The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

• 1. Introduction

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  In The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, fusing a rocket to a shield is enough to send Link soaring through the air. That one trick says a great deal about this 2023 action-adventure game for the Nintendo Switch. Nintendo EPD built it around invention rather than instruction. The player controls Link as he searches for Princess Zelda and fights to stop Ganondorf from destroying Hyrule, the kingdom where the series is set. The deeper questions are about how the game came to exist. Why did a team that had just finished one enormous game choose to build a second in the same world? How do you make a sequel that feels familiar and new at once? And what happens when you hand millions of players tools that let them bend the rules?

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• 2. Leftover Ideas

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  After Breath of the Wild (2017) was finished, the developers at Nintendo EPD began listing features they might add as downloadable content, usually called DLC. There were so many ideas that they decided to make a whole new game instead. Nintendo's Entertainment Planning & Development division, through its Production Group Number 3, made both games. Hidemaro Fujibayashi directed and Eiji Aonuma produced, each returning to the role he held before.

  Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of Zelda, saw early demos but played a reduced part. He was busy producing The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023). He was credited as general producer, a position he had held in the series since the late 2000s.

  Working on a game so close to its predecessor gave the team what they called "strong déjà vu". Aonuma said they wanted something original that was also similar to the last game. He realized some aspects "were already as they should be". Fujibayashi added that the team sometimes struggled to tell the two games apart.

  The team looked outward for ideas. Technical director Takuhiro Dohta cited Wii Sports Resort (2009) as an inspiration for new mechanics. Aonuma pointed to the open worlds of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (2011) and Red Dead Redemption 2 (2018). He also recalled The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, whose hardware limits meant Link could only dive from specific points. The Switch let the new game connect its world both horizontally and vertically.

  Players supplied another spark. After Breath of the Wild came out, the developers watched videos on social media of what people had accomplished in it, and they wanted to build tools that encouraged that kind of experimentation. One of those tools began as a debug feature that Aonuma and Fujibayashi used to get out of caves quickly. Turning it into a real feature meant making sure a player would never land on empty space because of loading issues.

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• 3. Sky, Surface, Depths

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  Three layers make up the world of Tears of the Kingdom. Link still explores Hyrule's surface, and he can climb, ride horses, or use a paraglider to soar through the air. Characters and locations from Breath of the Wild return, modified to fit the new story.

  Above Hyrule float the sky islands, which hold puzzles, treasure, enemies, and bosses. Below it lies the Depths, a vast underground region that is dark enough to require items for light. Lava is one hazard there. Another is gloom, a harmful substance that temporarily reduces Link's maximum hearts. Returning to the surface of Hyrule removes the effect.

  Four main dungeons, the Water Temple, Wind Temple, Fire Temple, and Lightning Temple, must be completed to advance the story. According to Dohta, each was given regional characteristics that match its environment. They connect to the surface and can be tackled in any order. The designers also wanted them to be entered seamlessly, so a player can descend from the sky straight into a dungeon and leave just as easily.

  Familiar progress systems return from Breath of the Wild. Korok seeds and Shrines are scattered across Hyrule. Once a player collects four Lights of Blessing from Shrines, a Goddess Statue will exchange them for more maximum hearts or stamina. Korok seeds can be traded for a larger inventory of melee weapons, shields, and bows. A new recipe system now tracks the ingredients needed for meals and elixirs.

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• 4. The Power of Hands

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  Zonai devices are the heart of the building system. They can be used in combat, in exploration, and in puzzles. They also let the player construct vehicles such as rockets, sleds, and fans. The designers had to balance the player's creativity against limits that stop people from exploiting the game.

  The Sheikah Slate abilities of Breath of the Wild were replaced by five new powers. Ultrahand lets the player pick up and move objects or attach them together, which is how Zonai devices become vehicles and other constructs. Fuse merges materials, equipment, and objects from the world onto a weapon or shield. Recall rewinds an object's movement, so a falling rock can be sent back upward.

