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The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom: file size, release time, and preload options

Jesse Lennox
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The long-awaited sequel to perhaps the most popular Zelda title of all time is nearly upon us. After years of waiting, and a few delays, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is set to arrive on the Nintendo Switch on May 12. The promise of jumping into the massive world of Hyrule once again, now with brand new powers and abilities, has brought fans to the brink of their patience. While we can’t make it come any faster, we can at least tell you when The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom will release, how big it is, and how you can preload it to return to Hyrule as soon as possible.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom release time

Zelda holds a tear-shaped object in her hand in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom's final trailer.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom will become available to play starting at 9 p.m. PT on May 11 or 12 a.m. ET on May 12 depending on your timezone.

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The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom file size

Link climbs a cliff in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

If you’re downloading Tears of the Kingdom, you won’t have too large of a file to deal with. The game is currently 16.2GB in size.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom preload options

Link floats in a water bubble in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

Preloading for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom began May 5 for digital owners. That gives players a full week to complete the relatively small download and be ready to play when the full game unlocks.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom preorder details

Link flying through air in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

While there is only one edition of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom to get, you can preorder it at various retailers that offer their own exclusive bonuses, such as a print from Best Buy and a plaque from GameStop. No matter where you preorder, the game will cost you $70. If you want to spend more, you can also look to get the limited edition Switch OLED, Pro Controler, or Amiibo, however, none of these come with a copy of the game.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom arrives exclusively on the Nintendo Switch on May 12.

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Jesse Lennox
Jesse Lennox
Jesse Lennox loves writing, games, and complaining about not having time to write and play games. He knows the names of more…
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’s fuse ability reinvents the open-world game
Link fights a Construct with a fused weapon in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom got a new lengthy gameplay video today, and it revealed many of Link's new abilities. He can now fuse objects together to create weapons and vehicles, as well as rewind objects and ascend through ceilings.

While Tears of the Kingdom was first revealed back in June 2019, we didn't even know the game's official name until last September, nor did we see much gameplay before the Nintendo Direct in February. As such, this gameplay showcase was really our first true deep dive into the game and its features. While many of the core mechanics and open-world setup are somewhat reminiscent of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (weapon degradation is returning), some key differences do stand out, namely Link's ability to fuse items.

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10 minutes of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom gameplay is coming. Here’s how to watch it
Link fights a giant golem in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

After years of trailers that only tease bits and pieces of what we can expect from the next mainline Zelda game, Nintendo has announced a 10-minute deep dive into The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom hosted by Eiji Aonuma. As this gameplay presentation will likely feature the most info we've gotten about Tears of the Kingdom since its 2019 announcement, Nintendo fans will want to tune in. If you haven't heard of this new gameplay video before or are just wondering when and where you should tune into it, we've rounded up all of that info here for you.
When is The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom's gameplay presentation?
This gameplay showcase for Tears of the Kingdom will be released at 7 a.m. PT on March 28. The presentation will last "roughly 10 minutes," according to Nintendo, and it should be available to watch for free afterward.

How to watch
This deep dive into Tears of the Kingdom gameplay will be released on Nintendo's official YouTube channel. We'll embed the video below once it is live. Of course, you can also expect an article highlighting any of the big reveals during the gameplay presentation here on Digital Trends.
What to expect
Nintendo will release 10 minutes of Tears of the Kingdom gameplay in a presentation hosted and narrated by Eiji Aonuma, producer of The Legend of Zelda series. While the game was announced over three-and-a-half years ago and has received several trailers, we still don't quite know how its moment-to-moment gameplay works and just how much it differs from Breath of the Wild.
https://twitter.com/NintendoAmerica/status/1640353190414565378
As such, it seems like the main purpose of this presentation is to give players a clear idea of what to expect from Tears of the Kingdom ahead of its May 12 release on Nintendo Switch. Hopefully, we'll learn more about the floating islands in the sky that players can explore and the vehicles we saw Link controlling in the game's last trailer. Regardless, this gameplay showcase is shaping up to be quite revealing and exciting.
Though the announcement only mentions gameplay, there's always a chance we see some special edition hardware revealed at this too. A special Switch OLED model or Joy-cons designed around the game seem likely and we could see something like that here.

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How to preorder The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Link freefalling in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

During the February 2023 Nintendo Direct, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was finally made available to preorder. Nintendo also showed off a new trailer and reconfirmed the game's May 12, 2023 release date. Finally, it also announced a new Collector's Edition with some extra goodies, as well as a Tears of the Kingdom Link amiibo. But where exactly can you get these items and are they available to preorder? Here's what you need to know.

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