The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom facts for kids
Quick facts for kids The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom |
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| Developer(s) | Nintendo EPD |
| Publisher(s) | Nintendo |
| Director(s) | Hidemaro Fujibayashi |
| Producer(s) | Eiji Aonuma |
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| Artist(s) | Satoru Takizawa |
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| Series | The Legend of Zelda |
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| Genre(s) | Action-adventure |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is an exciting action-adventure game released in 2023. It was made by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. In this game, you play as Link. Your main goal is to find Princess Zelda and stop the evil Ganondorf from destroying the land of Hyrule.
Tears of the Kingdom keeps the fun open-world style of its previous game, Breath of the Wild (2017). But it adds cool new places to explore. These include floating islands high in the sky and a dark underground area called the Depths. Link also gets new tools and powers. These help him fight enemies, explore, and even build amazing vehicles.
The idea for Tears of the Kingdom came from too many ideas for Breath of the Wild extra content. The game was developed by Nintendo's Entertainment Planning & Development team. The same director, Hidemaro Fujibayashi, and producer, Eiji Aonuma, worked on it. A first look at the game was shown in 2019. More gameplay was revealed in 2021. The game was first planned for 2022 but was delayed to May 2023. This gave the creators more time to make it perfect.
Like its predecessor, Tears of the Kingdom was highly praised by critics. People loved its huge world, new powers, and interesting story. Some minor issues were noted with its technical performance. The game sold over 10 million copies in just three days. By March 2025, it had sold over 21.73 million copies. This made it the eighth-best-selling game on the Switch. An improved version was released for the Nintendo Switch 2 in 2025. A spin-off game, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment, is set to be released for the Switch 2.
Contents
Exploring Hyrule: Gameplay Basics
Tears of the Kingdom lets you explore a huge open world. It builds on the action-adventure style of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. You play as Link in the land of Hyrule. You can also explore two brand new areas. These are the sky, with many floating islands, and the Depths, a vast area underground.
Link can climb almost anything, ride horses, or use a paraglider to fly. Many characters and places from Breath of the Wild are still here. They have been updated to fit the new story.
Sky Islands and the Depths
The sky area has many floating islands. These islands are full of puzzles, hidden treasures, enemies, and big bosses. The Depths is a very dark place. You need special items to light it up. It has treasures but also dangers like lava and "gloom." Gloom is a harmful substance that lowers Link's maximum hearts. You can remove this effect by returning to the surface of Hyrule.
Tears of the Kingdom also brings back dungeons. These are like big puzzles with bosses, similar to older Zelda games. There are four main dungeons: the Water Temple, Wind Temple, Fire Temple, and Lightning Temple. You must complete these to move forward in the game's story.
Link's New Powers and Tools
The game introduces "Zonai devices." These are special items you can use for fighting, exploring, or solving puzzles. You can even combine them to build vehicles like rockets, sleds, and fans. The old powers from Breath of the Wild are replaced with five new ones: Ultrahand, Fuse, Ascend, Recall, and Autobuild.
- Ultrahand: This power lets you pick up and move different objects. You can also attach them together. This is great for building vehicles or other structures with Zonai devices.
- Fuse: With Fuse, you can combine materials, equipment, or other objects with your weapons or shields. For example, you can attach a rocket to Link's shield to fly high in the air!
- Recall: This power lets you rewind the movement of an object. If a rock is falling, you can use Recall to send it back up.
- Ascend: Ascend allows Link to move straight up through solid surfaces. This helps him reach places that were impossible to get to before.
- Autobuild: This power can instantly rebuild something you made with Ultrahand. It uses nearby objects if they are available. If parts are missing, it can create them using a material called zonaite.
Collecting and Upgrading
Just like in Breath of the Wild, you can find Korok seeds and Shrines all over Hyrule. When you get four Lights of Blessing from Shrines, you can trade them at a Goddess Statue. This lets you increase Link's maximum hearts or stamina. Korok seeds can be traded to expand Link's inventory. This means he can carry more weapons, shields, or bows. A new recipe system helps you keep track of ingredients needed for meals or elixirs.
The Story of Hyrule's Upheaval
Tears of the Kingdom takes place a few years after Breath of the Wild. It is set at the very end of the Zelda timeline. Link and Zelda begin by exploring a cave under Hyrule Castle. A poisonous substance called "gloom" has been leaking from it, making people sick. Inside, they find old pictures showing how Hyrule was founded. They also see a war called the Imprisoning War. This was an ancient battle against a being known as the "Demon King." Zelda thinks this is linked to the mysterious Zonai race.
As they go deeper, they find a mummy held back by a glowing arm. The mummy wakes up and attacks Link and Zelda. Link's right arm is hurt, and the Master Sword is broken. Hyrule Castle is lifted into the sky, and Zelda falls into the deep darkness below. As Link tries to save her, she disappears with a strange artifact. Link is rescued by the glowing arm. He wakes up later on the Great Sky Island. The arm has replaced his damaged one. He meets the spirit of Rauru, a Zonai and the source of his new arm. Rauru helps him explore the Great Sky Island. When Link reaches his goal, the broken Master Sword vanishes. Link then returns to the surface of Hyrule.