  Ascend lets Link rise up through solid surfaces and reach areas that were previously inaccessible. Autobuild instantly recreates a device made with Ultrahand. It uses nearby devices and objects where it can, and it makes replacements for missing parts at the cost of a material called zonaite.

  Hands also became a theme for the whole game. Aonuma said the idea of connecting appears in the mechanics, story, visuals, and sound, and in a plot about connecting to Hyrule's history. Dohta explained that joining hands with other characters matters as much as Link building things with his own. Link's right arm is what sets this version of the hero apart from earlier ones.

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• 5. The Imprisoning War

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  The story begins a number of years after Breath of the Wild, at the end of the Zelda timeline. Link and Zelda explore a cavern beneath Hyrule Castle, where gloom has been seeping out and making people ill. Murals there show the founding of Hyrule and the Imprisoning War, an ancient battle against a being called the Demon King. Zelda connects it to the mysterious Zonai race.

  Deeper in the cavern, they find a mummy held down by a disembodied arm. It awakens and attacks. Link's right arm is wounded and the Master Sword is shattered. Hyrule Castle rises into the sky, and Zelda falls into the depths below, vanishing with a mysterious artifact.

  The arm rescues Link, and he wakes on the Great Sky Island to find it has replaced his damaged limb. There he meets the spirit of Rauru, a Zonai and the source of the new arm. Link then returns to the surface and learns that the event, called the Upheaval, has brought chaos to Hyrule.

  Link reunites with allies. They are Sidon, prince and later king of the Zora, and Tulin, a young Rito archer and the son of Teba. Yunobo, a Goron, now runs a mining company called YunoboCo. Riju is the young chief of the Gerudo. In ancient Zonai temples, the allies defeat monsters, find secret stones, and meet the spirits of ancient sages, who name the allies as their successors.

  Sightings of Zelda lead Link to Hyrule Castle. There she turns out to be an illusion made by Phantom Ganon, a servant of Ganondorf, the mummy from the cavern. Ganondorf is the Demon King. After Link defeats Phantom Ganon, he builds a mechanical body for Mineru, the last sage, whose spirit remains in the physical world through projection.

  The truth about Zelda comes through Mineru, the sages, and items called Dragon's Tears. The artifact was a secret stone that carried her to the distant past. There she met Rauru, Hyrule's first king, and Sonia, its first queen. Ganondorf killed Sonia and used her secret stone to become the Demon King. Rauru named his older sister Mineru, Zelda, and the leaders of the Zora, Rito, Gorons, and Gerudo as sages. With their help he sealed Ganondorf away, at the cost of his own life.

  Zelda later received the shattered Master Sword from the future. She asked the sages to help Link once Ganondorf woke again. To repair the sword and bring it to the present, she swallowed her secret stone and underwent "draconification". She became the immortal Light Dragon and lost her sense of self.

  In the present, Link frees the Great Deku Tree in Korok Forest from gloom and takes the repaired Master Sword from the Light Dragon. Beneath Hyrule Castle, he and his allies fight an army of monsters and then Ganondorf. Close to defeat, Ganondorf swallows his own secret stone and becomes the Demon Dragon. With the Light Dragon's help, Link shatters the Demon Dragon's stone with the Master Sword.

  The spirits of Rauru and Sonia help restore Zelda and Link's right arm before fading away. Link and Zelda fall to the surface and reunite. Later, on the Great Sky Island, Mineru says farewell and fades, while the new sages vow to protect Hyrule.

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• 6. Delays and a Leak

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  At E3 2019, Nintendo teased an untitled sequel to Breath of the Wild. At E3 2021, a trailer revealed gameplay, story elements, and a 2022 release window. By March 2022 the game was finished, yet Nintendo delayed it for a year so the team could refine it. The window later moved into 2023.

