It has been more than five years since Breath of the Wild kicked off the Nintendo Switch era of The Legend of Zelda but now the wait is almost over and the release of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is almost here.
For those who played Breath of the Wild several times over, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom still offers a wholly new experience with tonnes of new features, enemies, weapons, abilities and more to experience.
Even the world itself has been reinvented because, when you look into the Hyrule sky, you will see floating land masses known as the Sky Islands.
Reaching the Sky Islands will require making use of your new abilities such as Recall – which rewinds time on items – or Ascend which turns Link incorporeal to phase right through objects, like the roof of a cave or building to reach those floating islands.
Another new ability that will completely change how you play is Ultrahand. Use this ability to move, rotate and join together objects in the world. Sure you could use Ultrahand to build a bridge to get across some treacherous water, but why stop there? Instead build a boat to get across in style and power it with the wind or even something more mechanical like a fan.
Ultrahand is the new feature of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom that has us most excited and we can’t wait to see what the community does with it not just to overcome the challenges of the game, but to be creative inside the world of The Legend of Zelda. We can see the players creating unique machines to rival the Guardians and Divine Beasts in Breath of the Wild.
For those who want to express their creativity in combat, try out Fuse. This new ability allows Link to fuse weapons, shields and arrows to other weapons, or even objects in the world. It can be as simple as attaching a boulder to a branch to make a crude, but giant and devastating, hammer, or it can be more abstract like a monster eye fused to an arrow to create a self-guiding projectile.
There’s also a brand new story to experience and new characters to meet, but we’ll let you do that in person when the game releases on 12th May.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom also has amiibo support so you can scan in your favourite amiibos from The Legends of Zelda series for special fabrics to apply to Link’s paraglider, weapons for Link to use or materials to help Link on his journey. With a new emphasis on creation those materials will go a long way, and players will have ample time to enjoy their paraglider fabrics as they hop between the different Sky Islands.
The weapons will also come in handy to fend off the new enemies known as Constructs, which are golem-esque beings which will present a challenge even to Legend of Zelda veterans.
The release of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom even comes with a brand new amiibo of its own and, better yet, you can grab your physical copy of the game and the amiibo from the same place: the Nintendo Online Store South Africa which has pre-orders open right now.
Choose between the regular version of the game or the prestigious Collector’s Edition which is packed with bonuses to bolster your collection.
