of the Kingdom is better. It's no bad thing to build on Breath of the Wild, especially when you can do it so successfully. Yet it confirms that The Legend of Zelda as an entity has changed, and that leaves a mighty void behind.

]]> Fri, 12 May 2023 14:30:16 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/replace-classic-zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom-totk/ The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has made a small but very appreciated change to the way that treasure chests work, fixing one of Breath of the Wild's big inventory problems.

]]> Fri, 12 May 2023 11:07:08 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/the-legend-of-zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom-fixes-breath-of-the-wild-treasure-chest-loot-inventory-problem/ The long, long wait for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is almost over, but no matter how much of an agonizing time you think you’ve had waiting for launch, I guarantee you that Redditor u/theDuckPancake has had a much more taxing experience.

]]> Fri, 12 May 2023 00:55:56 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/the-legend-of-zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom-totk-fan-drew-daily-pictures-914-days-rests/ As part of Tears of the Kingdom’s somewhat idiosyncratic marketing push, some of the lead developers did a very last-minute Q&A on Wednesday to answer fans’ burning questions about the game - barely 24 hours before it launches. It’s always a rare treat to hear Nintendo developers speak about their work, but at this point I understand that some people would prefer to experience the game for themselves this weekend. When Nintendo’s Twitter account shared the interview, it included a simple quote from developer Satoru Takizawa: “The dungeons are huge and each carry their own regional look and feel.” Apparently this is being considered a spoiler, and Zelda fans on Twitter are inconsolable.

]]> Thu, 11 May 2023 19:50:51 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/legend-of-zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom-dungeons-spoiler/ The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is a big boy. I clocked in 80 hours before even realising you could build your own home in Tarrey Town. Entire regions and quest lines can be missed if you fail to talk to a specific NPC or rush through things without stopping to smell the Bomb Flowers. This wasn’t a luxury I was afforded while playing ahead of the embargo.

]]> Thu, 11 May 2023 16:30:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom-playtime-gameplay-pacing/ Shrines. They were a big part of Breath of the Wild’s sprawling open world. Some were easy to find, some were harder to find, but all of them had one thing in common: a grating beeping sound that would drive anyone to a strategy guide just to make it go away.

]]> Thu, 11 May 2023 16:29:33 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/the-legend-of-zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom-totk-shrines-easier-to-find-less-annoying-sound/ The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom pushes the Nintendo Switch further than it has any right to. Boasting one of the largest open worlds I’ve ever seen spread across a trio of distinct layers, it chugs a little bit when the going gets tough. No worse than what came before, but the fact we’re still experiencing the same performance hurdles more than half a decade later speaks to the age of this platform. It needs an update, however Tears of the Kingdom shows that it is still capable of competing with the bigger boys.

]]> Thu, 11 May 2023 15:00:16 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/tears-of-the-kingdom-performance-graphics-nintendo-switch-2-upgrade/ The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was a huge hit, selling over 29 million copies while garnering glowing reviews from critics and players alike. It even became the highest-rated game on OpenCritic when it launched in 2017, now dethroned by Super Mario Odyssey and, as of writing, Tears of the Kingdom. However, initial playtests weren't so positive.

]]> Thu, 11 May 2023 13:26:37 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/the-legend-of-zelda-breath-of-the-wild-negative-playtests/ Princess Zelda has constructed a series of solemn memorials across Hyrule after the defeat of Calamity Ganon. These stone slabs hold only a single sentence and a solitary flower atop the cobblestone. While insignificant, stumbling across these monuments on your journey is a reminder of all that’s been lost, and what Link and company are still fighting for.

]]> Thu, 11 May 2023 12:00:36 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/the-legend-of-zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom-review/ While classic games in The Legend of Zelda series have offered us hookshots, bomb pouches, and even a ridable beyblade, Breath of the Wild took a slightly different approach - Apps!

