Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom GAMEPLAY Analysis

Who is ready to make meat arrows

I love how the community was able to piece together hints and secrets about the Zonai only making theories but then it was ACTUALLY CONFIRMED. Absolutely crazy

Do you know how awesome side quests involving Link using ultrahand to build stuff for people would be? That's a great idea, and I hope it's explored in the game

Something you didn't mention is that at 10:38 when he pulls out his bow, the dpad doesn't change to allow switching arrow types, which leads me to believe that there are only regular arrows and all others have been removed in favor of this arrow fuse ability

Also, after Link crosses the river and walks past the Ranger Construct, a "Talk" A button prompt flashes on the screen as he passes it

I think the smoke signal from the stable is just an eye catching visual queue as a way to see stables better, but it could absolutely mean something different as well

I think we should collectively be gearing up for Meat% Speedruns where you must beat every boss with only Meat Arrows. We all know it's gonna happen, might as well start preparing and strategizing

The bigger sky island he showed us was 100% the tutorial area. The stuff near the lake is laid out perfectly, it’s the only place with the map unlocked, he has 4 hearts so he probably just finished the tutorial, and everything there is low level. It also has the same arch thing at the entrance to the snowy area, just like at mt hylia in botw

I wonder if Ancient robots from Skyward Sword were made by Zonai as well? I like the theory that this game will loop around to Skyward Sword, so seeing the minecarts on those islands (which were prominent in the Lanayru desert) and the fact that Zonai clearly have technology to affect time (the gauntlet Link uses is 100% Zonai technology) this would be amazing if that was the case.

what I'm hoping is that there will be a "favorite items" section when choosing to attach items to arrows, so you won't have to scroll through a ton of junk to get to the one you want to use. Instead, you can pick a couple items that you use the most often, and they will all be close together, where you can easily switch between them.

That shop structure with the mine cart looks very similar to time shift stones in the lanayru desert in skyward sword. I would love to see a time shift mechanic return.

I’m having the same overwhelming feeling when I first saw the Breath of the Wild trailer. There is so much to learn from this game, but I think as we keep playing we will learn within a week or two

I think meat arrows will be like bait ...used to entice certain enemies into traps that you can create with the new building system. That would add a whole new layer to the combat.

this is actually a lot more in depth than what I would expect for something that was made and released less than 24 hours after the direct. Great job Zelink!

I am amazed how fast you were able to make a video so in depth, being edited very well, with a leghty script that had detail explanations, and even obscure facts, in such short amount of time.

It's worth pointing out that tree branches and sticks are separate entities in this game, and yes Zeltik the up d pad option is the materials access. You can see when link draws an arrow that an option pops up at the bottom of the screen for "materials".

With abilities such as Ascend and Ultrahand, it seems like Nintendo was legitimately paying attention to the crazy things fans were doing in BOTW and decided to implement them into the sequel - which is honestly pretty cool. Ascend is basically a cannonical, official version of the "clipping through objects" glitch, while Ultrahand takes the crazy DIY vehicles / airships created and used by people like Kleric and fully implements it part of TOTK's main gameplay loop. I'm loving it.

maybe the places with the building materials are supposed to be construction sites for new settlements? i had always thought that would be a nice and realistic feature for the sequel! kind of funny that we’re just taking the materials then but there doesn’t seem to be much time between the first and second cataclysmic events so maybe they just gave up lol. or maybe they’re something we can build as the game progresses!

I love the logic behind the homing arrow.
“If the arrow has an eye, then if it misses, it’ll know where it should be going, and go there.”

I can't believe that after so many years we're going to learn a bit more about the Zonai and their disappearance from Hyrule for so many years. I can hardly wait to watch it myself and enjoy your incredibly detailed lore videos.

Fusing the arrows with all sorts of things got me thinking, now that we dont have the sheika bombs anymore and are able to fuse arrows with other elements it could very well replace the elemental arrows that we had to buy or find in Botw but that leaves bomb arrows gone, unless bomb flowers are making a reappearance, but then again we've seen Death mountain having no lava so it wouldn't make sense to suddenly have Bomb Flowers growing, either way im excited to see what they did with this or even if they just removed bomb arrows which im hoping they didn't. Really interested in your opinion on this, maybe this could even be material for a small video?

