The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has finally arrived and it's already looking to be a shoo-in for Game of the Year.
Following up The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was no easy task, but going by all the reviews so far and our own hands-on experience, Tears of the Kingdom looks like it's setting a new standard for Zelda games.
So read on for everything you need to know about The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom release date
After some delays, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was released on May 12, 2023.
And you can play it on the Nintendo Switch, as well as the Nintendo Switch Lite and Nintendo Switch OLED.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom deals
While first-party Nintendo games are rarely discounted, you could still find a good price on Tears of the Kingdom if you shop around. Check out our widget below, which surfaces the latest prices for the game.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom trailer
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom gameplay and story
A big Nintendo Treehouse video shines the spotlight on the game action of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. In many ways, it follows the same beats as Breath of the Wild in that you have to solve puzzles and shrines in order to get to Princess Zelda and defeat Ganon.
But this time Hyrule has whole segments in the sky, which you can traverse by making flying machines out of various objects. To do this you use Link's new arm, the Ultra Hand, which allows you to manipulate a whole mass of objects and fuse items together, either to solve puzzles, create vehicles or make weapons.
This opens up a frankly bewildering mass of possibilities, which players are likely to plumb the depths of for years to come. But you can also get around Hyrule on a horse or skim the skies on your glider.
Combat, from what we've seen and tried so far, remains fairly similar to Breath of the Wild, But being able to fuse things to weapons offers a breath of fresh air to the battles.
The overall story is a bit of a mystery, but Tears of the Lindgome will explain why there are suddenly parts of Hyrule floating in the sky; it involves the ancient Zonai civilization.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom reviews and reactions
Pretty much every review for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is massively positive. Everyone from IGN and GameSpot to Nintendo Life and VGC and more have given the game huge 10 out of 10 scores.
Our sibling site GamesRadar gave Tears of the Kingdon a 4.5 out of 5 noting: "Tears of the Kingdom builds on what Breath of the Wild did previously – and with a platform like that to work on, the result can't help but be fantastic. Though with the occasional hiccup in execution, the end result is a game as broad as it is deep, and something that comfortably justifies the six-year wait."
At a launch event for Tears of the Kingdom, we got to go hands-on with the game's first 45 minutes. And suffice to say, we were impressed. The Ultra Hand ability opens up a whole range of options and creativity, while the floating parts of Hyrule still have that wonderful feeling of mystery and depth to explore.
On a Switch OLED, Tears of the Kingdom also looks great, though we did feel it had the odd hiccup in performance, though was perfectly playable. Bring on the Nintendo Switch 2 as we're keen to see a Switch that can really run Tears of the Kingdom at 60 frames per second.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom outlook
We plan on doing a full review of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom once we have access to the game. Our plan is not to hurry this one as we wish to dive deep into it.
But all signs point towards Tears of the Kingdom being a masterpiece and a great, if not better, follow-up to Breath of the Wild. Already, we can expect The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom to be an essential game for the Nintendo Switch.
