New Features and Gameplay Changes from BotW

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom showcases a wide variety of game features in addition to their basic gameplay. Read on to know about the new gameplay elements, world expansion and new gameplay elements!

Zelda ToTK: New Features and Gameplay Changes

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Sky Islands and Underground Explorations Four New Abilities Enhanced Enemies Customizable Paraglider Improved Minimap New Menu Design Material Attributes New Quality of Life Features Separate Maps for Sky and Surface Zonai Dispenser Ganondor's Return Bubbul Gems

Sky Islands and Undreground Explorations

Sky Islands Exploration

In the E3 2021 Teaser, Link can be seen paragliding around floating islands. We also see Hyrule Castle getting uprooted and ascending from the ground.

Legend of Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma also confirmed that we will explore the surface and the skies above, so put on those paragliders and explore the skies with Link!

Sky Islands Explored: New Monsters and Materials

Underground Explorations

In addition to the Sky Islands, players will also have access to a new undeground map called the Hyrule Depths. It is a dark area found underneath Hyrule filled with gloom and dangerous enemies ready to attack you.
Hyrule Depths Map, Regions, and Key Locations

Four New Abilities

Link's Four New Abilities
Recall	Ascend	Ultrahand	Fuse

Tears of the Kingdom introduces four new abilities that seem to replace the Rune Abilities from the Sheikah Slate in Breath of the Wild. See the section below to learn more about these new abilities.

Four New Abilities Introduced

Recall

Recall allows Link to rewind time and backtrack object movements. As seen in the video clip above, Link uses the ability on the larged spiked ball to run over the enemies on the hill.

In a more recent gameplay video, Link uses this ability to recall fallen boulders to reach the Sky Islands.
Recall Guide

Ascend

Another ability Link can use is Ascend, which allows him to rise and pass through ceilings or to escape enclosed areas. There are some restrictions to this ability as mentioned in the gameplay video and we speculate that the height of the ceiling may be one of them.
Ascend Guide

Ultrahand

All Ultrahand Vehicles Seen in Trailers
Stone Bird Glider	Hot-Air Balloon
Hovercraft	Four-Wheel Vehicle
Stone Block Vehicle

Ultrahand allows you to create vehicles using the objects scattered across the world. The ability works similarly to Magnesis, but it is not limited to metal objects and you can rotate them.

The official trailers have shown various examples of vehicles you can craft. These include vehicles for land, air, and sea transportation for easier exploration in the surface world and the Sky Islands.
Ultrahand Guide

Fuse

Fused Weapons Seen in Trailers
Fused Dragon Head Weapon	Cannon Long Stick Weapon
Bow and Arrow fused with Ruby	Fused Royal Gear

Fuse allows you to combine two different equipment to create a stronger and more durable weapon. You can also use this ability to fuse shields with other objects such as a Puffshroom to create smoke when hit.

In other trailers, we also see Link use a fused Dragon Head weapon that burns an enemy in one of the underground ruins. Another shows him using a cannon fused with a long stick that launches a mini cannonball towards Stone Tallus from afar that explodes upon contact.
Fuse Guide

Enhanced Enemies

Different Enemies Join Forces

Some Bokoblin Camps are now situated on top of Stone Taluses, as shown by the trailers. There are also Bokoblins seen being carried by flying enemies that patrol the skies.

This suggests a new combat dynamic where enemies join forces and create interesting attack combinations against you. Fighting these comparatively weak foes together should become more difficult as a result of these changes.

Armored and Upgraded Enemies

The common fiends that appeared in the trailers are shown to now have armor in addition to their weapons and shields. It can also be seen in that the Bokoblins and Lizalfos have longer horns compared to their BoTW counterparts.

Armored enemies' health bar is replaced with a yellow-colored bar that is most likely their armor's health. After the armor breaks, it will probably return to the usual red-colored health bar.

New Large Enemies

Tears of the KIngdom features several new large enemies that you will encounter during your exploration. You can face these formidable creatures in several sections of the map including the newly introduced sky and underground regions of Hyrule.

Sometime during your adventure, you will be the Flame Gleeok, for example, as one of the returning enemies from previous games. Like its earlier renditions, the Flame Gleeok is a three-headed dragon that shoots fireballs at Link as its offense. It is one of the dragon minibosses you will need to defeat as you venture across Eldin Canyon and Lake Hylia.
List of All Enemies

Customizable Paraglider

New Paraglider Designs

Tears of the Kingdom allows you to customize your paraglider with various designs. You can get these new designs by simply progressing the game!
How to Get the Paraglider and All Paraglider Designs

amiibo Paragliders

It has been confirmed through the official Nintendo of America Twitter account that players can now customize their paragliders using amiibos.

amiibo Functionality and Compatible amiibo

Improved Minimap that Shows Coordinates

The minimap for Tears of the Kingdom has been improved to include a set of three numbers that show the exact location of an area in the map.

The leftmost and middle most numbers change whenever you move on the four cardinal directions, while the rightmost number changes depending on the elevation of the area.

