The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wildis remembered fondly for many reasons, with perhaps its greatest being an innovative approach to open-world design. Dropped inthe middle of Hyrulewith only a vague direction and a stick, players are encouraged to forge their own adventure inBreath of the Wild, and the game does an expert job of providing the tools needed for that. From the get-go, players will be able to scale any wall, leading to an undeniable sense of freedom that hasn’t really been captured since. ButThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomlooks like it will go one big step further.
Before its 2017 release,Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s trailers spent a great deal of time showcasing the game’s pioneering climbing mechanics in action, and while players wouldn’t really understand the scope of what that mechanic meant in practice until launch, it immediately evoked the franchise’s central theme: adventure. Now, almost six years later,The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomjust released its final gameplay trailer, and it once again evokes those same feelings of adventure, albeit in a slightly different way. Rather than focus on climbing,Tears of the Kingdomis putting its high-octane cliff jumping at the forefront.
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The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is Going All-In On Cliff Jumping
As mentioned, a big emphasis ofZelda: Breath of the Wild’s marketing was its unique climbing mechanics. Once players finally got their hands on the game, these mechanics became an immediate highlight. With the ability to climb almost any and every surface,Breath of the Wild’s map felt like a true open-world sandbox, where the player could approach their objective in any way they saw fit. Players can climb around an enemy encampment, or skip whole areas by climbing a mountain and paragliding over it.Breath of the Wild’s climbing mechanicsgave players more choice than any open-world game before.
Ever since its first official trailer dropped in June 2021,The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomhas put its skydiving at the forefront. Whenever a new glimpse of gameplay has been revealed, there’s guaranteed to be a sequence where Link is seen diving through the air, barreling toward the ground at full speed. Inthe last fewTears of the Kingdomtrailers, fans have gotten a better look at how this cliff jumping mechanic will actually work, and it may just be the next big step for the franchise by, letting players leap from the sky and travel all the way to the ground in one seamless sequence.
Though there’ll certainly be some texture pop-in,Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’s cliff jumping mechanic brings an even greater sense of adventure to the franchise. Now, players can not only climb every surface in the environment, but they can also explorea new set of islands floating above Hyrule. When they’re done exploring in the sky, they can make their way back to the ground simply by flinging themselves off the edge of a cliff. From here, players have ultimate freedom in where they go next, being able to open up their paraglider with just one button press and soar across the map with ease, stamina meter permitting. Though it’s a simple mechanic, it’s a visually impressive one, and it goes a long way in makingTears of the Kingdomfeel like a fresh adventure.
It also seems likely thatThe Legend ofZelda: Tears of the Kingdomwill include a bevy of upgrades and clothing options to make cliff jumping feel even better. In one sequence of the latestTears of the Kingdomtrailer, Link is wearing some kind of armored wingsuit that looks to increase his skydiving speed. It would be great to see more skydiving-centered suits in the game, along with upgrades for the paraglider that lets players travel further distances while skydiving.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomreleases for Nintendo Switch on May 12.
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