]]> Wed, 10 May 2023 23:45:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/zelda-breath-of-the-wild-every-sheikah-slate-ability-ranked/ If you think the setting for Tears of the Kingdom looks a lot like the Zelda game you have been playing for the last six years, you'd be right. The Breath of the Wild sequel takes place in the same Hyrule as the previous game, but that doesn't mean it's going to be identical. New and unfamiliar layers have been added to the Hyrule we know and love, a concept that was apparently inspired by Wii Sports Resort.

]]> Wed, 10 May 2023 15:01:48 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/tears-of-the-kingdom-hyrule-inspired-wii-sports-resort/ Unless you’ve been living in a cave these past few weeks, you’ll know that The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom leaked ahead of release. Not only did a fan or two manage to get their hands on an early copy, the entire ROM has been shared online that anyone is able to download and play so long as their Switch has been tampered with. This was bound to happen, as it did with Xenoblade Chronicles 3, with the last two weeks a minefield of big spoilers for anyone hoping to go in unaware. It’s not just gameplay clips and mechanics – entire cutscenes and plot synopsis are now out in the wild, and Nintendo has taken action.

]]> Tue, 09 May 2023 17:16:13 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/nintendo-switch-emulation-tears-of-the-kingdom-copyright-strikes/ It’s that time of year again. I consider certain rounds of discourse to be seasonal holidays for me and my fellow gamers. Should Dark Souls have difficulty settings? Is Joel truly a hero in The Last of Us? Am I a leftist anti-christ determined to spread my woke agenda long before vanishing into the night? These are all important questions, but none have definitive answers.

]]> Tue, 09 May 2023 16:15:14 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/zelda-weapon-degradation-tears-of-the-kingdom-fuse-ultrahand/ The Legend of Zelda has a pretty confusing timeline, something that might be off-putting for new players who have been swept up in the Tears of the Kingdom hype. Turns out there's no need to worry as the sequel's creators have confirmed newcomers will be fine, even if they haven't played the game on which Tears of the Kingdom will build, Breath of the Wild.

]]> Tue, 09 May 2023 11:49:09 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/nintendo-tears-of-the-kingdom-welcoming-newcomers/ The hype for Tears of the Kingdom will be hitting fever pitch by the time you read this as the game launches next week, and it's far too late to delay it again. Well damn, at least I hope it is. Despite not beginning my Breath of the Wild playthrough until last year, and then admittedly not understanding what all the fuss was about, I have well and truly been swept up by the hype for its sequel. I mean, how could you watch that final trailer and not be left with goosebumps by the end of it? I reckon I could show it to my nan, and even she would be itching for a Switch once that title card hits. Maybe I should test that theory.

]]> Sun, 07 May 2023 15:30:14 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/i-get-breath-of-the-wild-now/ The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was the rare game that encouraged exploration of every nook and cranny. Between Korok Seeds, falling meteors, shrines, dragons, fairy fountains, and banana-obsessed cultists, Breath of the Wild was a game that held a seemingly near-infinite amount of secrets if you were willing to depart from Hyrule's well-worn dirt roads. The Hero’s Path, added with the game’s first DLC, The Master Trials, was a welcome addition because it allowed you to keep track of where exactly you'd ventured off.

]]> Sun, 07 May 2023 14:00:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom-heros-path-from-start-botw/ The Legend of Zelda timeline is convoluted, to say the least. It’s fairly easy to get your head around the fact that Skyward Sword, released in 2011, is the first game chronologically in the series, but what happens after Ocarina of Time? There are three subsequent timelines? And where do Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom fit in? Wait, we don’t know?

]]> Sat, 06 May 2023 16:00:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/zelda-timeline-split-fourth-you-never-knew-about/ To the delight of some, but horror of many, it has been confirmed that Tears of the Kingdom will feature Korok Seeds. The seeds were collectables that you could find around the world, but seeing them and grabbing them were often two very different stories. Though there were 900 Korok Seeds in total, you only needed 441 to max out your inventory space, which was the main reason anyone bothered to collect them. 'Only' 441 collectibles is still an agonising amount to put yourself through, but it's less than half of the overall total. For players who persisted and collected them all though, the game thanked them with... poop.

