A new comparison video shows how similar Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom's take on Hyrule is to its predecessor’s, Breath of the Wild.
Unsurprisingly, yesterday’s 10-minute gameplay video for the upcoming The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has provoked plenty of debate and analysis.
Only a few hours ago, we were thinking aloud about Nintendo’s decision to double-down on Breath of the Wild's abilities, with Tears of the Kingdom providing a whole trove of new powers to tinker and experiment with.
Among the wave of oh-my-god reaction videos piling up on YouTube, meanwhile, there’s Nin10doland's side-by-side comparison of Tears of the Kingdom’s Hyrule and the same location in Breath of the Wild.
It highlights not only some of the aesthetic changes that have taken place between the two games, but some striking similarities. Yesterday’s Tears of the Kingdom gameplay video takes place around (and above) Hyrule’s Duelling Peaks Stable area, and Nin10doland has found the same patch of land in Breath of the Wild.
Comparing the two, several things immediately jump out, at least to us. First, we can see just how much the saturation’s been dialled down in Tears of the Kingdom, with the grass and sky looking more muted compared to its ancestor – a reflection, perhaps, of the game’s dark, gloomier backstory.
It’s also notable that, although the terrain is broadly identical, the husks of dead Guardians are all gone. This makes us wonder: are the game’s new enemies, the mechanical Construct, cobbled together from bits of dead Guardian? It’s only a theory, but it’d explain why they’re mysteriously missing from Tears of the Kingdom’s map.
New additions to Hyrule include chunks of fallen debris from the sky islands above, and what look like stacks of wooden panels. Our guess? Players will be able to use these as raw materials for the various vehicles they can build using their new Rune powers.
There’s bound to be dozens of details our bleary eyes missed, so have a look for yourself. If nothing else, it’s fun to speculate on what secrets Nintendo’s next Zelda game still has in store for us.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom releases on 12 May 2023 for Nintendo Switch.
