We’re now under two days away from the release of The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom, and the hype for the launch is reaching a fever pitch. So naturally, gamers want nothing more than to see all the things they can do in this version of Hyrule that Ganondorf has wrecked upon his resurrection. However, while many mysteries surround the game’s story and how things will unfold, a significant mystery revolves around the gameplay. Specifically, it’s the question of the dungeons. In the previous title, there were scores of mini-dungeons alongside four main dungeons. So how would the sequel handle things?
In the third part of a special interview with the Tears of the Kingdom team, member Hidemaro Fujibayashi noted that dungeons are back, and they will be deeply connected with the game’s world:
“Yes, we haven’t talked about the dungeons yet. They’ve changed from the previous game. For example, there is a dungeon that connects directly from Hyrule’s surface. If you dive from the sky straight into the dungeon, you’ll trigger an event. We think this will be a new experience that wasn’t possible in the previous game.”
Another team member noted that they worked to craft the dungeons so that they would perfectly fit the environments that they were in. So that means they’ll likely take the “traditional” route in part of being along the lines of a “forest dungeon,” “water dungeon,” etc.
Finally, Satoru Takizawa stated that one of the biggest problems was going for a “variety” of looks and feels when the last game didn’t have that:
“Making a “wide variety” was pretty challenging. The four Divine Beasts were the dungeons in the last game, and they shared similar designs. This time, the dungeons are huge and each carry their own regional look and feel, just like traditional The Legend of Zelda games. We think they will provide a satisfying challenge for players. They were certainly a challenge to develop!”
So perhaps that is one of the biggest reasons why the game took so long to develop. They needed the time to make the dungeons shine!
The team clearly feels that they were able to do their best in these dungeons and the world that they are in, but only gamers can determine how well these places play. They didn’t note whether you could tackle the dungeons in any order as we did in the previous title, but we’ll find out soon enough when the game arrives on Friday!