  The Nintendo Direct presentation of September 2022 finally gave the title Tears of the Kingdom and a release date of the 12th of May 2023. Another Nintendo Direct in February 2023 teased more gameplay. Two weeks before release, a playable version of the game leaked online as a disk image.

  The game's life continued on newer hardware. An enhanced edition for the Nintendo Switch 2 arrived in June 2025, with improved resolution and framerate, HDR support, and extra functions through the Nintendo Switch App. A spin-off called Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment followed on the 6th of November 2025, also for the Switch 2.

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• 7. Critics Weigh In

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  Metacritic, the review aggregator, listed the Switch version as having received "universal acclaim". Numerous critics judged it equal to or better than Breath of the Wild. Reviewers praised the sky islands, the Depths, and the caves for expanding the open world of its predecessor.

  IGN said the game beat Breath of the Wild on story and mechanics, and it praised how well the Depths fit alongside the surface. GameSpot lauded the way it built on its predecessor. VG247 called it a separate experience with immense scale and creative mechanics. Game Informer felt it did not replicate playing the first game but still evoked a compelling response by revisiting old locations. Nintendo Life wrote that the three settings were well connected despite different mechanics and themes.

  Opinions differed on which space was best. Eurogamer thought a player could spend the whole game exploring the Depths, yet would need to return to the surface for useful tools. That reviewer found the skies more fun, comparing their designs to environs from Skyward Sword and The Wind Waker. Video Games Chronicle preferred the Depths, calling them difficult and fun, in contrast to the sky's focus on story.

  The new powers drew praise. GamesRadar+ called them well designed and singled out Ultrahand, though it worried some felt like gaming the system. Polygon likened Ascend to a noclip mode and the others to cheat codes, and said learning them was a main appeal. The Guardian found the freedom to get around any object in several ways novel and fun. GameSpot rated them above those in Breath of the Wild.

  The story was seen as a highlight. GameSpot called it one of the best in the series. Nintendo Life found the narrative and its side quests more compelling than before. Destructoid thought the pacing faster and more enticing than its predecessor's. VG247 found the narrative less important than the gameplay and noted some repetition. Polygon counted the dungeons among the weaknesses and found Link's allies too verbose. Some reviewers criticized the voice acting, and VG247 said the music and atmosphere of the cutscenes made up for it.

  Criticism focused on performance. Nintendo Life said the game highlighted the Switch's limited capabilities, including a falling frame rate, though it called that a minor problem. Polygon wrote of a poor frame rate and load times in some areas. IGN noted the lack of improved performance but found it irrelevant given the quality of the rest. GameSpot found the frame rate satisfactory and applauded the developers for making the game work on an old console.

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• 8. Sales and Prizes

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  More than 10 million copies sold in the first three days, which made Tears of the Kingdom the fastest-selling game in the Zelda franchise. It was also the fastest-selling Nintendo game in the Americas, with over four million copies sold in the United States alone. In Japan, it sold over 2.24 million copies in those three days, 1.1 million of them physical.

  In August 2023, a report suggested the game may have lifted Japan's gross domestic product. Consumer spending on semi-durable goods, a category that includes video games, had risen 2.8% between April and August 2023. The game was the fifth best-selling video game in the United States in 2023. By December 2025 it had sold 22.40 million copies worldwide, making it the Switch's eighth-bestselling game.

  The prizes began before release. The Game Awards named it a Most Anticipated Game candidate in 2020, 2021, and 2022. The Golden Joystick Awards had it in Most Wanted Game in 2021 and 2022. Afterward, Famitsu, IGN, Edge, Game Informer, Giant Bomb, Destructoid, ComicBook.com, Polygon, Shacknews, The Guardian, and Siliconera each selected it as their Game of the Year.

  The game also appeared in many awards lists. It was in contention for Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2023, the D.I.C.E. Awards, and the Game Developers Choice Awards. It was listed for the Japan Game Awards 2024 Grand Award and the Hugo Awards category for Best Game or Interactive Work.

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