When it comes to the Nintendo Direct yesterday, everyone and their dog knew that Tears of the Kingdom would be included in it. After all, it’s Nintendo’s biggest release this side of E3 2023, and arguably the biggest title the company has planned for the year overall.

And they certainly didn’t disappoint this time. Oh no, with an amazing new trailer for the game, Nintendo showed off all kinds of amazing additions to The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom. From story tidbits to enemy types, mechanics to locations, there’s a ton to look at and unpack here, and for us to discuss here at Gaming Reinvented.

So check out the trailer below if you haven’t already…

Then keep reading for our detailed analysis of the game and all the new content shown within!

New Enemies

Starting with new enemy types, of which there are a fair few. Right off that bat, we’ve got these mysterious flying enemies that remind us of Kargarocs from the Wind Waker and Twilight Princess:

Plus some footage showing Link taking one down with a new type of arrow. Given the game has a heavy focus on floating islands and sky exploration, it makes sense that flying enemies would be significantly more well represented here than in the base game.

We also have this rather impressive looking dragon creature too. Based on the fact it seems to have 3 heads and act as a guard for the Bridge of Hylia, we’re gonna guess it’s based on the Gleeoks from the original Legend of Zelda game and Oracle of Ages. Albeit a far scarier, hellish version brought about by Ganon’s malice.

And the hellish theme seems to very much the focus here, since quite a few of the new enemies are on the creepier side. Like what appears to be a Redead in the second Blood Moon scene.

Yep, it’s like the ones from Ocarina of Time, only somehow more emancipated and with a sideways mouth to make it all the creepier. Good job guys! You took what was already one of the most disturbing enemies in the series, and somehow made it even more terrifying. That’s impressive!

There are also some rather strange looking Bokoblin chieftan type creatures too. Apparently these are called ‘Boss Bokoblins’ by the Zelda Wiki, and act like bigger, tougher leader figures in Bokoblin armies and camps throughout Hyrule. It’s a neat setup, and one which reminds us an awful lot of Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, where bigger variants of existing enemies acted like camp leaders.

But that’s not the only new enemy variation that’s interesting to look at here. No, we’ve also got what appear to be malice infused versions of Lizalfos too:

Presumably, these are more difficult versions of their basic counterparts found in caves and other such areas, with abilities we don’t yet know about. Huh, guess Nintendo took some inspiration from Relics of the Past too!

And that brings us to the final new enemy type of the bunch. This strange, almost Minecraft like golem that Link seems to be fighting in the desert.

Yeah, it’s definitely an overworld boss isn’t it? Based on the design it’s very much a Zonai one, and presumably acts as an ‘ancient’ counterpart to the Stone Taluses found elsewhere in Hyrule.

So as far as enemies are concerned, there’s a lot to see here. But that’s only part of the story where this trailer is concerned…

New Mechanics

Since the game’s mechanics have some interesting additions too. Most notably, the addition of vehicles!

Yep, now it seems like Link can construct and use various Zonai inspired vehicles now! These include a hot air balloon:

The plane from the previous trailer:

Plus a literal car! Yep, Link can drive a car across Hyrule here, like something straight out of Banjo-Kazooie Nuts & Bolts! That’s a twist we never saw coming in a million years.

That’s already a pretty huge change to the formula here, especially given the more… pedestrian transport options in the original BoTW. Still, if you prefer using a horse, that’s still possible too. Hell, even Epona appears!

Outside of the vehicles and transportation, it seems like new rune style hand abilities are the order of the day here. Like this Magnesis style ability that lets you pull things from underwater:

Or this one that lets you grind on the rails:

There are also new kinds of arrows, like this Zonai esque one that homes in on enemies:

And weapons that let you shoot explosives, like this insane looking club:

Again, there’s some really cool stuff here, and based on sheer number of abilities in the earlier trailers, there are way more to discover too. It’s certainly more varied than in BoTW with its 7 or so runes from throughout the whole game!

Story

As for story content?

Yeah, we don’t get to see much of it here. Based on all the Blood Moon references it seems like Ganondorf is using his magic to power up the existing enemies or create new ones to annihilate Hyrule, and his dialogue makes his thirst for destruction all the more clear there (“Leave no survivors!”)

And we also know that Link has to save Zelda too:

But that’s it for now. The story is still mostly a mystery, even at this point.

Changes to Hyrule in General

So we’re gonna have to look at Hyrule in general now, and see what interesting differences we can discover there. Fortunately, there are quite a few of them, even ignoring the big things like new enemies and bosses.

Like here in the Epona scene from earlier, where we can see all manner of mysterious structures littered through Hyrule Field. We have no idea what any of them do, but they sure do look like they’ve got interesting effects nonetheless:

We also see the Typhlo Ruins without any darkness too! Yeah, apparently the Zonai magic involved in this game has removed the effect from the area, in addition to various other things:

Meanwhile the shrines and Divine Beasts in general seem to be gone entirely. In some cases, leaving them replaced with glowing green Zonai magic in places like Hateno Village:

Presumably, whatever purpose they once sold has been fulfilled, and mostly gotten rid of now.

This scene has a few of its own intriguing additions too. For instance, in addition to the huge Zonai symbol on the ground, we also get a new variant of enemy camps too, built out of multiple skulls stacked on top of each other. Pretty neat really, and presumably a bit tougher to conquer than the usual towers and skull bases from the original game.

Meanwhile, the labyrinths seem to have been raised in the sky, as shown in this wide shot. Presumably, being built by the Zonai a while back, they too are affected by the strange goings on in Tears of the Kingdom.

We also have other glowing Zonai symbols, plus strange towers too. Presumably the latter act a bit like Sheikah Towers? Or something similar?

Finally, in this scenic skydive towards Hyrule from the islands above, we see a strange glowing malice area. Looks pretty menacing, and possibly an entrance to the caves below!

So those are all the cool things we’ve found in the latest trailer. It’s certainly not everything (since hey, we’re not analysts on some sort of world changing level here), but they’re neat changes nonetheless, and show a far more promising game than the initial trailers indicated.

Still, what do you think here? Which of the many interesting changes were the most interesting in the most recent Tears of the Kingdom trailer? Are there any enemies you’re really looking forward to fighting, or locations you desperately want to explore?

Leave your thoughts in the comments below, or over on our Discord server today!

Source:

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom – Official Trailer #2 (Nintendo YouTube Channel)