The third and final trailer for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is stacked full of cheeky winks and Easter eggs about what fans can expect to see in the sequel.
It wouldn’t be hyperbolic to say that The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is one of the most highly anticipated sequels of all time. But then, that’s exactly the kind of expectations you set when trying to follow up one of the greatest games of all time in Zelda: Breath of the Wild. We now stand at a little less than a month out until 2023’s biggest Nintendo game releases and the third and final trailer showcased many reasons for players to be hyped.
In just three minutes and 54 seconds the final Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom trailer packed in a lot of details that could easily pass you by on a first watch. That being the case, we recently scrubbed through the trailer using the accuracy of a fine-toothed comb on a recent livestream. But if you just want a breakdown of all the exciting new details you probably missed, that’s what we’re here to provide. Here’s every new detail worth highlighting from the game’s third and final trailer.
Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom final trailer – Link wears a wingsuit
One of the many blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moments in the Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom final trailer is the fact that Link rocks some unexpected, new attire. Anyone who’s played its predecessor will be well aware of his need to change outfits depending on the situation – the flamebreaker armour lets you resist hot places, for example – but this new trailer showcased Link descending down into a pit with what looks like a wingsuit for the very first time.
We know that launching into the sky to explore islands will play a big part in the experience, but what goes up must come down, so it makes sense that Link has an additional way to descend to lower levels outside of his trusty paraglider. The trailer makes it unclear if the wingsuit can be deployed at any time just like the paraglider, but it sure looks to come in handy when dodging lasers.
Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom final trailer – shrines return with a different look
Shrines were the primary way that Link was able to progress in Zelda: Breath of the Wild, gifting Spirit Orbs that could then be spent to improve his health or stamina. The Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom final trailer doesn’t explicitly confirm that shrines as we know them will return, but in various instances you can see shrine-like structures littered around the map.
Whereas before shrines were easy to pick out from their glowing blue look, the shrines in Tears of the Kingdom seem to be less fluorescent and instead can be identified by the green halo ring above them and swirling blue rings around them. The trailer doesn’t hint at how important these new shrines will be compared to the ones that came before in Zelda: Breath of the Wild, but they look to definitely return alongside other forms of mini-challenges.
Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom final trailer – fighting alongside friends
Link is used to undergoing his bold adventures as a solo explorer. Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom looks to mostly play out the same way from most of what we’ve seen so far, but more so than ever before the final trailer gave us a few good looks at what looks to be some kind of in-game ensemble gameplay where NPC characters are able to fight alongside Link and lend him a hand in battle.
Returning characters like Tulin and Zidon are pictured standing next to Link and preparing for battle, alongside a boatload of new characters that may or may not be descendants of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s four champions. Allies that look remarkably like Daruk and Mipha (albeit with a few aesthetic differences) seem to accompany Link in fighting some familiar enemies, possibly hinting at various points in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom where players will get to engage in large-scale, set-piece battles.
Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom final trailer – make your own mechs
Scale is something that Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom appears to have in spades compared to its predecessor. The world was extremely vast and open before, sure, but only in this final trailer for the sequel did we see a lot more ways of how Link will be able to interact with it an a similarly large magnitude. For example, at one point in the trailer, Link appears to be riding a player-created mech of sorts, no doubt constructed using his new Ultrahand ability showcased during last month’s gameplay preview.
Other constructed vehicles seen so far included sky balloons, boats, horse carts (with NPC characters in the back) and of course some sort of car, but this mech is by far one of the most constructions we’ve seen yet. Link himself is seen pulling a level on the top, which apparently looks to control the arms on either side of the big mech block. If complex machinery can be constructed, Link’s new powers are sure to offer a fresh perspective on gameplay that Zelda: Breath of the Wild couldn’t deliver.
Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom final trailer – all weapons can be fused
Last month’s hands-on gameplay demo illustrated four of Link’s new powers, the most interesting of which arguably being Fuse, which lets Link fuse together any two weapons and/or items. And if you thought there was a limit to the kinds of objects Link would be able to combine, think again. At various points in the final Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom trailer we see Link get really creative with this power.
One of the craziest examples is the brief moment where we see Link wielding a sword with an entire shield fused to it. He then proceeds to successfully parry an incoming attack from one of the new Construct enemies. Fusing items together appears to have further uses outside of combat, however, a later shot shows Link strapping a rocket to his shield in order to shoot himself up in the air (presumably using Fuse). Whereas Zelda: Breath of the Wild had dedicated powers for functions like this, the sequel encourages players to experiment a lot more.
Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom final trailer – Link can swim in bubbles and water
Link hasn’t always been the best swimmer, but he’s a dab hand at it this time around according to the latest Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom trailer. Not only that, Link looks to be using his newfound ability to swim to tackle a series of minigame challenges or puzzles in the sky. The trailer shows him jumping into a floating water bubble to move from one platform to the other with ease, potentially opening up an entirely new way to get around.
It's still unclear whether Link is able to generate these water bubbles himself, or he can just take advantage of these various opportunities as they appear around the world. We know that Link’s Ascend ability allows him to in effect “swim” through certain caves so he can reach up to the top of them, but there have been no hints yet as to whether the two powers are connected.
Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom final trailer – Ganondorf is back and connected to Link
Prior to this third and final trailer for Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, we could only speculate as to why Link’s right hand is infected. Well, we now know that this happens as a result of Ganondorf’s return, as the trailer ends with Link’s arch-enemy casting out some sort of dark spell that quickly takes grip of Link’s right arm. This leads us to believe that the two are deeply connected in some way, far beyond the usual ramifications of the Tri-Force.
It's already been made clear that Zelda is in need of rescuing (again) in this sequel, but it looks like she’s lost rather than being explicitly held captive by Ganondorf as we’ve seen in other The Legend of Zelda games. With Link’s infected arm now confirmed to be tied to Ganondorf in some way, it wouldn’t be shocking to learn that the two are in some sort of race to find Zelda first as Link is fighting the urge to be fully consumed by his evil rival.