This is just awesome. I feel like there might be eight or nine dungeons underground that can be completed in any order where you learn these abilities. To get to these dungeons you'll have to navigate the sky and surface, and upon completing each dungeon the sky islands may become more numerous and complex with different methods of navigation required depending on the order complete them. But maybe their might be certain trials too that are more linear, like after completing your first, second or sixth dungeon, regardless of which one it is, creating a randomness to the adventure that the player could do differently if they wanted to play again. I'm guessing nine from those nine tear symbols surrounding that mystery being lol I want a lot of dungeons so I'm being hopeful

I am actually curious if the Sky Islands will be impacted by the Blood Moon mechanic at all. It feels like a place that is kind of immune to the problems of the surface. The soldier constructs seem more like they are protecting the Sky Islands in general rather than trying to deliberately target Link.

The zoni tribe stuff I find really intriguing, for some reason I get very much the Twilight Princess (TP) game vibes from the constructs and the way they breakdown when you destroy them etc, like the mirror shards shattering at the end of TP.
Super excited to play this game, it looks like the develops have done a great job and the mechanics look amazing. Allowing a lot of creativity, as well as having this modern tech, which gives me the spirit tracks feels. I do love all the Easter eggs and nods to the old games that they slot in!
Just so hoping that we finally get a playable Zelda character as well, even if its just at certain points in the game , that would be awesome. Having a strong female character actually contributing more actively to the quest, instead of it just being an AI helper in the final boss battle would be great. 🤞 🙏

The dedication you have to make a under 30 minute video under a day after the gameplay release is crazy, easily most dedicated zelda creator

I'm sure other people have noticed this too, but I noticed that when he went to fuse the pitchfork to the long stick, the option to fuse it to the shield was still an option! I'd imagine that means we can actually fuse at least some weapons to shields. If so, that'd be sick!

one thing I've seen pointed out is that a few of the sky islands match up with structures that were previously on land - for example the labyrinths. in the shots we've seen, it looks like the labyrinths are gone but there's cube-like islands sitting right above them. makes me wonder what kind of variation there will be amongst the various islands

The first time we saw the recall ability was on that giant spiked ball when Link used recall to rewind it back at the enemies.
But what if he could have used the fuse ability instead, and fused the spiked ball onto his currently equipped weapon?
I'm starting to wonder what will end up being possible in this game in terms of fusing an enemies projectiles onto your own weapons and shields. I'm very intrigued by what the answer to this will end up being.

I want you to know how much content like yours helps enrich my experience of playing these games. I'm very grateful for your time and effort into making your videos. Thank you.

My hopes these fuse abilities is hopefully a hint that we might get a Zelda game that takes place during the era when the shekias were at the top of the game and it’s a futuristic era… maybe could be a game that takes place right after the events of skyward word as essentially a sequel 😊

I genuinely can’t wait to see the extent to which weapons can be made with Fuse. Imagine fusing a diamond to a sword or a star fragment to an arrow. The possibilities are endless..

Haven't been this excited for a game since BOTW. There is so much to learn from the game, so much to discover... it's this amazing feeling that gets me pumped to play this.

I thought that it was interesting how many times the lore was referenced. "These trees only appear in the sky", "If you're in a cage, you can get out", and more. I can't wait to learn how to master all of the new mechanics, thats for sure.

I’m surprised he didn’t mention the lack of guardian corpses in the field or that the shrine usually near the stable is completely gone

I think the rock in the sky that matches the fast travel icon is supposed to be a fast travel point between the sky islands and Hyrule. My guess is that you’ll use ascend on the ground in order to get up to the sky once unlocking it, so that way you’ll be able to fast travel up and down without finding the rock used to get up there initially.

Hi Zeltik love your videos. One thing i have noticed is that the Gashapon that you called (pachinko machine) doesnt quite line up with the map. It seems like the shop in question is hidden just behind that small mound and the Gashapon machine is more lined up with the blue mark on the mini map. just makes a bit more sence since its the same colour also a gashapon machine gives random/mystery items unlike a shop. Hope you see this and keep up with the great work.

