Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom trailer: All the new gameplay details

Nintendo’s debuted a few trailers for Tears of the Kingdom: The Legend of Zelda in the lead-up to its May 12 release date, but it’s kept a lot of the game’s actual gameplay under wraps. But that’s now changed, as Nintendo has dropped a 10-minute video featuring an in-depth look into Tears of the Kingdom’s gameplay. Legend of Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma walked us through the 10 minutes of action, detailing everything from Link’s updated abilities to new monster types.

Aonuma, playing as Link, used the demonstration to focus heavily on Link’s new abilities, like weapon fusing and movement. You can do almost anything! Tears from the KingdomAccording to the trailer, it is. There’s so much to break down; the cool thing about these abilities is that they’re applicable in so many different situations… traversal, fighting, and crafting.

Of course, Nintendo’s Tears from the KingdomThe showcase video is very short. Nintendo often broadcasts more detailed information about its games than it does with showcase. Splatoon 3 Xenoblade Chronicles 3. There’s plenty to analyze in Tears from the Kingdom’s 10 minutes — but there’s certainly also plenty that Nintendo’s decided to keep secret.

But for now, here are all the new details we’ve spotted in Tuesday’s new Tears from the Kingdom trailer.

Remember

Link now has the ability to recall object movements. You highlight the object, then click a button to rewind its movement; in the gameplay demonstration, Aonuma uses a rock that’s fallen from the sky island to travel upward into the sky. That’s the one way the ability was used in the gameplay trailer, but there must be many more ways this can be used — maybe in combat?

Fusion of weapons

Weapon fusing is one of the more exciting abilities that we’ll get to play around with. Aonuma first fused a stick to rock to create a weapon-like weapon. Then, he transformed a long stick and pitchfork into long-range spears. But things get more interesting when Aonuma demonstrates how items work when fused to weapons: When using Link’s bow, you can attach items to arrows, like Keese eyeballs and Chuchu jelly. White Chuchu jelly and an arrow can freeze enemies. Fusing an arrow to a Keese-eyeball will create a homing, or revolving, arrow which locks on an enemy for easier aiming.

Aonuma demonstrated the ability to use a Puffshroom as a shield and to wrap the enemy with smoke when struck.

Ultrahand

Ultrahand can basically be thought of as a non-combat crafting version for weapon fusion. Link can make things — anything — using items from around Hyrule. Are you able to recall the cars and planes of an earlier era? Tears from the Kingdom trailer? Those don’t necessarily exist in the world; they’re fused vehicles created using Ultrahand.

Aonuma displayed this skill by making a boat out of logs. Two fans were found and he used them to propel the craft. However, another demonstration showed that a sail could be attached to it. Here is where creativity and player innovation will become so crucial. It looks like fused-together vehicles could get. It is really complex.

Ascend

Link’s Ascend ability lets him AscendTo reach the top floor, he must pass through a ceiling. He can’t move through walls, but he can get through ceilings. If you’re stuck in a cave, you can use the ability to get to the surface of the hill above. Aonuma mentioned that Ascend was used to free herself from a trap.

New enemies

Constructs are a new enemy type shown in Tuesday’s trailer. They appeared pretty basic when first introduced, but later on in the trailer, Aonuma revealed that these enemies — and likely others — can also used fused weapons. Link was swept away by the fan created when the Construct fused what appeared to be a stick and a plank.

Weapon degradation

Oh, weapon decay. It’s back, as confirmed in the trailer. Link’s stick from the air islands broke PrettyHe fused the stick to a rock quickly during the demonstration. The stick seemed to break quicker than normal, but we weren’t shown enough to really get a feel for the intricacies just yet. This could be because fusion can make weapons last longer.

Coordinates

Look closely to the minimap and you’ll see there are coordinates listed on the map — a true improvement in navigation in Hyrule.