Finally, after being announced in 2019, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is set to launch later this year, leaving Zelda fans with high expectations for a hopeful 2023 release. Already highly anticipated as a sequel to the hugely successful and widely celebrated The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom has much to live up to, like addressing the shortfalls of its predecessor or delivering all-new gameplay experiences. But details about the upcoming sequel still remain sparse, leading players to presume 2023 will be a big year for Nintendo and Zelda.
For instance, with only a few trailers released up until now showcasing some early gameplay footage and cutscenes, Nintendo has provided just enough breadcrumbs for fans to speculate on what The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom could deliver. So far various standout moments have dominated online discussions, from Ganondorf's return to Link's augmented arm or even the game's floating islands, but little is known about what these mean or how they could all connect. With a current aim for a mid-2023 release, expectations for Tears of the Kingdom range broadly from where its story will follow Breath of the Wild to the risks of additional delays.
Nintendo Direct - Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
As has become a tradition with Nintendo's announcements and updates around current or future games, it seems inevitable that Tears of the Kingdom will feature in an upcoming Nintendo Direct in the coming months. Arguably, this could happen sooner rather than later given that fans know so little about the game overall with only a few months to go before launch, with many theorizing the next update could be the currently absent and long-awaited story trailer. Nintendo will therefore need to start building the groundwork of its marketing for Tears of the Kingdom now in order to gain momentum leading toward its May 12 release.
However, since Zelda remains one of Nintendo's flagship franchises on the Switch and among its most successful alongside Super Mario, some suspect that a future Nintendo Direct will be an exclusive spotlight on Tears of the Kingdom. This would then give Nintendo the opportunity to show off the game in far greater detail than what's been seen so far, which could go beyond just an aforementioned story trailer and could include gameplay footage and demonstrations. Since Nintendo has remained relatively quiet about Tears of the Kingdom, even going so far as to keep its now-confirmed subtitle a secret for so long, there is ample content future trailers could cover.
Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Trailers Could Expand On Its New Story, Mechanics, and World
As a story trailer is among the most anticipated prior to Tears of the Kingdom's release, fans are expecting to finally learn where the sequel will go with its lineage of Zelda lore and expand on Breath of the Wild's canon. From the trailers seen thus far, all that has been confirmed for the game's story is Ganondorf's return as the supposed source of Calamity Ganon. From this, fans have reasoned that this could mean a return of the triforce in Tears of the Kingdom after it had been absent in Breath of the Wild, but also that these Zelda Switch games connect to the broader series and its cyclical timelines.
Further to this, Link has undergone a radical transformation between Breath of the Wild and the events expected to come in Tears of the Kingdom. Existing trailers and marketing have revealed significant story developments such as a damaged Master Sword and Link's corrupted or augmented arm, both of which seem tied to Ganondorf's revival. Since these have yet to be explored by current trailers, players should expect these to feature in future trailers in greater detail. Specifically, both of these are just two examples of what many believe will be Tears of the Kingdom's new mechanics.
Other new mechanics that have so far only been teased range from what seems to be an improved aerial traversal mechanic in Tears of the Kingdom to modified or all-new abilities previously tied to Breath of the Wild's Sheikah Slate. Though these might not connect as intrinsically to Tears of the Kingdom's story, a future Nintendo Direct could demonstrate these new mechanics, providing them official names or explaining how they work within the game. As most of these new mechanics seem to complement the changes in Breath of the Wild's world design, such as an emphasis on verticality and flight, this could explore a familiar yet changed Hyrule.
Will Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Be Delayed?
One of the main concerns regarding Tears of the Kingdom is the possibility of delays and its current release date. For example, though the game was confirmed to have been in development since Breath of the Wild's launch in 2017, it has already been delayed once from 2022 initially to its current 2023 aim. But while it could be argued that almost every Zelda game has seen its release pushed back a year and therefore Tears of the Kingdom is no different, the challenges posed by Covid-19 between 2020 and 2022 are very likely to have had an impact on development, though it's unclear to what degree.
As a result, some players suspect that Tears of the Kingdom's 2023 delay may have been due to the pandemic, meaning Zelda could face another delay, possibly into the next holiday season or even 2024. With its prestige as one of Nintendo's flagship series, surpassed only by the likes of Super Mario and Pokemon, a delay is entirely possible should it be considered that the game isn't ready yet for release. This possibility increases when factoring in the standard set by Breath of the Wild that its sequel would need to succeed, and isn't helped when players know so little about Tears of the Kingdom and thus develop an impression that it's still incomplete.
However, despite pessimistic speculation about a possible delay, Nintendo has so far not indicated that it plans to push back Tears of the Kingdom's release to a later date. In fact, recent updates to Tears of the Kingdom's rating suggest delays are unlikely, meaning that the game could very well make its current aim for mid-2023. Therefore, if Tears of the Kingdom is on track for this release date, then players should expect Zelda to take center stage in future announcements with everything so far mentioned and more as Nintendo has a lot of ground to cover between now and May.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is set to release on May 12, 2023, exclusively for the Nintendo Switch.