The final trailer for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has arrived, and it’s full of new information about the upcoming Switch game. We got a better look at its open world, saw many new characters, and got another peek at all kinds of vehicles that players can make. In fact, the trailer was so crowded with new information — and Tears of the Kingdom’s mechanics and story are still so shrouded in mystery — that there are some things that you might have missed, leaving a ton to speculate on.
When watching it again, we found a ton of curious details that had us wondering about unannounced features. We’ve rounded up five details in particular that could have some major implications for the gameplay and story of Tears of the Kingdom.
Link has companions
One of the most surprising things about this new trailer is that it seems to confirm a companion system, or at least NPCs that are way more active than they ever were in Breath of the Wild. During a montage around the 1:38 mark, we see Link riding a horse through an active battle between humans and Ganondorf’s forces. Later on, after the three-minute mark, we see new Rito, Human, Zora, Goron, and Garudo working with Link. The Zora soldier specifically helps Link fight an enemy in a two-on-one encounter.
Companions aren’t a new feature to open-world games; titles like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim have it. Still, these more active NPCs and an entire potential companion mechanic highlight just how deeply core gameplay systems have been modified for Tears of the Kingdom.
New characters and enemies
Speaking of companions, Tears of the Kingdom appears to be introducing several new characters to the mix. At several points, we see a brief glimpse of a young, white-feathered Rito flying alongside Link. Most intriguing, though, is a new character introduced at around the 1:40 mark. The scarred, dinosaur-like creature eerily gazes into the camera for a few seconds. Could this be the secondary boss in Tears of the Kingdom, much like Zant in Twilight Princess? And what monster race do they hail from? Perhaps Dodongos got a glow-up.
We also get a glimpse at a whole bunch of new enemy types. That includes new Guardian-like tech creatures that can be seen at several points. Look carefully at the 20-second mark and you’ll see one fighting a blue ChuChu. In the shot after that, another can be seen hacking away at a tree. We see what appears to be an even bigger one at around 1:44, and it looks like a massive golem emerging from a wall. These variants of Breath of the Wild‘s guardians seem a bit more dynamic and able to interact with the world, which is an exciting prospect.
Shrine redesign?
We still don’t know what exactly Tears of the Kingdom’s version of Breath of the Wild’s shrines are, but this trailer does give us a couple of ideas. When Link climbs up a cliffside a minute into the trailer, we see an object glowing green and blue in the distance. We don’t know what it is, but it’s possible this could be Tears of the Kingdom’s Shrine-like challenges.
Then, a montage about a minute-and-a-half into the trailer shows Link skydiving through a bunch of lasers, pushing a spoked wheel to make a building move, and gliding through a tight space. All of these moments have similar-looking visual aesthetics. Even though we still don’t know the exact form that they’ll take, this trailer makes it very clear that this giant open world with still be full of bite-sized challenges to test the player’s skills.
Link can dive, sort of
While much lower stakes than all of the other things on this list, one thing, in particular, has me intrigued about another potential gameplay improvement. In Breath of the Wild, Link could not dive underwater, but in one shot of this trailer, he’s fully submerged in a ball of water on a Sky Island. We don’t see him move around after that, but Link’s new Ascend power makes it look like he’s swimming to the surface of the water.
It seems very possible that Link will finally be able to dive in this game. If this is the case, underwater exploring could potentially open up Tears of the Kingdom’s already vast open world even more. If that isn’t the case, hopefully these floating balls of water are more than a one-time obstacle that serves as a red herring in a trailer.
Blood moons are back and more sinister
A narrative-focused reveal sticks out from the trailer. At 1:18, we see what seems to be a very powered-up Ganondorf standing in front of a Blood Moon. The same red hue from this moon is reflected in the villain’s powers, which he uses to summon enemies and corrupt Link’s arm just before the trailer’s three-minute mark.
Breath of the Wild players will probably remember that the Blood Moon was an occasional occurrence that would revive all enemies and make some NPCs act oddly. Now, it seems like the Blood Moon could be a very important narrative element that helps explain why Ganon came back after Breath of the Wild. Regardless of what the Blood Moon truly is, we can’t wait to see where the story goes in this game.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom launches on May 12 for Nintendo Switch.
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