Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom TV spot suggests we'll head deep underground
And we have thoughts.
We are just a mere few weeks away from Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom's launch, and in anticipation Nintendo has released a new TV spot.
For those keeping track, this trailer is the finished product from last week's leaked footage. Titled "You can do what?!", the TV spot highlights some of Link's new abilities, such as Fuse and Ultrahand.
We can see Link creating a hovercraft of sorts to coast over the lands of Hyrule. Then, he battles a Flame Gleeok (essentially confirming the theory that we will be facing different varieties of Gleeok enemy in Tears of the Kingdom) with a fused shield and he uses his Ascend ability to pop up through an enemy camp. You can see the trailer for yourself below:
While the trailer doesn't tell us much about the game itself, there are a few small details we have spotted that are worth mentioning.
Firstly, it looks like the tower icons on Hyrule's map have been changed slightly from Breath of the Wild's, as you can see in the screenshots below. Does this mean towers themselves have changed slightly as well?
Secondly, this trailer also gives us a glimpse of a new, dark area. Nintendo's official Tears of the Kingdom site notes that Hyrule will now have "dank caves" for players to explore, so perhaps this is one of them (the same site has also confirmed where the game will start, if you want to find out). Another thought is that this is an underground section.
Meanwhile, if you take a look at the mini map on the lower right hand side of the screen, it now appears to show some sort of coordinates. This is a change from Breath of the Wild's mini map, and all of the coordinates in this new dark section appear to have a '-' in front, further suggesting this area is underground.
Next up, Ed pointed out to me that the text for the Flame Gleeok is the same as Breath of the Wild's Hinox enemies. In Breath of the Wild, Hinox are overworld enemies that are, on occasion, connected to a shrine quest or Kilton's Medal of Honor award.
There are four types of Hinox in Breath of the Wild: Hinox, Blue Hinox, Black Hinox, and Stalnox (which only comes out at night). As I have already said, it looks like we will be facing different types of Gleeok in Tears of the Kingdom, but I now wonder if some of these enemies will be tied to the sequel's version of shrines (which I think I spied in an earlier trailer, you can read my breakdown on that one here) or if Kilton will make a return.
Lastly, and I really don't know if this means anything but I am going to throw it out there anyway, you can see a Majora's Mask sticker on the bed frame in the shot below. When Nintendo first announced Breath of the Wild's sequel, many noted it appeared to be going down a much darker route than its predecessor, and Majora's Mask comparisons were made.
In subsequent trailers, Tears of the Kingdom has been likened more to Skyward Sword due to its sky islands and the robot-like constructs. Like I said, the inclusion of this sticker may be a red herring, but as a huge Majora's Mask fan, I am glad to see Nintendo giving us another nod to Ocarina of Time's own, considerably darker, sequel. Not sure what the sticker on the right is, though...?
Let me know your thoughts on it all! As you may have noticed, I am a big fan of theories and speculation when it comes to The Legend of Zelda, so would love to read what you have to say.
In the meantime, for more of the news teams' ideas for the sequel, you can check out our latest newscast below. Here, we talk about whether Zelda will be playable and if Ganondorf may actually be 'good' in Tears of the Kingdom.