]]> Sat, 06 May 2023 14:00:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/tears-kingdom-korok-seed-reward-breath-wild-zelda/ The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s voice acting isn’t great. But unless you’re counting the maligned CD-i games (which I’m not), it’s the first time Nintendo has ever voiced its most iconic characters. Knowing this, the modern classic not only does a commendable job with its vocal performances, but it raises the series’ benchmark when it comes to storytelling and creating lore that anyone can care about. It is far more involved, emotional, and impactful in the plight of its narrative, largely thanks to the actors helping bring it to life.

]]> Fri, 05 May 2023 14:00:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/breath-of-the-wild-voice-acting-cutscenes-story-characters/ Out of 120 Shrines in Breath of the Wild, 42 are tied to Shrine Quests which often play out like extended puzzles. In most cases, these Shrines are completely out of sight and only appear whenever their Shrine Quest is completed, but there are some Shrine-guarding NPCs that will bar you from entering a Shrine until you satisfy them.

]]> Wed, 03 May 2023 18:15:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/breath-of-the-wild-noble-pursuit-perfect-drink-guide/ The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has leaked ahead of launch. Fans have dumped the ROM online, which can be plugged into emulators and accessed without restriction. This also happened with Xenoblade Chronicles 3 before embargoes had lifted, so I can’t say I’m that surprised. It still sucks though, and I’m shocked to see outlets freely linking leaked cutscenes and gameplay footage from sources while never considering exactly what it means for a blockbuster like this. No matter what, we all end up losing out.

]]> Tue, 02 May 2023 16:16:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/tears-of-the-kingdom-rom-leak-nintendo-spoilers/ The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild features a vast open world with countless possibilities and a plethora of objectives to complete. From helping the locals with side quests to collecting Korok Seeds, there is always something new to discover around every corner.

]]> Mon, 01 May 2023 22:15:14 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/legend-of-zelda-breath-of-the-wild-botw-hardest-shrines/ The latest entry in the Zelda series, Tears of the Kingdom, has been released ahead of schedule, resulting in spoilers popping up all over the place. Physical copies of the game began circulating a couple of days ago, a full two weeks ahead of the official release date on May 12. While some have been sold for hundreds of dollars to eager players, others have been used with emulators and shared online, several audacious or perhaps foolhardy content creators even streaming the game on platforms like Twitch and Kick. As you might expect, the videos were taken down within a matter of minutes.

]]> Mon, 01 May 2023 21:12:23 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/the-legend-of-zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom-leaks-ahead-launch/ You may be wondering why the sequel for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is named Tears of the Kingdom. While the actual reason probably has something to do with Ganondorf returning and messing up the kingdom of Hyrule, those who've collected all 900 Korok seeds in the previous game will agree that it's because of the tears you shed when you get a golden poop for all your hard work.

]]> Mon, 01 May 2023 09:23:16 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom-fans-dont-want-hestus-gift-golden-poop-korok-seeds/ Video game levels and areas that require you to go underwater, but are coupled with an inability to remain underwater for as long as you like, have played an integral role in shaping who I am as a person. I know I'm not the only gamer in their 30s who has a healthy fear of video game water. I don't want to send too many shivers down your spines of if you're my age, partly because our backs have sadly already reached a point where they inexplicably hurt all the time, but if you still wake up in a cold sweat having dreamt you were back in Ocarina of Time's water temple, you're not alone.

]]> Sun, 30 Apr 2023 18:00:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/video-game-water-improvements/ In the aftermath of The Super Mario Bros. Movie's massive success, fans have started planning out which series Nintendo should adapt for the big screen next. Per a recent poll on ResetEra, fans are hoping that, if Zelda is in the cards, the Big N will opt to adapt the more realistic style of Twilight Princess or Breath of the Wild, not The Wind Waker's cel-shaded look.

