There have been many games in The Legend of Zelda series released since the very first game released in 1986, but not all of them are part of the official Zelda timeline. In total, 22 of the games are included in the official canon, with most spin-off titles being disregarded. To make things more confusing, the order in which the games were released has nothing to do with where they place in the timeline, with the games often hopping around wherever they please.
While not essential to know everything that’s happened if you want to play the upcoming Tears of the Kingdom, it is fun to see the vast and wonderful universe the series has created over the course of more than 35 years.
