The Story Trailer (with spoilers) for Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Nintendo is accelerating its communication towards Zelda: Tears of the Kindgom. After unveiling ten minutes of gameplay A few weeks ago, Nintendo's official YouTube channel released a new trailer for the game. As Eiji Aonuma, who has been the producer of the licence for many years now, announced in the preamble, this is " the ultimate trailer" . It reveals a lot of the gameplay mechanics, environments and characters that will appear in this Breath of the Wild sequel. If you don't want to know too much before you start playing on May 12, we suggest you leave this article.

The Story Trailer for Zelda: Tears of the Kindgom

What we learn about the history of the game

Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom puts you back in the shoes of Link, the Prodigy in charge of Princess Zelda's safety. But Princess Zelda seems to have disappeared in an underground landslide. The landslide is believed to be caused by the release of a mysterious force in the depths of Hyrule that shoots continents into the sky, reactivates ancient drones and brings back to life an enemy familiar to fans.

This is probably the most striking information in this trailer: Ganondorf is back. This iconic enemy, the human incarnation of Ganon, and almost as well known as Link and Zelda, has only appeared in three episodes so far: Ocarina of Time (1998), The Wind Waker (2002) and Twilight Princess (2006). He is therefore making his comeback almost 20 years after his last appearance.

Unsurprisingly, Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is a sequel to Zelda: Breath of the Wild. But we didn't really know how many years separate the games. Most of the characters seem to be unchanged, but it must be said that they are mostly adults. There is, however, one exception: it is by relying on the evolution of Riju, the leader of the Gerudo, that we can estimate the duration of the elipse. Riju was 12 years old at the time of Breath of the Wild, but we see her here as a young adult warrior, ready to take action. We can therefore estimate that between 5 and 10 years between the two episodes.

What the trailer also reveals is the state of Hyrule since Link defeated Ganon. Things haven't changed much and reconstruction is still in its infancy. The villages have not expanded much and Hyrule Citadel is still in ruins. Some places even seem to be suffering the consequences of topographical changes in the region. For example, the village of Cocorico is said to have been the victim of a rain of flying debris following the emergence of the continents and to have survived only thanks to the mountain which protects it.

New gameplay features

After the presentation of Link's new powers, one would have expected the game to have revealed almost all its surprises. And yet, Tears of the Kingdom will be much more than a Breath of the Wild with new powers.

A less lonely adventure

Apart from a few short sequences, Link was resolutely alone in the world in Breath of the Wild. This trailer for Tears of the Kingdom puts a lot of emphasis on cooperation. We're not talking about cooperation between two players, but between Link and the inhabitants of Hyrule. Thus, we can see Link accompanied by villagers and fight alongside them. But we also see sequences where Link is joined by Sidon, Riju and a young bird. In the end, all that's missing is a Goron to unite the five peoples, just like the Prodigies. A line in the trailer even says "you're not alone", emphasising these team battles.

New mechanics and equipment

Link's new abilities will not only involve his powers. Our hero seems much more agile and able to jump higher and further than before. But we also see a few new pieces of equipment that have a real impact on the gameplay. We especially note the presence of a wingsuit which could replace the famous paravoile. Are there any other equipment that will change the way we play?

That's a lot of subterrains, though

Since the first images of the game in 2019, there have been rumours of a game on 3 different plans Ground, air and underground. The first two are confirmed and Eiji Aonuma even mentioned them again in the trailer's introduction, yet there are many sequences in the trailer that take place in caves and what could well pass for subterranean areas...

As a reminder, Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom will be released exclusively on Nintendo Switch on May 12, 2023.