]]> Sat, 29 Apr 2023 16:00:14 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/the-dungeons-dragons-movie-is-a-blueprint-for-adapting-breath-of-the-wild/ There's a lot that we still don't know about The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Like what exactly those floating islands over Hyrule are, or if there's some time travel related plot, or what happened to Yunobo. However, if the previous game is anything to go by, Nintendo probably wants us to answer all these questions for ourselves by exploring Hyrule.

]]> Sat, 29 Apr 2023 13:30:52 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/the-legend-of-zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom-spoilers-surface-online/ Even the most well-loved games will include a feature or two that annoys players to the point that they want to put their controller down never to return. If there's a trope in a game that annoys you, odds are it annoys thousands of other people too. Players have been sharing what exactly bugs them most when it comes to mechanics that pop up a lot, and almost drove them away from games they otherwise love unconditionally.

]]> Fri, 28 Apr 2023 12:58:25 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/players-share-most-hated-game-mechanics/ Nintendo has made it clear that The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom will be a far less solitary experience. Loneliness isn’t the order of the day this time around, and given we spent much of Breath of the Wild assembling allies and saving Hyrule, I don’t think any of us really expected it to maintain its aura of distant melancholy. The trailer features dialogue in defiance of this isolation as Link fights alongside friends who were once confined to cutscenes. A new generation of champions have assembled, and Link no longer has the fate of an entire kingdom resting solely on his shoulders.

]]> Mon, 24 Apr 2023 16:00:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/breath-of-the-wild-lonely-atmosphere-will-be-missed/ The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has been out for long enough that we can safely discuss every single aspect of the game without fear of spoiling its best parts for everyone. As an open-world game, it lives and dies by its map, locations, and how many interesting things there are in these places. Thankfully, BotW tries to pack every inch of its world with things to do and sights to see.

]]> Sun, 23 Apr 2023 20:30:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/breath-of-the-wild-best-areas-locations/ There are just 20 days left before The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom arrives. Fans have been pouring over every trailer Nintendo has released, piecing together both the upcoming story and the new map in Tears of the Kingdom, and those fans now have a few new trailers to examine.

]]> Sun, 23 Apr 2023 19:06:06 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/new-tears-of-the-kingdom-footage-japanese-zelda-site/ Ganondorf has a big role to play in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. I feel there is an important distinction to make between Calamity Ganon, the unknowable spectre of evil that threatened to destroy Hyrule in Breath of the Wild, and the hunky green dude appearing in the sequel. Ganon is the beast form, and Ganondorf is just the guy. No funny business.

]]> Sun, 23 Apr 2023 14:00:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/tears-of-the-kingdom-ganondorf-redemption-arc/ The overarching lore of The Legend of Zelda isn't exactly the most linear or fleshed out. The canonical order of the series has been established mostly based on guesses and references, and even then there are certain inconsistencies. And yet, there is a loose thread to tie it all together. With this in mind, Breath of the Wild players have been scouring Hyrule for clues ever since Tears of the Kingdom was announced.

]]> Sun, 23 Apr 2023 06:35:43 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/the-legend-of-zelda-totk-tears-of-the-kingdom-reference-botw-ganondorf/ When you start a new game for the first time, you often need to learn everything before you can get going, and learn the rest as you continue. Even if you know which buttons usually do what in games, the characters, world, and mechanics will all be something that you can't entirely know for sure. Some tutorials will walk you through the process in a standard way, or some will even do it without feeling like a tutorial at all.

]]> Sat, 22 Apr 2023 21:30:13 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/game-characters-no-memory-amnesia/ The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild is a huge game with a lot to find and encounter. Among all your main quests, one of the more lore-enriching is the Capture Memories quest. You receive images depicting specific locations that contain memories of the past shared between Link and Zelda.

