Legendary Japanese video game magazine Famitsu has shared an unusual tease for The Legend of Zelda: Tears Of the Kingdom.
At this point, you should know that this news involves mild spoilers. The spoilers were not taken out of any unofficial leaks, but shared by Nintendo on Famitsu itself, so you won’t have to worry about that at least.
As shared on Twitter, this is actually a print ad in the latest Famitsu, which clearly shows a broken Master Sword front and center.
If you have played The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, you would know that Link was separated from his Master Sword in the events of the game. Link had to find the Master Sword all the way in the Lost Woods, and then had to demonstrate he had the power to pull it out, AKA by having thirteen hearts.
Furthermore, if you bought DLC Pack 1, you would know that you could power up the Master Sword even further by accomplishing the Trial of the Sword. If you successfully accomplished all these tasks, not only would you get the Master Sword, but it would never run out of energy and you would always be able to throw out beams with it.
The print ad featured the Master Sword as it appeared throughout the The Legend of Zelda games. It has never been demonstrated to have as much power as it was in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. So for Nintendo to reveal that it was this version of the Master Sword that actually breaks is quite shocking.
As translated by Game Data Library on Twitter, the text on the print ad says this:
“The Master Sword, corrupted”
“In the new title, its appearance will undergo a major transformation.”
And so it seems we will be getting a new look to the Master Sword, unlike anything we have seen before. The new Master Sword may also have new abilities that has not been seen in previous The Legend of Zelda games either.
In terms of game design, Nintendo EPD knows that many players aren’t very happy about weapon degradation in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. In the Trial of the Sword, they may have sought to address that concern, by adding a late way quest to acquire a truly unbreakable weapon. But is it possible that this change to the Master Sword is also about addressing that piece of game design? What if this new Master Sword has an ability that lets us make some weapons permanent? The possibilities are mind boggling, for a Boglin, but it won’t take that long before we find out what Nintendo is teasing.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears Of the Kingdom will be releasing on May 12, 2023, exclusively on the Nintendo Switch.
