Creativity.
It’s the word that’s been buzzing in our heads since we previewed The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomthe sequel to the acclaimed Breath of the Wild coming May 12, 2023 to Nintendo Switch.
And yes, perhaps it is not the term that we would spontaneously associate with an open world that focuses entirely on exploration, environmental puzzles and combat, elements that we obviously also find in this new chapter.
Here Nintendo wanted to do something new, combining the now well-known and appreciated game mechanics with a series of powers and abilities that require a creative effort from the player.
Confused? Let’s try to explain better.
Anteprima The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Throw yourself in the middle of Hyrule, we looked around and found a rather familiar environment. The glance is always impressive. Sure, it’s not the photorealism other titles offer but Nintendo makes up for it with the variety, the colors and that sense of peace that has permeated this place since the days of Breath of the Wild.
However, the demo immediately placed us in front of a small and unexpected challenge: a stranger must meet a friend who is on another floating island. Between her and no an abyss and only two rails, empty.
What’s now? Well, it resorts toUltramano. It’s one of Link’s new powers and probably one of the ones you’ll have the most fun with. The Ultrahand allows you to move objects of all kinds e you join them together thanks to Compositor, thus giving birth to new vehicles, new swords, new shields, new structures. At your disposal you also have the Zonai devices that can animate your amazing inventions.
Any examples? We took a cart, fitted it with a turbine – which yes, it’s a Zonai device – and brought the stranger to his destination.
Or you can hook rockets to a platform and shoot your way towards your goal. Or, again, join the trunks of trees and create a raft. Or an aircraft with devices in the shape of a hot air balloon.
The only limit is your imagination.
Almost. Indeed, you have to consider thehe physics – at least the basic one – and autonomy of this unpublished carriers. In fact, each of them will have a battery that will run out with use. So be careful not to overestimate its duration, otherwise you could find yourself suspended in the air or fall disastrously towards the ground, resorting to paragliding to avoid certain death.
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The crafting of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom doesn’t stop there. You can fuse weapons with anything.
Joining a wooden sword to a rock? It can be done.
Add glowing flowers to arrows to light up caves? Almost essential.
Have a shield that becomes a skateboard? You can do that too.
Take the same shield and pair it with a fire-breathing Zonai device? You have to do it!
The Ultraman will also come in handy for solving environmental puzzles. At one point we found ourselves on yet another floating island, with a huge contraption ahead associated with a smaller copy of it that could be manipulated like any other object. Rotating the compact version moved the giant counterpart, which allowed us to create a bridge and cross it.
Are these new but challenging powers difficult to use?
At the beginning they took us a bit by surprise. In short, accustomed to Breath of the Wild we needed a few minutes to understand it, familiarize ourselves with it and try to use it sensibly.
Then things got a little easier. The Ultraman and extreme crafting do not threaten what was good and canonical in BotW but offer the player something more. Of guilt you have options and strategies available that were previously unthinkable and this will force you to make an effort at first, to apply creativity to a title that did not require it up to 6 years ago, but then you will understand that everything is more fun this way.
Link surprised us with other abilities though.
Reverto allows you to rewind time so, for example, you can build a raft and then use this power to put everything back to how it was before. Or throw explosive barrels back at the sender, catching them by surprise.
Ascension instead it makes you “go up”: find a point with an outlet upwards and go up automatically, saving time but risking – it should be said – losing something in terms of exploration.
Nintendo has given gamers something unexpected that, we’re sure, will win over loyal fans as well. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom it’s not just a sequel, it’s potentially a game changer that spushes on the accelerator of improvisation, creativity and problem solving. You just have to release your mental brakes and let go.