]]> Sat, 22 Apr 2023 13:00:14 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/legend-of-zelda-breath-of-the-wild-loz-botw-all-captured-memory-locations-guide/ When you’re favorite game ends, it's difficult to know where to go next. While starting a whole new adventure is always a good option, sometimes you just want to stay in the same world with the same cast of characters you’ve come to know and love. Fortunately, thanks to expansive expansions and delightful DLC, there are a plethora of ways to continue your favorite games in meaningful ways.

]]> Fri, 21 Apr 2023 21:30:14 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/lengthy-dlcs-worth-sinking-the-hours-into/ Life-simulation video games tend to cross the line between fun and work, which has definitely divided gamers as to whether it's for them. However, more RPGs over the years have been implementing more simulation-style elements to further immerse players into the game, while also not alienating players who aren’t quite into the slow burn satisfaction and fun of Animal Crossing.

]]> Fri, 21 Apr 2023 18:30:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/open-world-games-house-building/ After sleeping in the Shrine of Awakening for 100 years in Breath of the Wild, Link finally rouses to fulfill his destiny and save Hyrule from Calamity Ganon's grasp. To the surprise of many, it turns out that he has lost all of his memories during his slumber, including the ones involving Princess Zelda.

]]> Fri, 21 Apr 2023 16:30:14 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/zelda-breath-of-the-wild-best-captured-memories/ I hear Hyrule is going through a drought right now. You’d assume as much given how thirsty everyone seems to be. Zelda fans have always been a horny bunch, or maybe I just move in social circles that perpetuate thirst like nothing else, but recent weeks have reached a new height of debauchery. Tears of the Kingdom is full of cuties, and I am looking very respectfully.

]]> Fri, 21 Apr 2023 16:00:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/tears-of-the-kingdom-hot-characters-ganon-zelda-link/ The Legend Of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is a game with many different resources and items to manage. You will constantly have to monitor your health, stamina, temperature, armor level, and weapon degradation, among many other things.

]]> Thu, 20 Apr 2023 22:30:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/legend-zelda-best-ways-use-ancient-cores-breath-wild/ Nintendo recently revealed that Link’s journey in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom will begin “on one of the many mysterious floating islands that have suddenly appeared in the skies high above Hyrule”. A description on the official Tears of the Kingdom website says, "It’s there our hero will have to gain new abilities before returning to the surface world to begin his epic adventure.”

]]> Thu, 20 Apr 2023 17:31:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom-sky-great-plateau-botw/ The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild redefined the series in more ways than one. From its open world to the non-linear structure, Breath of the Wild calls back to an era of gaming the medium had long since forgotten. Your freedom of choice becomes the series' modus operandi once again, allowing you to save the world at your own pace.

]]> Thu, 20 Apr 2023 17:31:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/breath-of-the-wild-best-recipe-guide/ There are hundreds of fan theories swirling around Tears of the Kingdom, and I am lapping them all up. From the sublime to the ridiculous, I can’t get enough. Zelda’s been zapped to the past? I see it. Midna’s returning? Sure, why not. You heard the Spirit Tracks theme in the latest trailer? Hit me. From Twili to Zonai, there’s a lot going on and we know fractions of the story, but that hasn’t stopped us from speculating.

]]> Thu, 20 Apr 2023 17:00:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/tears-of-the-kingdom-theory-may-spell-demises-return-and-ganons-doom/ Everyone has their favourite part of Elden Ring. For some of you it might have been a difficult boss battle you eventually overcame. For others, discovering one of its many sprawling regions for the first time. Maybe it was constructing the perfect build, finding the ideal weapon, or some myth you constructed in the game's world by virtue of its open narrative that makes its players co-writers. For me, it was before the game came out.

]]> Thu, 20 Apr 2023 14:00:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/tears-of-the-kingdom-elden-ring-map-hype/ When The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild came out back in 2017, I didn’t have the money to buy a new console, so I played Nintendo’s big launch game on my aging Wii U. Now, as Tears of the Kingdom approaches, I feel like the same thing is about to happen again.

]]> Wed, 19 Apr 2023 17:30:16 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom-too-much-launch-switch/