Small thing to note is the animations in this game definitely got a glow up, small things like the smear effects when swinging weapons or particles look fantastic

This new gameplay has got me so excited and fascinated for what the lore behind TOTK might be. To me? I think Ganondorf's revival has caused a massive time shift in specific geographic areas over Hyrule, meaning certain portions of the land is sent up to the skies just like 10,000 over years ago (like in Skyward Sword!). During this unearthing Zonai constructs, rangers and bots were all awakened in the soil sensing Ganondorf's energy and have also become 'awakened' as time has gone back (much like the robots and time shift stones in SS). Because Link has become infected with Ganondorf's malice it has somehow allowed him to manipulate time, and the malice makes the constructs think he's also evil hence they attack him. The Great Deku Tree disappearing is probably what's displaced all the Koroks. Ganondorf's manipulation of time is probably going to worsen, and his ultimate goal might be to cause a time rift and wipe out Hyrule and the universe. The malice creeping up Link's hand is probably like a countdown of sorts.

A couple extra things:
1) the Ascend ability lights up while Link is under water. This might point to underwater exploration. (Nice catch of the Louygi Bros channel)
2) the Ultrahand ability is probably going to play a huge role in combat. What we did in BotW with iron boulders can now be done with everything, so you can make a platform, load it with explosive barrel, and then just carpet bomb a Bokoblin camp.

Here are some things I noticed or that could be interesting to keep in mind for later :
1) at 7:12, on the right we can see another construct, but it's not an enemy one and to me it looks slightly different than the ranger one
2) they're clearly hiding us major UI from us, beside the inventory one that shouldn't change too much, we don't see how he switches ability or how the map interface looks like (since in botw it was Sheika like, there's high chance that it changed since we no longer have the Sheika tablet, supposedly)
3) we see quite a lot of rails on the sky island
4) at 17:24 we see that the Hebra region isn't covered by the giant storm, maybe it isn't there to start with
5) new weapon we can see : the wooden stick, the superior version of the tree branch 💀
6) to unstick an element with the ultrahand, you need to shake the selected piece to apply more force on it, so perhaps there could be a weight limit for a vehicle, to stop player from building some massive movable fortress
7) at 16:52 we see in the background other sky island, but those ones have a weird shape (just it's not a ball, a cube or an actual floating island, it looks like a building maybe)
8) a message appears saying "unbearable cold" when link is cold, I don't remember this in botw
9) at 14:50 we see a tower on top of the massive mountain (forgot the name) but at 17:33 we don't see it anymore
10) the tower on the sky island in the previous trailer (14:09) appears again at 17:36, and it could be acting as a lighthouse or something guiding you because of his shape and also the fact that you can see it slightly glow from the distance, maybe you can see it better in the night
11) at 15:55 on the minimap, we can see a slight green/blue glow at a precise spot (no idea what it could mean)
12) they didn't show the great plateau, during the free fall we were close to seeing it but they stopped turning left the camera right after the colosseum

While hard to say, i think that Ascend might be either the first or last ability we learn. It might be the first ability we learn because we are trapped in the underworld and we need to get back and since we are told we can use caves for that and well we will be underground and could be the way we get to sky islands at first before the recall ability.
If its last its likly from what he said as we are trapped in a cage of sort on the islands or by Ganons minions and need to escape.

20:10 If you look closely on the map, the blue dot is more in line with where the glass orb is seen earlier at 19:10. And the shop icon is on the nearer side of the mine cart rails according to the map, up against the rock formation, with its entrance likely facing away from Link

I love how Zeltik is talking like its a nature documentary, "We see Link is faced with a problem, he needs to cross a river to reach the otherside".

I dont know if anybody noticed this yet, but those trees everywhere on the sky islands can actually be found at the Foothill Stable. They have the orange/Gold leaves on them and I dont think they are just normal trees having a hard time in the region. They have the same light coloured bark like the sky island trees (maybe just a slight shade off or so) as apposed to normal trees with dark brown and mossy bark. I wonder if there is anything to this place that could mean anything. I would love for Zeltik to add his own thoughts about them.

Meat arrows seem like a great idea but I’m looking forward to seeking arrows with the eye and also wing arrows which might them go straight longer without arcing down or up to get the distance. Add a wing and it will go far !! ?? I’m so pumped can’t wait. My daughters and I have set aside three days during April vacation to have a marathon of 72 hrs of game play !!!!

When Link is holding the bow, you can see that the left d-pad button is still a shield instead of the arrow that was there in BotW. This probably means that elemental arrows are gone and were replaced by adding things to regular arrows.

