The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is an action-adventure game released in 2023. It was created by Nintendo EPD for the Nintendo Switch. In the game, players control Link as he searches for Princess Zelda and fights to stop Ganondorf from destroying Hyrule. Tears of the Kingdom keeps the open-world style and setting from its earlier game, Breath of the Wild (2017). However, it includes new areas, such as floating islands in the sky and a large underground place called the Depths. The game adds construction features, letting players build tools to help with battles or exploration.
Nintendo EPD started working on Tears of the Kingdom after completing Breath of the Wild. The game’s director, Hidemaro Fujibayashi, and producer, Eiji Aonuma, returned to their roles. Ideas for the game came from plans for extra content for Breath of the Wild, which became too large for that format. Nintendo EPD was influenced by social media posts to create features that encourage creativity. They took inspiration from games like Wii Sports Resort (2009), The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (2011), and Red Dead Redemption 2 (2018). The goal was to make a game that is similar to but different from Breath of the Wild.
Nintendo first showed Tears of the Kingdom with a short preview at E3 2019. The game was fully introduced at E3 2021. It was released on May 12, 2023, and received praise for its larger world, new features, size, and story. However, some people criticized how smoothly the game ran on the screen. Within three days of release, the game sold over 10 million copies. By December 2025, it had sold 22.40 million copies, making it the eighth-best-selling game for the Nintendo Switch. An improved version of the game was released for the Nintendo Switch 2 in June 2025. A related game, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment, was released in November 2025.
Gameplay
Tears of the Kingdom has the same open world action-adventure style as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017). As Link, the player explores Hyrule, the main setting, and two new areas: the sky, which includes floating islands, and the Depths, a large underground area beneath Hyrule. Link can climb, ride horses, or use a paraglider to move through the air. Characters and locations from Breath of the Wild were kept and changed to fit the story.
The sky is made up of floating islands that include puzzles, treasure, enemies, and bosses. The Depths is a dark area that needs special items to light up. It also contains treasure and dangers like lava and gloom, a harmful substance that temporarily lowers Link's health. The player can remove this effect by returning to the surface of Hyrule. Tears of the Kingdom includes several dungeons with puzzles and bosses, like previous Zelda games. The four main dungeons—Water Temple, Wind Temple, Fire Temple, and Lightning Temple—must be completed to continue the story.
Tears of the Kingdom introduces Zonai devices, which can be used for combat, exploration, puzzles, and to build vehicles like rockets, sleds, and fans. The abilities from Breath of the Wild’s Sheikah Slate have been replaced with five new powers: Ultrahand, Fuse, Ascend, Recall, and Autobuild. Ultrahand lets players pick up and move objects or connect them, which can be used with Zonai devices to build vehicles and other structures. Fuse allows players to combine materials, equipment, and objects into a shield or weapon. For example, attaching a rocket to Link’s shield lets him fly. Recall rewinds an object’s movement, such as reversing a falling rock upward. Ascend lets players move upward through solid surfaces, reaching areas that were previously unreachable. Autobuild quickly rebuilds a device made with Ultrahand, using nearby items or creating replacements if parts are missing, using a material called zonaite.
Like in Breath of the Wild, Korok seeds and Shrines are found across Hyrule. After collecting four Lights of Blessing by completing Shrines, players can use them at a Goddess Statue to increase Link’s maximum health or stamina. Korok seeds can be traded to expand Link’s inventory, allowing him to carry more melee weapons, shields, or bows. The new recipe system helps players track ingredients needed to make meals or elixirs.
Plot
Tears of the Kingdom takes place many years after Breath of the Wild, at the end of the Zelda timeline. Link and Zelda explore a cavern beneath Hyrule Castle, where a poisonous substance called "gloom" has been leaking and making people sick. Inside, they find murals showing the founding of Hyrule and a war called the Imprisoning War, which was a battle against a being known as the "Demon King." Zelda thinks this war might be connected to the Zonai race. Deeper in the cavern, they discover a mummy being held back by a disembodied arm. The mummy wakes up and attacks Link and Zelda. During the fight, Link’s right arm is injured, and the Master Sword breaks. Hyrule Castle rises into the sky, and Zelda falls into the depths below. When Link tries to save her, she disappears with a mysterious artifact. Link is later rescued by the arm and wakes up on the Great Sky Island, where it has replaced his damaged limb. There, he meets Rauru, a Zonai spirit and the source of his new arm, who helps him travel across the island. When Link reaches his destination, the broken Master Sword disappears, and he returns to the surface.
