This article contains MASSIVE SPOILERS forThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Proceed at your own risk.
Many players ofThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomare still working their way through the massive open world game. As the largest Nintendo Switch release of 2023 so far,The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomhas reminded fans around the world why they lovedBreath of the Wild, while also providing plenty of new reasons to appreciate its sequel. Chief among these is the new powers imbued in Link’s arm, allowing for an enormous amount of player creativity that is still producing solutions and creations that seem unimaginable in the context of aZeldagame.
Ultrahand, Fuse, Ascend, and Recall makeTears of the Kingdomwhat it is. The new dungeons, mixingclassicZeldadungeons withBotW’s Divine Beasts, and the remixed map with additional sky and underground layers offer a lot, but they aren’t as integral as these abilities. Nothing else inTotKor its predecessor embodies modernZelda’s approach of absolute freedom better than such widely applicable tools. Their worst aspect isn’t even tied to anything they can do, but rather the worry that they won’t return, and what that could mean for futureZeldagames.
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Tears of the Kingdom May Have Wiped The Slate Too Clean
Up until the end of the final battle with Ganondorf, players have their four main arm abilities with them at all times. However, after all the Demon King’s phases are defeated, the ending takes a surprising turn. Without much lead-up, Zelda reverts from her Light Dragon form and Link’s original right arm is restored. This results in a great sequence calling back toLink reaching out to Zelda inTears of the Kingdom’s prologue, but it also creates some unfortunate implications.
In its haste to return to the status quo, Nintendo may have removed Link’s powers too soon. With Rauru and Sonia’s spirits passing on during said cutscene, Link has no way to access their abilities, which locks away his arm powers for good. This includes the ability to construct and operate Zonai machinery easier than anyone else. Essentially, thegame mechanics that madeTears of the Kingdomwhat it was are scrapped by the story, and that could create serious problems for theoretical sequels or even other unconnectedZeldatitles.
Zelda Has No Easy Way Of Recapturing TotK’s Ultrahand
Having been compared to tools inGarry’s ModandMinecraft, Ultrahand alone created a new paradigm for player expression withinZelda. The versatility of Ultrahand and the game’s rock-solid programming made for an unparalleled sandbox that existed within an even larger game ecosystem. Still, even this close toTears of the Kingdom’s launch, one wonders what futureZeldagames will do to match it. At the very least,anotherZeldatitle set inBreath of the Wild’s Hyruleis unlikely, especially now that there isn’t anything else within the kingdom’s confines for Link to explore — or create with an absent Ultrahand.
That leaves the next majorZeldatitle in an unenviable position. Either it goes along withTears of the Kingdom’s decision to scrap mechanics like Ultrahand, attempting to carve its own path without them, or it needs to make up reasons to copy them in new forms. The level of contrivance involved in the latter will be obvious, and it will also suggest that the player expression of theZeldaseries has peaked. It is too soon to count out the creative expertise of Nintendo, but fans have no way of knowing how theZeldaseries can matchTears of the Kingdom’s engineering featsuntil another title emerges in several years.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomis available now for Nintendo Switch.
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