Just adding in something that wasn't mentioned (it may have been mentioned in the comments), but when he has his bow pulled out, it stays as the shield option and not a variety of arrows. I think this suggests that there will only be "regular" arrows and the fuse creates a plethora of different arrow types, giving us a wide variety over the 5 we had in BotW

I really want to make Octo Balloon arrows. Shooting enemies and having them be lifted away would be fun

I just want to mention how useful that puffshroom smokescreen could be against fighting potential groups of ReDeads if they really exist in game. Sneak attacks vs getting stunned.

Another thing to note is that the Zonai constructs all have that yellow broom symbol on their midsection. It's also on the side of every motorized vehicle part (see the back of the raft propellor, or the front tires of the car in the trailer).

Gotta say. Your commentary is perfect. I love listening to your explanations 🎉

I am unreasonably excited for the new mushrooms and garlic(?). I hope they make collecting recipes easier- if your memory sucks like mine you have to keep one prepared food in your inventory of any recipe you want to check, which is very annoying. I just want Link to have delicious food while he saves the world😤

I think activating Zonai towers creates more sky islands perhaps leading to dungeons or shrines. What was shown was only the first one.

I LOVE ZeldaTubers. They can squeeze a career out of a few frames of gameplay footage. Now they have 10mins and I’m looking forward to the next 6 weeks before TotK comes out. After that? Hold onto your hats!

I'm very excited for the new fuse mechanics and vehicle building, but seeing the box enemy in an open area and the ranged construct being small made me scared there won't be traditional dungeons again 😞

As always, your very in depth with your analysis and can't wait for more videos. Keep you the good work.

Regarding the Fuse ability and how attaching materials to the bow's arrows will function, I would argue that the L-button while aiming will bring up the material selection panel, and the Up-button is, as you said, will be a quick selection of food (as the icon seems to suggest foods specifically - it being an apple. Additionally, it would be strange to have a function specifically for the bow (as we currently know it) always on screen as a quick select action).
The 2 reasons I think this is:
- The teal color of the Fuse ability icon is the same as the description text (grouping related elements by colors), so they feel to be related. Now this reason doesn't have a lot to stand on as most things regarding to TotK seems to have the color teal as thematic (links new arm aesthetic, etc).
- It would make sense that when you are aiming the bow the Fuse ability would bring this material panel up, and when not aiming you are entering the Fuse ability state for selecting items in the world.

Those Zonai charges don't seem to be nearly as precious as the Guardian cores. Every construct Link defeats here drops one, and given the relative ease he's able to dispatch them with, they'll likely be very easy to come by, so I have to imagine those charges will be something we're expected to use quite frequently.

Something minor I’m hoping for is fused shields affecting shield surfing. Imagine surfing over water with ice jelly, or using something like a puff shroom for a vertical boost when you land!

I could also imagine the thing on link's hip instead of being linked to progression or battery, which it still likely is, might be a sort of storage for repair charges for equipment that can be collected from points that respawn or recharge over time. Who knows? Maybe when you get a home base or make one you get your own personal station for recharging that item, or even be able to upgrade to one that refills the charges and or repairs your equipment.

Yay! I was waiting for this analysis video from you! Thank you so much for always making amazing videos about my favorite game series ever!

I am "concerned" by how limited the Fuse ability will be though: when you fuse the stick with the log, it creates an object with a specific name and a sprite called the "log club", and from what we see of the fuse, there seems to be then a catalogue of supposedly plentiful but still limited options of fused weapons in the game. Knowing Nintendo, will it be a thing to collect and reference like in the encyclopedia with pictures in Breath of the Wild?

I wonder if the ascend ability will make getting out of caves really easy. That moment when Link was going through solid rock could easily double as a loading screen.

Excellent breakdown dude. So hyped for this. I hope we have more control to move in the air, rather than just falling straight down.

10:39 While Link is drawing his bow, there is a faint prompt at the bottom of the screen that says "Select material to attach [d-pad up]", so it's confirmed that that's what the up button is assigned for. That doesn't necessarily mean that the up button couldn't double as a quick access food menu when not using the bow though.