Link learns that the event in the cavern, called the Upheaval, has caused chaos in Hyrule. He investigates strange occurrences across the kingdom and reunites with his allies: Sidon, the prince and later king of the Zora; Tulin, a young Rito archer and son of Teba, a former ally of Link’s; Yunobo, a Goron who now runs a mining company; and Riju, the young leader of the Gerudo. Together, they explore ancient Zonai temples, defeat monsters, and find artifacts called secret stones. They also meet the spirits of ancient sages, who name their allies as successors and give them the secret stones. After seeing Zelda in many places across Hyrule, Link finds her at Hyrule Castle, where she is revealed to be an illusion created by Phantom Ganon, a servant of the Demon King, Ganondorf, the mummy Link previously fought. After defeating Phantom Ganon, Link searches for Mineru, the last of the ancient sages, who remains in the physical world through a spiritual projection. He builds a mechanical body for her spirit to use.
Through Mineru, the sages, and items called Dragon’s Tears scattered across Hyrule, Link learns about Zelda’s fate. The artifact she found was a secret stone that transported her to the distant past, where she met Rauru, Hyrule’s first king, and Sonia, its first queen. After Ganondorf killed Sonia and used her secret stone to become the Demon King, Rauru chose Mineru, Zelda, and the leaders of the Zora, Rito, Gorons, and Gerudo to be sages. With their help, Rauru fought Ganondorf and sealed him away. Later, Zelda received the broken Master Sword from the future and asked the sages to help Link when Ganondorf returned. To fix the Master Sword and deliver it to Link, Zelda swallowed her secret stone and transformed into the immortal Light Dragon, losing her sense of self.
In the present, after clearing gloom from the Great Deku Tree in Korok Forest, Link retrieves the repaired Master Sword from the Light Dragon and goes below Hyrule Castle to fight Ganondorf. With help from Sidon, Tulin, Yunobo, Riju, and Mineru, Link battles an army of monsters and faces Ganondorf directly. As Ganondorf nears defeat, he swallows his secret stone and becomes the Demon Dragon to try to kill Link. With the help of the Light Dragon, Link uses the Master Sword to destroy the Demon Dragon’s secret stone, killing it. The spirits of Rauru and Sonia help Link restore Zelda and his right arm before disappearing. Link and Zelda return to the surface and reunite. Later, on the Great Sky Island, Mineru says goodbye to Zelda and Link before vanishing, while the new sages promise to protect Hyrule.
Development and release
The development of Tears of the Kingdom began after Breath of the Wild was completed. The developers had many ideas for downloadable content (DLC) for Breath of the Wild, but the large number of ideas led them to create a new game instead. Like its predecessor, Tears of the Kingdom was developed by Nintendo's Entertainment Planning & Development (EPD) division, Production Group Number 3. The game was directed by Hidemaro Fujibayashi and produced by Eiji Aonuma. Although Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of Zelda, saw early versions of the game, his role was limited due to scheduling conflicts with his work on The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023). He was credited as "general producer," a title he held in the series since the late 2000s.
Because Tears of the Kingdom is similar to Breath of the Wild, the developers said they felt "strong déjà vu." Aonuma explained that the team aimed to create something original while keeping some familiar elements, realizing that some aspects were already well-designed. Fujibayashi noted that the team sometimes struggled to tell the two games apart. Tears of the Kingdom brought back dungeons, which are connected to Hyrule's surface and can be completed in any order. According to Takuhiro Dohta, the dungeons were designed with unique features based on their environments, similar to earlier Zelda games. They were created to highlight Link's abilities and gadgets, and to allow players to enter and exit seamlessly, such as descending from the sky into a dungeon.
Dohta said that Wii Sports Resort inspired some new mechanics, and using familiar locations helped players during skydiving. Aonuma also mentioned that Red Dead Redemption 2 and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim influenced the game's open world design. The team expanded the world to include the sky and underground areas. Aonuma noted that Skyward Sword had limitations that prevented seamless movement from the sky to the surface, but the Nintendo Switch's technology allowed Tears of the Kingdom to connect the world horizontally and vertically with more player freedom.
A key gameplay feature is the ability to build new items. To support this, the team created more tools, inspired by player activities shared on social media after Breath of the Wild was released. Zonai devices were introduced to encourage creativity while balancing rules to prevent exploitation. A theme of "hands" was used to show connection, which appears in the game's mechanics, story, visuals, and sound. Aonuma said the theme is tied to the plot, which involves linking to Hyrule's history. Dohta explained that working together with characters and using hands to create items are important elements. Link's right arm was designed to distinguish him from earlier versions of the character. The "Ascend" ability was created from a debug feature used to exit caves and was added as a convenient way to reach the surface. Developing this feature required solving challenges, such as preventing players from landing in empty spaces due to loading issues.