Investigating the Chaos
Back on the surface, Link learns that the event in the cavern, called the Upheaval, has caused chaos. He sets out to investigate strange happenings across the kingdom. Link goes into ancient Zonai temples. He reunites with his friends: Sidon, the Zora prince (who later becomes king); Tulin, a young Rito archer; Yunobo, a Goron who now runs a mining company; and Riju, the young chief of the Gerudo. After defeating monsters in the temples, they find special items called secret stones. They also meet the spirits of ancient sages. These sages choose Link's friends as their new successors and give them their secret stones.
Link sees Zelda many times across Hyrule. He finally finds her at Hyrule Castle. But she turns out to be an illusion created by Phantom Ganon. Phantom Ganon is a servant of the Demon King, Ganondorf, the mummy Link saw earlier. After defeating Phantom Ganon, Link searches for Mineru. She is the last ancient sage still in the physical world as a spirit. Link builds a mechanical body for her spirit to live in.
Zelda's Journey and the Final Battle
Through Mineru, the ancient sages, and items called Dragon's Tears, Link learns what happened to Zelda. The artifact she found sent her to the distant past. There, she met Rauru, Hyrule's first king, and Sonia, its first queen. Ganondorf killed Sonia and used her secret stone to become the Demon King. Rauru then chose his older sister Mineru, Zelda, and the leaders of the Zora, Rito, Gorons, and Gerudo to be sages. With their help, Rauru fought Ganondorf and gave his life to seal him away. Later, Zelda received the broken Master Sword from the future. She asked the sages to help Link when Ganondorf woke up again. To fix the Master Sword and bring it to Link in the present, she swallowed her secret stone. This caused her to become the immortal Light Dragon, losing her memories.
In the present, Link cleanses the Great Deku Tree from gloom in Korok Forest. He then gets the Master Sword back from the Light Dragon. He heads under Hyrule Castle to face Ganondorf. With help from Sidon, Tulin, Yunobo, Riju, and Mineru, Link battles an army of monsters. Then he fights Ganondorf himself. As he is about to lose, Ganondorf swallows his secret stone. He becomes the Demon Dragon in a final attempt to kill Link. With help from the Light Dragon, Link uses the Master Sword to break the Demon Dragon's secret stone, defeating it. The spirits of Rauru and Sonia help Link turn Zelda back to normal and heal his arm. They then fade away. Link and Zelda fall back to the surface and reunite. Some time later, on the Great Sky Island, Mineru says goodbye to Zelda and Link before fading away. The new sages promise to protect Hyrule.
How the Game Was Made
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Work on Tears of the Kingdom started after Breath of the Wild was finished. The developers had many ideas for extra content (DLC) for Breath of the Wild. But they had so many ideas that they decided to make a whole new game instead. Like the first game, Tears of the Kingdom was made by Nintendo's Entertainment Planning & Development (EPD) team. Hidemaro Fujibayashi directed it, and Eiji Aonuma produced it.
Aonuma said the team wanted to create something new but keep the main ideas that worked well. Technical director Takuhiro Dohta mentioned Wii Sports Resort as an inspiration for new game mechanics. He also noted that using familiar places helps players when skydiving. Aonuma also looked at other open world games like Red Dead Redemption 2 and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The team also made the world bigger by adding the sky and underground areas. Aonuma compared it to The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. That game had limits that stopped players from diving smoothly from the sky. But with the Nintendo Switch's power, Tears of the Kingdom lets players move freely between the sky, surface, and underground.
Challenges and New Ideas
Because it was similar to Breath of the Wild, the developers sometimes felt a strong sense of déjà vu. Aonuma repeated that the team wanted to make something new but also similar to the last game. Fujibayashi added that it was sometimes hard to tell the games apart. Tears of the Kingdom brought back dungeons to the series. These dungeons are connected to Hyrule's surface. Players can choose to tackle them in any order.
According to Dohta, the dungeons were designed to feel unique to their areas. This is similar to older The Legend of Zelda games. The dungeons were mainly made to show off Link's new powers and gadgets. They were also designed to be entered smoothly. Players can dive from the sky right into a dungeon and easily go in and out.
One main idea for the gameplay was building new items. The development team created more tools in Tears of the Kingdom for this. They were inspired by videos of players' creations in Breath of the Wild shared online. Zonai devices were added to encourage more creativity. The team had to balance player freedom with some limits to prevent players from "breaking" the game.
Themes and Development Details
The theme of "hands" was used to show the idea of connecting. This theme is in the game's mechanics, story, visuals, and sound. Aonuma said the story connects to Hyrule's history. Dohta explained that working with other characters is a big part of the game. Link's ability to create items with his hands is also important. His special right arm helps make him different from past versions of Link.
The Ascend power came from a debug feature. Aonuma and Fujibayashi used it to quickly exit caves. They decided to make it a game feature because they wanted a fast way to reach the surface. Adding it caused some challenges. For example, they had to make sure a player would not land in an empty space due to loading issues.
Tears of the Kingdom was first announced at E3 2019 as an unnamed sequel. Nintendo showed a trailer with gameplay and story details at E3 2021. It was set for a 2022 release. By March 2022, the game was mostly done. But Nintendo delayed it for a year to make it even better. More information was shared in a Nintendo Direct in September 2022. This included the title Tears of the Kingdom and the May 12, 2023, release date. Another Nintendo Direct in February 2023 showed more gameplay. An improved Nintendo Switch 2 edition was released in 2025. It has better graphics and supports HDR. A spin-off game, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment, is set to be released for the Nintendo Switch 2 in 2025.
See also
In Spanish: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom para niños