Looking at it zoomed in, the symbol on the stack of materials at 20:44 looks similar to both the Spiral Rock's map icon at 19:37 (with some chevrons or border ornamentation around it) and also to BOTW's Hudson (Tarrey Town). If you look up images of Hudson's shirt, it's nearly identical to the spiral stone's map icon... a bit odd but probably just a coincidence. The chevron shape at the bottom of the material stack's icon could be a square or compass like the masonic builders symbol.

Has anyone else noticed or talked about the similarities between the new Zonai enemies and the Ancient Robots from Skyward Sword? Ik a lot of people have already talked about similarities between SS and TotK, but the new gameplay footage really got me thinking about it more. These are the main similarities that I've noticed:
-the limbs are held together with a glowing energy
-Zonai and Ancient Robots are described as, well... ancient
-the prominence of luminous stones in past trailers makes me think of the Timeshift Stones in Lanayru that bring the robots back to "life"
-the rails in the sky and across Hyrule are similar to the rails in Lanayru Mines and the Shipyard (especially at 19:13)
I'm really curious if anyone else can think of other similarities, or if there are lore reasons why it is likely/unlikely.

Big fan of the idea of making Stasis (but better) and Magnesis (But better).
I really hope you can get more than the base 4 runes though this time, I feel like this hand is tailor made for a hookshot rune and it would be weird to have a zelda game without bombs

He also hadnt mentioned that at 1 moment we see the vials on his hip but he only has 1 right now, instead of the 8. This seems to be quite early game so he either starts with 1, or none but gets 1 early on, & then we gradually collect more

You missed something while Link is skydiving. During that clip Aonuma pans up just enough to clearly show the Great Hyrule Forest has been straight up deleted. Not just the Deku tree is missing, the entire forest is gone. Is it all in a sky island? I have no idea but it’s definitely not on the surface anymore.

Best breakdown I've seen, I'm so freaking hyped for this game, it's gonna be incredible 😍

The fuse mechanic might be the most creative thing in this game. Like if the elemental weapons return, imagine fusing them together.

I’m slightly concerned that some of these traversal abilities might be too good? I liked the limited capacity of the abilities in the first game. Hopefully they find other ways to challenge your traversal with these new ones.

I noticed that when he was creating the speedboat it was giving him the option to pick up the zonai propeller when he got close to it, so we may be able to store certain types of those materials in our inventory and use them even when there are no in-world materials

I'm starting to think given the glow around the fused part suggests that fusing doesn't reset durability, but rather stacks the fused item's durability on top of the original item. Meaning that when the fused item breaks it reverts back to the original's. There's probably a way to use monster horns or parts to repair it, or maybe even an ability other than fuse could, as it might be disheartening to not repair a part that is fused to the equipment that is either rare or another rare piece of equipment. That said I could see that being something that was overlooked or too difficult to implement in time, but given that they seemed to think of everything and had a ton of time and probably as big of a budget as they needed, I could easily see them having thought of this.

Zeltik always narrates these videos so dramatically. I feel like I'm watching a documentary about the Zodiac Killer.

When the boulder got fused to the branch my jaw dropped. I love how they kept some aspects from the first game but there's so many new things they added!
I can't wait to play the game

The Bow seems like a special *Zonai* bow. I wonder what all will have durability like the last game, it won't necessarily be the same. Could the Bow be a permanent object?

I just love how many aspects of these videos you notice that I do not! I love going straight to your channel straight after any announcement and seeing not long after there is a video for me to indulge in. Thankyou

It is going to feel very weird running around Hyrule without the runes or the different arrow types. I understand that they are going to give us alternative methods, and the the runes weren't that helpful outside puzzle solving and the bombs. These abilities feel more fun because you can use them in more than just specific ways or situations, but it does make me wonder where the bombs are. I also wonder if there will be a replacement for the four champion abilities, since those were really the meat and potatoes that made link feel more powerful and specifically helped with clearing content.
TLDR: there has to be something replacing bombs, and there has to be something replacing the champion abilities

Regarding fused weapon damage: Obviously we have no idea how this will work regarding non-weapon items right now (like boulders, logs, etc.), but when fusing two weapons it seems like the added weapon gives half its damage (rounded up) as a bonus to the original. Like when the Long Stick is fused with the Farmer's Pitchfork, the new total is a base damage of 6 (presumably base damage of 2 for the Long Stick + 3.5 damage (rounded up to 4) from the base 7 damage of the BotW version of the Farmer's Pitchfork)

The amount of effort this takes is unreal for an analysis like this, bravo

I am so ecstatic for this game, I literally can’t wait for it. May is just so, *so* far away…

All of these new features is getting me so pumped, but I wish I hadn't seen any of this, so that I could go into it blind and experience it all for the first time when I play

One thing another viewer noticed, is that the Ascend ability is equipped when Link falls off the Sky Island, and obviously it's deactivated while he's falling. BUT, as soon as Link hits the water, the ability is use able! Before going inactive when reaching the surface. Possibly hinting at underwater exploration???

