The sequel to Breath of the Wild is inching ever closer and thanks to the newest trailer we now know a whole lot more. We know it’s officially called The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, we know it’s coming out on May 12, 2023, and we’ve been given some intriguing hints about the game’s story, world and mechanics. Here are 18 things we think are worth calling out in the new trailer.
1) Link Has Glowing Vials in Place of the Sheikah Slate
As Link runs towards the ledge of a floating island, you can see his right arm has already been altered like in previous trailers. But what’s new is that he’s carrying something on his belt in place of the Sheikah Slate: a small set of vials, half of which are filled with a green glowing light. This object is extremely reminiscent of the Vessel of Light that Link and Midna used to collect Tears of Light in Twilight Princess, which would fit the new title nicely, though you do also collect tears in Skyward Sword. It could also just be a new type of resource that’s consumed to use powers.
Either way, it’s prominently featured on the official art that accompanied this trailer and is surely an important part of this game.
2) Dungeons in the Sky?
When Link jumps off we can see a large structure in the background that was spotted in previous trailers. Does this house a dungeon? Some kind of artificial trial? He also seems to be incredibly high up, as it takes a few seconds before the ground below even comes into view.
3) Rewind Theater
We’ve already seen Link’s new ability to seemingly rewind the path an object has taken, but this trailer shows another example of how this can be used, as Link sends a chunk of ruins back up into the sky, gripping the side as it rises. This looks to be in the Faron region, incidentally, which is covered in ruins from the Zonai – an ancient civilization only hinted at through the environment of the first game, but one that seems to have more relevance in this one. More on that shortly.
4) Traversal Challenges
As Link ascends, you can catch a glimpse of some floating islands covered by storm clouds, which could possibly hint that not all floating areas are easily accessible at first.
This could also be true of the next shot, which shows Link climbing up roots on the side of a floating island, the rest of which has a black texture that could be similar to the artificial, unclimbable surfaces in Breath of the Wild.
5) The Power of Flight!
Dropping down onto a glider has to be one of the highlights of this trailer. It’s not clear whether Link will actually be able to control the glider or simply hitch a ride, but it seems to be heading towards a neon green pattern of lines on the Illumeni Plateau - previously the location of a stone Talus fight.
It’s also worth taking a look at the cryptic symbols on the glider itself (on the bronze section of the tail) - it's a little hard to make them out but they could easily an insignia of some sort.
6) Death Mountain Malice?
From the glider we get a really clear view of a floating Hyrule Castle. We’ve seen the floating castle and the red tendrils of malice or energy powering it in previous trailers, but we get a good look at it here. And interestingly, the same stuff seems to be spewing out of Death Mountain too.
7) A Shrine-free Landscape
From this vantage point we can also see plenty of sky islands (including a notably large one high above either the Lanayru or Faron region) as well the familiar - but altered - landscape of Hyrule.
For example, there’s some sort of large cube on the ground visible just below the right wing of the glider that definitely wasn’t there in Breath of the Wild.
In the image below, Ridgeland Tower is also nowhere to be seen (although interestingly, if you look just under the arrows there's another neon green pattern on the ground). In fact, any shrines and towers that were previously visible from here have vanished along with Link’s Sheikah Slate. Could this setting pre-date the Sheikah? Or be set during the early period of their civilisation?