Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Gameplay Video Shows New Abilities
Over ten minutes of gameplay from The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom showcased four incredible new powers that will change the way the game is played.
Today, on the Nintendo of America YouTube channel, a video was released showcasing over ten minutes of gameplay from the upcoming The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Producer Eiji Aonuma narrates and controls Link throughout the video. Not everything was revealed, but the video did highlight several new powers, and plenty of great details to get even more excited for this highly-anticipated game. Watch the full video below:
All of these abilities have been shown in previous trailers, but this video finally explained them in greater detail. The first ability shown was called Recall, which allowed Link to reverse time on an object. During the gameplay video, as Link approached one of the floating “sky islands” (the official name given by the video), a small block of stone falls from the sky. By using the Recall power and jumping on top, Link can ride the block up into the sky and access the islands.
Once on the islands, Link encounters a new kind of enemy called a Construct. These strange enemies have appeared in trailers, but it wasn’t clear until now that they would be enemies. Link then breaks out a new power called Fuse to combine a stick with a boulder and defeat the enemy constructs. Fuse seems to be a main way to craft various items in Tears of the Kingdom.
The Fuse power allowed Link to create the “homing arrows” shown in the previous trailer. Fusing a Keese Eyeball with an Arrow will cause it to become a homing arrow. A new kind of mushroom, called a Puff Shroom, was shown fused to a shield. When an enemy construct hit the shield, it created a puff of smoke that obscured the area and gave Link the opportunity to sneak attack.
Taking the crafting concept even further is the ability Ultrahand, which lets Link stick items together. The gameplay showed Link sticking several logs together to create a raft, and then two fans on the back to propel it forward. Apparently, the “car” and hot air balloon shown in the previous trailer were products of this power. This seems to allow for endless creativity, and it’s impossible to imagine what players will come up with.
Finally, the last ability, called Ascend, allows Link to jump through any “ceiling” and appear above. This can be as simple as a thin stone roof, or as huge as a cave at the bottom of a cliff. This seems to create a major alternative to climbing, at least when there is a “ceiling” of some kind.
In the final moments of the video, a new Tears of the Kingdom Edition of the Switch was announced. This edition will release a few weeks before Tears of the Kingdom on April 28th.
With how much was packed into this short video, there’s bound to be so much more to explore when Tears of the Kingdom finally releases for the Nintendo Switch on May 12th.