It's possible that the reason these zonai soilders are attacking link is due to his malice arm. Its possible since we see their technology being the thing sealing ganondorf away so they definitely have some sort of experience with it.

Thoughts - perhaps this game takes place in or connects to the deep the past. Maybe the Sheikah technology in BOTW is actually borrowed/rediscovered power from their knowledge of the Zonai, which is why it's similar but not quite as powerful in the first game as it seems to be in this game. In this new game, we're interacting with the original intent of this power. This could be why objects seem to have a similar glow, but more of a supernatural feeling in this game as opposed to the technological feel they had in the previous game. And even the technology in this game seems to be far more advanced than in the previous game.

Something so miniscule that I noticed immediately: the tree branch leaves change color depending on where you get them. On the overworld in breath of the wild, the leaves are green. When Aonuma picked up the tree branch, the leaves were yellow.

Just watched a video talking about where the zonai came from, and they referenced the zonai worshipping the “water dragon” which could be farosh, but the person also connected the dragon to Faron from Slyward sword, and Faron looks like it has a very similar color scheme to this new unknown dragon in TotK

i actually didnt notice the coords in the mini map the first time i watched the trailer but im so excited for the zelda community to measure the whole map using the in-game measurements 😭

This new gameplay changes the context of lots of the trailers, and it seems like a good bit of footage we’ve seen is from the very early stages of the game!

I think you may actually rebuild Hyrule in this game.
I don't mean just weapons, vehicles, and buildings, but you may LITERALLY rebuild Hyrule by adding sky landmasses and by raising more areas from the underworld, hence 'Tears' of the Kingdom. Hyrule meets Minecraft: by the time you're done Hyrule may not even resemble the BotW map anymore.
Sounds Great!!!🙌 😁👌

Might be a bit of a longshot but what if the recall symbol being on Link's hand when he's next to that golden glow and pulls out the broken master sword be to do with using that ability to slowly rewind the master sword back into it's original state? And every time you go to one of these golden glowing things it restores it a bit more?🤔

When Aonuma skydives he avoids showing the gerudo desert (like in the trailers), there is probably something related to the main story that he can’t show

when aonuma says "imagine you're trapped in a cage" during the ascend segment, it might be a hint toward a specific dungeon or story element!

The ground shakes, rips apart, chunks of Hyrule float to the sky.. underneath are dungeons filled with malice or worse.. the possibilities are endless if you only you let your imagination run wild.
Really looking forward to seeing what the folks on the Zelda team cooked up for us.

My theory on Zonai charge: I bet these drops are used as part of the vehicle or object crafting that you can do with the new fuse and ultra hand ability. In particular, I think they'll be used for possibly crafting parts that either consume this green zonai energy OR what I REALLY think they'll be used for and would be cool - to recharge parts that consume zonai energy.
For example, in the gameplay trailer Aonuma-sama crafts a speed-boat type raft thing with two large fans on the back to propel the craft. These fans have a limited amount of energy and I assume once they're depleted, you'll have to use these Zonai charges to refill that energy which will allow you to sail, roll, fly, and whatever else you can do with these energy consuming objects for a longer time. Thoughts?

I’m very curious about the story. I wonder why Link looks different in some scenes than others. Some trailer shots he looks pretty much the same as in BOTW with the champions tunic. Then in others, he has longer hair, different clothes and a tattoo? How much time has passed between BOTW or even within this game? Where did the islands come from. Very excited to learn this.

I wonder if you’re using an elemental arrow and you attach a monster part of the same element (red chuchu jelly + fire arrow, etc) if the effects would stack?

Also think that green symbol shown when you explain ultra hand is a combination of all the abilities. You see the symbol for recall, the two lines becoming 1 for fuse, the hand for ultra hand and the green beam for ascend