Tears of the Kingdom was first announced at E3 2019 as an untitled sequel to Breath of the Wild. A trailer showing gameplay, story details, and a 2022 release date was revealed at E3 2021. By March 2022, the game was completed, but Nintendo delayed its release for a year to refine it. The release window was later changed to Q2 2023. More details, including the title Tears of the Kingdom and a May 12, 2023, release date, were shared in a September 2022 Nintendo Direct presentation. A February 2023 Nintendo Direct previewed more gameplay. Two weeks before release, a playable version of the game leaked online. The enhanced Nintendo Switch 2 edition includes better resolution, frame rate, HDR support, and additional features through the Nintendo Switch App. A spin-off game, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment, was released for the Nintendo Switch 2 on November 6, 2025.
Reception
According to the review website Metacritic, the Switch version of Tears of the Kingdom received "universal acclaim." Many critics said the game was as good as or better than Breath of the Wild. Reviewers praised the new areas, such as the sky islands, Depths, and caves, which expanded the open world introduced in the previous game.
IGN said Tears of the Kingdom improved on Breath of the Wild with its story and gameplay. GameSpot noted that the game built upon its predecessor. IGN also praised the Depths, saying these areas worked well with the surface of Hyrule. VG247 called the game a separate experience from Breath of the Wild, describing its scale as large and its mechanics as creative. Game Informer wrote that the game revisited previous locations in a way that was compelling. Nintendo Life said the three settings were well-connected despite having different mechanics and themes. Eurogamer said players could spend a lot of time exploring the Depths but would need to return to the surface for tools, creating a strong gameplay loop. The reviewer also said the sky islands were more fun to explore than the Depths, comparing them to environments from Skyward Sword and The Wind Waker. Video Games Chronicle said the Depths were more interesting than the sky sections, finding them challenging and fun compared to the sky’s focus on the story.
The new powers in the game received praise. GamesRadar+ said these abilities were well-designed, offering creative solutions to problems, especially highlighting the Ultrahand ability. The reviewer noted that some abilities felt like they broke the game’s rules, which could make the game less enjoyable. Polygon said learning to use the powers was a major part of the game’s appeal, comparing one ability to a feature that lets players move through walls and others to cheat codes. The Guardian said the powers allowed players to interact with objects in new ways, calling this freedom novel and fun. GameSpot said the powers were better than those in Breath of the Wild and helped create a creative and unique experience.
The story was a major highlight. GameSpot called the story one of the best in the series, calling it a standout element. Nintendo Life said the story was more engaging than the previous game, with more interesting characters in the main story and side quests. Destructoid said the story was better than the previous game, with faster pacing and more excitement, though it had some flaws. VG247 said the story was less important than the gameplay and had some repetition because of the open-ended nature. Polygon said the dungeons included in the story were a weakness, as they limited player freedom and made some characters too talkative. Some reviewers criticized the voice acting. GamesRadar+ said the characters sounded disconnected from their roles, lowering the quality of cutscenes. VG247 agreed but said the music and atmosphere in cutscenes made up for this.
Critics focused on the game’s performance. Nintendo Life said Tears of the Kingdom showed the Switch’s limits, mentioning a lower frame rate but calling it a minor issue. Polygon agreed, noting poor frame rates and long load times in some areas, similar to Breath of the Wild. IGN said the performance did not improve but felt it was not important compared to the game’s overall quality. GameSpot said the frame rate was acceptable and performance issues were rare, noting that the game’s art helped hide any quality loss. It praised the developers for making the game work well on an older console.
Tears of the Kingdom was the first Nintendo-developed game priced at $70. More than 10 million copies sold in its first three days, making it the fastest-selling game in the Legend of Zelda series and the fastest-selling Nintendo game in the Americas, with over 4 million copies sold in the U.S. alone. In Japan, the game sold over 2.24 million copies in its first three days, with 1.1 million being physical copies. In August 2023, it was reported that the game’s sales may have increased Japan’s consumer spending in the semi-durable goods sector by 2.8% between April and August 2023, which included video games. It was the fifth best-selling video game in the U.S. in 2023. By March 2025, the game had sold 21.67 million copies worldwide.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was named Game of the Year by Famitsu, IGN, Edge, Game Informer, Giant Bomb, Destructoid, ComicBook.com, Polygon, Shacknews, The Guardian, and Siliconera.