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Simple hot-air balloon vehicles show up several times in trailers for Tears of the Kingdom , and might be the first flying machines players will be able to construct in this open-world RPG. __ Real-life balloons (like or unlike the balloon seen in recent Tears of the Kingdom previews ) navigate by ascending and descending until the balloonist finds a wind current that blows them to their desired destination. Tears of the Kingdom players who build this balloon vehicle might use this real-life method, or just ride the balloon high enough to leap off and then fly somewhere with their hang glider i

In Breath of the Wild , huge mechanized war machines called Divine Beasts play a major role in the game's plot and are battled throughout. After the Divine Beasts are defeated, the ghosts of the pilots who once controlled them help Link take down Calamity Ganon. Once players master vehicle crafting mechanics in Tears of the Kingdom , they may get to craft their own animal-shaped Divine Beasts - choosing animal limbs and weapon parts to add to their machine, then using it to fight Godzilla-sized monst

Any parts that could be used to assemble a tank in Tears of the Kingdom could also be used to assemble an armored boat of some kind, capable of sailing the waterways of Hyrule and devastating nautical enemies with ballista, bomb, or ram. The armored boat vehicles players can craft in Tears of the Kingdom could draw inspiration from pre-modern armored boats such as the spike-roofed turtle ships of legendary Korean Admiral Yi Sun-Sin. The maximum size of these hypothetical battleships would depend very much on the size of waterways in Tears of the Kingdom __ pro

Recent gameplay trailers for Tears of the Kingdom show Link facing off against two giant, humanoid robots; one emerging from a ruin, the other resembling a human-shaped set of boxes. In Tears of the Kingdom proper, players might be able to create, control, and fight with humanoid robots straight out of games like Xenoblade Chronicles . Indeed, designers from Xenoblade Chronicles were brought in to help with development work on the original Breath of the Wild , making it extra likely Tears of the Kingdom __ will feature the fantasy mecha fights Xenoblade Chronicles is famous

This review contains minor spoilers for Zelda Tears Of the Kingdom DLC: Tears of the Kingdom. It has been six years since Breath of the Wild launched alongside the Nintendo Switch, and the interim period between then and its sequel has seen its genre-defining qualities imitated, for better or worse. Genshin Impact successfully implemented the open-world exploration to the tune of billions of dollars in revenue, and a less-is-more approach to sound design, guidance, and weapon systems has been much more popular than it was in 2016. Tears of the Kingdom positions itself in this new landscape confidently, though not without a surprising lack of innovation in some respe

Tears of the Kingdom combat remains exciting and is even more encouraging of player choice, regardless of whether it's taking place in the sky or underground. While the aforementioned durability reduces this joy of choice somewhat, there's still a dazzling complexity to battles that feel as open-ended as Breath of the Wild . That's further complemented by companion Sages, ghost-form versions of the heroes Link allies with over the course of the story that can help during battle and provide their powers to offer solutions to problems. One sage can provide gusts of wind to help gliding, while another can shatter rocks without needing to break a weapon to do so. It's a nice touch, one that makes the journey feel much less lonely than Breath of the Wild

Speaking of that vaunted Tears of the Kingdom verticality, the decision to essentially port over the base Hyrule map and then add one layer on both its top and bottom is largely an innovative, exciting one. The floating sky ruins are particularly breathtaking, and desperately trying to upgrade stamina enough to ride a glider to reach one of the buildings that was previously too far to get to is a satisfying gameplay loop. The sky ruins feel the most like Breath of the Wild in the sense that they're simply wide open for interpretation and exploration - there's not many strings that lead there as the story unspools, but there's enough promise in them simply existing that they're easy to get caught up in chas

This vehicle idea is shamelessly borrowed from Howl's Moving Castle, a picturesque Studio Ghibli film adaptation of the classic fantasy novel by Diana Wynne Jones. In that animated film, the moving castle of the eccentric wizard Howl is a bizarre mix of walls, cottages, and steel plates propelled by mechanized chicken legs. If a similar kind of mobile home was available in **The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom ** , players could create a fun custom castle that's much improved over Link's house in BOTW and able to follow Link across the lands of Hyr

When Link emerges from the Shrine of Resurrection onto the Great Plateau, he is a sloppily dressed amnesiac twink with little awareness of where to go or what to do. Tutorials and hints are peppered through the first few characters you meet and shrines you solve, but otherwise Breath of the Wild is all about * around and finding out. Marching into battle with rusty weapons and gawking in surprise when they break is a failure on your part, and the opening area is built in a way that deliberately educates you, administering the tough love required to claim Breath of the Wild as your own. You grow more confident after figuring out how long certain equipment lasts and how best to make use of it, thinking ahead in most situations to when you’ll need to switch out your arsenal or conjure up a new strategy on the fly. Take it away, and combat falls victim to a foundational simplicity it otherwise supersedes.