Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

LEGEND OF ZELDA: TEARS OF THE KINGDOM

And now, we finally come to the loooooong awaited sequel to Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. This time, we follow Link and Zelda as they explore the caverns underneath the castle, investigating some strange occurrences. There they find the sealed corpse of Ganondorf, kept trapped by a strange hand, before the Master Sword's presence awakens him and he unleashes powerful magic on the world, sending Zelda back in time, destroying the Master Sword, and causing huge chunks of land to rise into the sky.

As per usual, your main character is Link, bringing with him many of the mechanics seen in BOTW, such as picking up various weapons that will break after a while (swords, axes, bows, and so on), climbing cliffs, using a paraglider, riding a horse, and so on. Instead of Sheikah Slate runes, though, he bares the arm of Rauru, an ancient king who Zelda befriended in the past. Through Rauru's magic, Link can use special new abilities, including the ability to fuse items together into new weapons, the Ultrahand ability which functionally allows him to do the same but on a bigger scale to make vehicles and such (YouTube will provide you plenty of evidence of ways this can and has been abused). He can also Ascend, passing straight through solid ceilings to get higher, and he can Recall, sending an object in motion back along its past path. Later you also get an Autobuild ability to assemble specific vehicles through Ultrahand without having to put it together piece by piece anymore.

In the past, Zelda makes friends with Rauru and his queen Sonia, both powerful magic users. There, she witnesses the events that led up to Ganondorf's rise, including the death of Queen Sonia and Rauru sacrificing himself to seal Ganondorf away. Ultimately (Major spoilers ahead!), Zelda would swallow her magical gemstone, transforming herself into one of the immortal dragons that fly around Hyrule, losing herself but allowing herself to live long enough to deliver the restored Master Sword to Link in the present.

Another set of important central characters are the five sages Link gathers, mostly pulled from the four champions of the previous games. This includes Tulin, Teba's young son, who can fly, uses a bow like his father, and blows a massive gust of wing to blow Link forward. Yunobo returns, rolling around, briefly becoming a drug kingpin (don't ask), and acting as a cannonball Link can shoot forward. Sidon also returns, shown able to purify most bodies of water, wields a trident, and can swim fast enough to create a whirlpool. Riju wields a lightning blade and can summon a wave of lighting. Finally, we have Mineru, Rauru's sister, who can separate her spirit from her body, and attaches it to a construct in the modern day, which wields a mace, shock emitters, a shield, a fan to fly with, and multiple other attachments.

From there, most of our supporting Sheikah return, including Impa, Purah, and Robbie, Purah especially playing an important role, having re-aged herself up to an adult body and becoming very popular online. Paya also returns, as well as a new scientist named Josha. Teba returns as well, having retired from service as Champion, and Sidon now has a fiancée named Yona. Hestu and the Koroks return, as well as most of the notable NPCs of the first game, all having moved forward in their lives in various ways.

Ganondorf is, of course, our main villain. Most of his battle is pretty standard for a Ganondorf battle, so I don't think we'll be doing a "Wild Ganondorf" with most of the unique stuff attached to him being just Calamity Ganon stuff all over again. He can fire a dark blast, fight with a sword, summon shadows of himself or other enemies, and uses Malice. At the end, he transforms himself into a dragon as well. Master Kohga and the Yiga Clan also return, with Master Kohga's battles involve him fighting you in a car, jet, boat, and mech he constructed mimicking your Ultrahand techniques.

As for our bosses, we had Colgera, a giant flying Molgera made of ice that summoned the blizzard around the Rito Village; the Marbled Gohma, a giant Gohma responsible for the Marbled Rock Roasts around Death Mountain; Mucktorok, an Octorok spewing the gunk polluting the Zora's waters; and Queen Gibdo. Gibdos are bugs now, by the way. Who knew? We also have a construct seized by Ganondorf's power, and a Phantom Ganon that rises out of the Gloom Hand enemies, which fights with a sword, creates duplicates, and warps around.

As for our enemies, we have multiple returning from Breath of the Wild, including Chuchus, Bokoblins, Keese, Lizalfos, Lynels, Moblins, Octoroks, Wizzrobes, Taluses, and Hinoxes all returning, more or less functioning the same as you remember them. From there, we also have larger Boss Bokoblins (isn't that literally just what Moblins are supposed to be?), Horriblins who crawl around in caves, Bubbulfrogs, Aerocudas, and Like Likes, which now can spit various forms of elemental attacks, but I still don't think they're there yet. Gibdos play a central role in the Gerudo storyline, crawling from sand, latching onto players, and now flying with bug wings. Gleeoks return as brand new bosses, flying, sweeping with their tails, using ice, fire, and water attacks, and all having big massive finisher attacks. And then we have the Constructs, Zonai machines that come in various forms, but I'd like to most focus on their usage of Zonai devices, all the things Link can use when he Ultrahands.

A lot of the Hyrule map does return from the original game, except with several key differences such as Zonai Shrines replacing Sheikah Shrines, huge floating islands appearing in the sky, including Great Sky Island where you start the game, and a whole underworld area to explore as well. We also get major dungeons attached to our sages, including the Legendary Stormwind Ark (Wind Temple), the Great Wellspring of Hyrule (Water Temple), Lost Gorondia (Fire Temple), the Mural's Myth (Lightning Temple), the Vessel of Spirit's Resting Place (Spirit Temple), Gloom's Lair, and Hyrule Castle itself.

And that's about it! Here's what we've got so far:

Characters:

Link

Zelda: dragon

Rauru: Fuse, Ultrahand, Ascend, Recall, Autobuild

Sonia: Echo of Rauru?

Tulin: fly, bow, gust of wind

Yunobo: roll, cannonball

Sidon: purify, trident, whirlpool

Riju: lightning blade, wave of lightning

Mineru: separate her spirit, construct, mace, shock emitters, shield, fan, attachments

Impa

Purah (Discussion post needed)

Robbie

Paya

Josha

Teba

Hestu

Korok

Ganondorf: dark blast, sword, summon shadows, enemies, Malice, dragon

Master Kohga: car, jet, boat, mech

Yiga Clan

Phantom Ganon: sword, duplicates, warp, Gloom Hands

Chuchus

Bokoblins

Lizalfos

Lynels

Moblins

Octoroks

Wizzrobes

Hinoxes

Like Likes: suck in, spit

Gibdos: crawling from sand, latching on, bug wings

Gleeoks: flying,  tails, using ice, fire, and water, strong winds, finisher attacks

Zonai Constructs: Zonai devices

Bosses:

Colgera

Marbled Gohma

Mucktorok

Queen Gibdo

Seized Construct

Ganon Dragon

Stages:

Zonai Shrines

Great Sky Island

Underworld

Legendary Stormwind Ark

Great Wellspring of Hyrule

Lost Gorondia

Mural's Myth

Vessel of Spirit's Resting Place

Gloom's Lair

Thanks for reading! Next up, Tulin inherits the wind!