While The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has impressed critics and fans alike as a soaring follow-up to Breath of the Wild, it still falls short of allowing players to explore Hyrule's uncharted regions. As an ambitious new direction for Zelda, Breath of the Wild initially divided players with its open-world design, stamina and durability mechanics, and all-new voice acting, though it ultimately secured itself as a fan favorite as arguably one of the best games in the series. So as a sequel, expectations were high for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom to polish its predecessor's rougher edges.
Following early trailers giving players a preview of what to expect from the upcoming sequel, certain details stood out that seemed to hint toward potential underwater exploration for Tears of the Kingdom. However, as this was never explicitly confirmed before launch, and now with Tears of the Kingdom officially released, it seems that going any deeper into Hyrule's waters beyond a simple swim was never on the cards for the sequel. This still hasn't assuaged demand for underwater exploration to return to Zelda, especially since most of the mechanics, animations, and assets already exist to make diving a reality.
Zelda: Breath of the Wild Seemed Close To Underwater Exploration
As a newcomer to the Zelda series and its uniquely diverse range of game styles and designs, Breath of the Wild didn't exactly bear any expectations to include every single mechanic that other Zelda games had. So while underwater exploration had featured in the likes of Ocarina of Time and Skyward Sword, it didn't factor into Breath of the Wild's gameplay. However, through the efforts of determined fans and the inevitable nature of glitches, players discovered that they could glitch underwater in Breath of the Wild to reveal a whole new world populated with fish, coral, and more.
Theories following this suggested that, though this may have just been meticulous attention to detail for environmental design, these also could have been leftover elements of underwater exploration. Support for this theory could be found from comments made by developers such as how certain ideas didn't make it into the final game such as the eventual addition of the Master Cycle as DLC, or how other ideas were inspired by developers' interests in spelunking and skydiving. As a result, while sky and cave exploration factored into Tears of the Kingdom, fans hoped the Breath of the Wild sequel would finally explore the seas.
Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Came Even Closer to Underwater Exploration
Ultimately, players were never able to dive underwater in Tears of the Kingdom, though this didn't stop the sequel from significantly expanding the open world by introducing both sky islands and a vast underground expanse. The lack of underwater exploration, therefore, wasn't a pressing concern for most fans, but it does seem that Tears of the Kingdom had practically everything it needed in place to introduce this. For instance, the diving animation that fans mistook as a hint toward underwater exploration in Tears of the Kingdom still has interesting water-related uses, such as tutorials and shrine challenges encouraging players to aim for water to break their falls.
In addition to this, other small design details seem to hint toward underwater exploration having been a possibility for Tears of the Kingdom. Link's new Ascend ability which allowed vertical travel has an animation for this transition that shows Link "swimming" upward, while players eventually learn that they can intentionally go down sinkholes and whirlpools to reach hidden areas. Developers have also confirmed that once again there are leftover ideas that didn't make it into Tears of the Kingdom, which means that Hyrule's unexplored rivers, lakes, and seas open the door to potential DLC or even an ambitious threequel.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is available now on Nintendo Switch.