Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom release date, story, and every trailer

Legend of ZeldaBreath of the Wild ends with Link and Zelda vowing to restore Hyrule’s majesty — bringing it “even beyond” what it originally was, Zelda says, even though her power is diminished. Though Tears of the Kingdom: The Legend of ZeldaIt has been called a direct sequel of The Wild Breath, Nintendo’s been quite secretive about where and how the story picks up. Nintendo even kept Tears from the Kingdom’s name secret for years, revealing it only in 2022 because the company said its reveal might “give away too much.”

In the time since Nintendo’s Tears from the KingdomThe company announced that it has released strategic information through several trailers. These trailers were analysed and revealed the following: It isWe have some details we can gather about the game prior to its release. Let’s start there.

What date will Tears of the Kingdom be released?

Tears of the Kingdom: The Legend of ZeldaNintendo Switch will get it on May 12th. It’ll cost $69.99, the first first-party Nintendo Switch game to carry that higher-than-normal price. A $129.99 collector’s edition will be available on that day, too. The edition comes with a copy of Tears from the KingdomAn art book, SteelBook Case, an Iconart Steel poster and four pins are included in.

A separate announcement was made by Nintendo. It will be the first time that Link, an amiibo character from Nintendo’s new line of amiibo figures, is available. Tears from the Kingdom. The amiibo will cost $15.99 when it’s released on May 12. You can use the amiibo in-game to change the look of Link’s glider.

Both of the editions — standard and collector’s — as well as the amiibo are available to pre-order now.

Where? The Wild BreathIt was launched in 2017 on Nintendo Switch, as both a launch title and Wii U. Tears from the KingdomNintendo Switch will be the only platform to release it.

What’s the story of Tears of the Kingdom?

Nintendo doesn’t give much information about Zelda games. This is also true for Tears from the Kingdom, which Nintendo describes as an “epic adventure across the land and skies of Hyrule.” Players will “harness the power of Link’s new abilities to fight back against the malevolent forces that threaten the kingdom,” Nintendo says. Much of the story is intentionally vague, and trailers don’t reveal much. A lot of Nintendo’s trailers feel like misdirection.

Visually and tonally Tears from the KingdomIt is darker than The Wild Breath — at least in parts. Trailers of the game depict Link and Zelda in dark, twisted dungeons. But, the trailers also reveal bright light, as Link glides across airborne islands. It seems to be a game of balance, and we’ll see how the joy of exploration, so essential in The Wild BreathThe brooding storyline is mixed with the uplifting.

In a trailer released in February, we see what looks to be Ganon’s corpse, maybe in its Ganondorf form, awakening. Malice spreads, pushing Hyrule Castle into the sky, and even attacking Link — his arm appears to be rotting with malice, all burnt up. Too, the Master Sword has been impacted and is now corrupted.

Does the game play the same way?

Nintendo hasn’t shown much extended gameplay of combat or puzzles, but we have seen new and expanded ways to travel through Hyrule. Link can use a variety of weapons, including swords and shields as well as bows to defeat both old and new enemies. You can also find the trailers here. Tears from the Kingdom trailers, Link has a powerful, glowing green arm — the one that looks burnt in the February trailer. Nintendo hasn’t shown exactly what the arm does or how it works, but it does appear to have powers that will let players solve puzzles, manipulate the environment (and time itself), and use other special abilities, just like The Wild Breath’s Sheikah Slate and Runes did. Fans have their theories, as always.

Tears of the Kingdom is it set in the same Hyrule as Tears of the Kingdom?

It’s set in Hyrule, but it’s not entirely clear what’s changed, or whether it’ll use the same map and terrain from The Wild Breath. We do know that Tears from the KingdomExpands Hyrule higher into the sky above the land. The first trailer showed Hyrule Castle emerging from the ground, and the second showed towers crumbling as malice — like a poison — forces the castle into the sky.

Nintendo showed Link, with and without his parasail, gliding through pillows of cloud before the castle explodes. Chunks of Hyrule are pulled from the ground as if they were carrots, suspended in air closer toward Hyrule’s earth. There are many views showing the altered world. They show the vast expanse of Hyrule broken up into different levels.

Link: How does it work?

Link will continue to travel by horseback and paraglider through Hyrule, just like in The Wild BreathHe may have a few newer rides, however. Tears from the Kingdom. In the third trailer, Link is seen riding a vehicle on land that looks similar to an open-air car and hovercraft, which looks almost like a large drone. Oh, and he’s also seen shredding some gnar on what looks to be his shield, using it like a skateboard.

This diversity of transport methods suggests that Tears from the Kingdom’s map will be big — perhaps bigger than The Wild Breath’s map — and the air vehicles are necessary to access the floating pieces of Hyrule.

Does the Kingdom’s Tears of the Kingdom cause weapons to degrade or break?

Nintendo hasn’t given us any hint here, with the exception of that messed-up Master Sword, which is probably unrelated to regular weapon durability. Intensity and degradability of weapons The Wild Breath It is contentious. Waffenbruch a lot — all weapons. It is a boon for some players. The Wild Breath’s storytelling that keeps players in touch with the cruel reality of Hyrule. Others think it forces players to try out a whole bunch of weapons, maybe some they’d never pick up on their own. But for others, constant weapon shifting — and breaking in the midst of a battle — is grating, especially when it’s a weapon you’ve worked hard to acquire, leading to pointless weapon hoarding.

Which Tears from the Kingdom will stand on that, we just don’t know.

Can I play Breath of the Wild Before Tears of the Kingdom

It certainly wouldn’t hurt, but you should get started now — The Wild BreathThis is an enormous game! Because we don’t know much about the story, it’s hard to say whether new players will be confused or come into a story in medias res. If you don’t want to play The Wild Breath, there’s no shortage of YouTube videos outlining the game and its story. But if you want to speed up your journey, check out Polygon’s extensive guides for The Wild Breath for some help.