When The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild was announced, people were amazed by the new open-world take on the beloved franchise. When they played the game, they were shocked by not only how good it was, but how it livened up the Zelda formula for the better. Well, mostly for the better–the breaking weapons part really annoyed people, but still. The game was called a masterpiece, and many wondered how Nintendo would top it. The answer came in a sequel that was announced, but it wasn’t named, or given a true release date for the longest time. Today, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was revealed during the Nintendo Direct.
It should be noted that Nintendo was holding back on the title allegedly because the name would give away some spoilers. So, what can we infer from the name The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom? The obvious answer is that the Kingdom in the title is that of the Kingdom of Hyrule. As for why it’s crying, you would need to look not only at the new teaser but the one that was shown off previously that showed Zelda descending into a void. Not to mention multiple teasers showing off a Hyrule that was being ripped apart by a still unknown force.
So perhaps they’re crying because they felt that at last, they were going to have their peace and be rid of evil, only for it to be ripped apart by a new threat. If you pause the new teaser at the right moment, you’ll actually see Hyrule Castle floating in the sky and surrounded by a red mist that looks an awful lot like the Calamity from the last game. It definitely is one of the more somber names in the Zelda line, that is for sure.
As for what we can see in the teaser we got during the Nintendo Direct, verticality is definitely going to be a focal point. As we see Link diving off of islands in the sky, climbing up others via various means, and landing on a bird-like item that might be how he gets around this new version of Hyrule. Something that should also be noted from the new logo is that the Master Sword is indeed broken in this game, and something else is filling it out.
Other mysteries include the green entities that fill out the new logo, the mysterious new entity in the paintings at the beginning of the new footage, the multiple outfits that Link seems to be wearing, and more.
The good news is that we can also say officially that The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom will arrive on May 12, 2023 on the Nintendo Switch.
Source: Twitter