Developer : Nintendo
Release date : June 5, 2025
Synopsis :
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is a 2023 action-adventure game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. The player controls Link as he searches for Princess Zelda and fights to prevent Ganondorf from destroying Hyrule. Tears of the Kingdom retains the open-world gameplay and setting of its predecessor, Breath of the Wild (2017), and features new environments, including an area composed of floating islands in the sky and an underground area beneath Hyrule known as the Depths. The player has access to various devices that aid in combat or exploration and can be used to construct vehicles.
Tears of the Kingdom was conceived after ideas for Breath of the Wild downloadable content had exceeded its scope. Development was led by Nintendo's Entertainment Planning & Development division, with Breath of the Wild director Hidemaro Fujibayashi and producer Eiji Aonuma reprising their roles. The developers were inspired by social media posts to create gameplay mechanics that encouraged experimentation and sometimes struggled to differentiate the sequel from its predecessor. A teaser was shown at E3 2019, while a full reveal featuring gameplay was shown at E3 2021. Tears of the Kingdom was originally planned for release in 2022, but was delayed until May 2023 to allow the developers to refine it.
Like its predecessor, Tears of the Kingdom received critical acclaim. It was praised by critics for its expanded world, new powers, scale, and story, with minor criticism for its technical performance. It sold more than 10 million copies in its first three days of release and over 21.55 million copies by December 2024, making it the Switch's eighth-best-selling game. An enhanced edition of the game was announced for the Nintendo Switch 2, which will feature improved resolution and framerate, as well as HDR support. It will also receive a spin-off, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment, for the Switch 2 in 2025.
Tears of the Kingdom takes place a number of years after Breath of the Wild, at the end of the Zelda timeline. Link and Zelda set out to explore a cavern beneath Hyrule Castle, from which a poisonous substance called « gloom » has been seeping out and causing people to fall ill. There, they find murals depicting the founding of Hyrule and a subsequent conflict known as the Imprisoning War—an ancient battle against a being only referred to as the « Demon King »—which Zelda believes to be related to the mysterious Zonai race. Upon venturing deeper, they discover a mummy being restrained by a disembodied arm. The mummy awakens and attacks Link and Zelda; in the aftermath, Link's right arm is wounded and the Master Sword is shattered. Hyrule Castle is raised into the sky, and Zelda falls into the depths below; as Link tries to catch her, she vanishes along with a mysterious artifact. Link is rescued by the arm, awakening later on the Great Sky Island to find that it has replaced his damaged limb. He meets the spirit of Rauru, a Zonai and the source of his new arm, who helps him traverse the Great Sky Island. Once Link reaches his destination, the shattered Master Sword vanishes and he returns to the surface below.
There, he learns that the event in the cavern, known as the Upheaval, has wrought chaos upon Hyrule, and he sets out to investigate reports of strange phenomena throughout the kingdom. Link ventures into ancient Zonai temples after reuniting with his allies; Sidon, the prince and, later, king of the Zora; Tulin, a young Rito archer and son of Teba, a past ally of Link's; Yunobo, a Goron, now the president of the YunoboCo mining company; and Riju, the young chief of the Gerudo. After defeating the monsters that have taken over the temples, they find artifacts called secret stones and meet the spirits of ancient sages, who appoint Link's allies as their successors and pass down their secret stones. After numerous sightings of Zelda throughout Hyrule, Link finds her at Hyrule Castle, where she reveals herself to be Phantom Ganon, a servant of the Demon King, Ganondorf, who disguised itself as her. After defeating Phantom Ganon, Link sets out to find Mineru, the last of the ancient sages, who remains in the physical world via spiritual projection. He assembles a mechanical body for her spirit to inhabit.
Through Mineru, the ancient sages, and items called Dragon's Tears scattered across Hyrule, Link learns of Zelda's fate. The artifact she encountered was a secret stone that transported her to the distant past, where she met Rauru, Hyrule's first king, and Sonia, its first queen. After Ganondorf killed Sonia and used her secret stone to become the Demon King, Rauru appointed his older sister Mineru, Zelda, and the leaders of the Zora, Rito, Gorons, and Gerudo as sages. With their help, Rauru fought Ganondorf and sacrificed himself to seal him away. Later, Zelda received the shattered Master Sword from the future and tasked the sages with aiding Link once Ganondorf reawakened. In order to repair the Master Sword and bring it to Link in the present, she swallowed her secret stone and underwent « draconification », becoming the immortal Light Dragon and losing her sense of self.
In the present, after ridding the Great Deku Tree from gloom in Korok Forest, Link retrieves the Master Sword from the Light Dragon and heads below Hyrule Castle to confront Ganondorf. With aid from Sidon, Tulin, Yunobo, Riju, and Mineru, Link battles an army of monsters before engaging in combat with Ganondorf by himself. Nearing defeat, Ganondorf swallows his secret stone, becoming the Demon Dragon in a final attempt to kill Link. With help from the Light Dragon, Link uses the Master Sword to shatter the Demon Dragon's secret stone, killing it. The spirits of Rauru and Sonia help Link return Zelda to normal and restore his right arm before fading away; he and Zelda fall to the surface, where they reunite. Some time later, on the Great Sky Island, Mineru bids farewell to Zelda and Link before fading away, while the new sages vow to protect Hyrule.
Source : Wikipedia
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