With just a matter of weeks to go until we can all explore The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Nintendo has allowed various journalists and content creators to go hands-on with the game. In the resulting previews, a few interesting tidbits have come to light, which we’ve collected below.
Eurogamer’s preview confirms the return of a Breath of the Wild DLC item that should make exploration much easier – the Travel Medallion. In the previous game this allowed players to place a fast travel point wherever they wanted, allowing for a speedy return if there were no shrines nearby. This should prove even more invaluable with the possibility you’ll be flung from sky islands.
Game Informer’s preview, meanwhile, confirms you’ll be able to access a menu of Zonai Devices that have been stored for later use, meaning you won’t have to rely on those you find in the environment. Intriguingly, they also note the presence of a portable cooking pot, letting you brew up meals wherever you are! On the note of Zonai Devices, both previews confirms that the enigmatic Gachapon machines seen in earlier trailers will dispense these parts randomly and are fittingly called Zonai Device Dispensers. As reported by NPR, you’ll be using “Zonaite” to pay for these goodies.
One major confirmation in the Game Informer preview is that there will be caves where it will be too dark to see, meaning you’ll have to bust out the torch or use the new (and throwable) Brightbloom item to explore.
Another trailer mystery is also uncovered – the Korok wearing a backpack! It turns out you’ll be able to grab the huge backpack with Ultrahand and move the Korok around, in this case to get the little guy across. We also finally have confirmation that collectible Korok seeds return.
One part of the game players were asked to keep secret pertains to saving creations to be quickly accessed later – could this be related to the mysterious building platforms left around Hyrule? A common example is spawning one of the gliders seen in the trailers, albeit with fans attached to make it zoom through the skies.
Finally, we might finally have an explanation for the towers – they appear to be Bokoblin camps and, as GameInformer reports, they contain new ways to access the Sky Islands. The specifics were asked to be kept secret too, however.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom will launch on May 12th, 2023, so there’s just a little over two weeks for the rest of us to explore Hyrule once more!
Written by Tom Brown
Whether it’s an exciting new entry in a series long established or a weird experiment meant only for the dedicated, Tom is eager to report on it. Rest assured, if Nintendo ever announces Elite Beat Agents 2, he’ll be there.