New Menu Design

Abilities Can Be Switched Through Abilities Wheel

Tears of the Kingdom ditches switching abilities by scrolling left or right and instead introduces a more convenient way of switching through the Abilities Wheel. The Abilities Wheel has 8 slots which might hint on the amount of runes Link has access to in this game.

Material Attributes

Materials Have Fuse Attack Power Stat

Each materials have a Fuse Attack Power stat which dictates how much firepower it will add to the weapon you are planning to fuse. The higher the Fuse Attack Power, the stronger the fused weapon will be.

Items Have Bonus Attributes

Some items in Tears of the Kingdom have bonus attributes such as Sturdy Wooden Stick which has high durability.

New Quality of Life Features

Tears of the Kingdom adds new quality of life features that streamlines certain gameplay aspects from Breath of the Wild. Here are some features we found from the hands-on previews!

Prompt appears when picking up an item when you have full inventory

In Breath of the Wild, when you try to pick up a weapon while you have full inventory, a message will appear saying that you cannot carry any more items. This will require you to open the Inventory menu and discard a weapon from there.

Tears of the Kingdom fixes this by giving you a prompt that lets you exchange an weapon from your inventory to pick up the weapon on the ground. This also applies when opening a treasure chest while you have a full inventory.

Enemy loot spawns in the enemy's original position

When defeating an enemy, their loot spawns in their original position instead of where they were when defeated. This comes in handy as you no longer need to find where they were defeated, especially if they were thrown off a cliff.

Stamina does not deplete when in bullet time

When entering bullet time in Tears of the Kingdom, the stamina no longer depletes and only does so when you fire an arrow. This is different from Breath of the Wild wherein merely entering bullet time slowly depletes your stamina.

Check a food's recipe in the inventory

Tears of the Kingdom introduces a recipe menu that you can open in your Inventory. In the Food tab, you can press the X Button while highlighting a specific food to check its recipe and the recipes of the other food that you have discovered.

Use a portable pot to cook anywhere

One of the Zonai machine part seen in the hands-on preview is a portable pot. You can use this to cook one dish anywhere in the world. However, this cooking pot will disappear after use.

Hold the Up Button on the D-Pad to quickly take out materials

Tears of the Kingdom allows you to quickly take out materials without needing to go to the Inventory menu! Press and hold the Up Button on the D-Pad to bring out a small menu that you can scroll horizontally using the Right Thumbstick.

Separate Maps for Sky and Surface

Hyrule Map Overview
Sky Island	Surface

Based on the information from the hands-on preview, it is confirmed that the Sky Islands and Hyrule's surface have different maps.

As of writing, it is still unknown if underground areas have their own maps.
Everything We Learned From the Hands-On Previews

Zonai Dispenser

In Tears of the Kingdom, players can obtain Zonai Devices by interacting with Zonai Dispenser. By offering Zonai Charges on these machines, Link can obtain many different Zonai Devices like a rocket, flamethrower, and a portable pot among many others that he can use to make different contraptions using Ultrahand.
Zonai Dispenser Guide

Ganondorf's Return

Ganon makes his return to Tears of the Kingdom, revived as a human being. He will be reprising his role as the main antagonist of the game and will likely serve as one of the final bosses of the story.
Ganon Profile and Backstory: Ganondorf's Menacing Return

Bubbul Gems

Bubbul Gems is new item that you can farm from defeating Bubbulfrogs. Giving these to Koltin will provide you with various rewards!
How to Get Bubbul Gem and Uses

Zelda ToTK: Returning Features

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Weapon Durability System Stables Horses Koroks Beedle Returning Enemies Cooking Map Marking System Returns Travel Medallion Returns Shrines

Weapon Durability System

Breath of the Wild's weapon durability system makes a return in Tears of the Kingdom. As shown in the Mr. Aonuma Gameplay Demonstration video, Link's Tree Branch breaks after defeating the Soldier Construct enemy.

Weapon Durability Explained

Stables

In the same video, we see a glimpse of one of the stables as Link passes by it. We speculate that the stables will function the same way in Breath of the Wild.
Stable Locations

Horses

Horses make a return in Tears of the Kingdom and can be used for faster travel time.

How to Tame Wild Horses

Koroks

Korok Seeds make their return in Tears of the Kingdom. A Korok with a large backpack can be found near the stables in Mr. Aonuma's showcase.

According to GameXplain, helping a travelling Korok who is looking for his friend Korok will give you two Korok seeds instead!

It is still unknown if Korok Seeds will work the same way as Breath of the Wild but if they do, they can increase inventory slots.

Korok puzzle spotted in TotK TV Ad

A TV Spot ad for Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom shows a stone circle formation on a small island. The formation matches the appearance of this particular type of Korok puzzle from Breath of the Wild. This means that Korok seeds and puzzles will make a return in Tears of the Kingdom!

Koroks Return in Tears of the Kingdom

Beedle

Beedle can be found sitting outside of the stable in the gameplay video. We speculate that he will sell items such as arrows and various materials much like in the previous game.

Returning Enemies

Returning Enemies in Tears of the Kingdom
Bokoblins	Moblins	Hinox
Talus	Lizalfos	Keese
Chuchu	Lynel	Octoroks
Molduga

A total of 10 enemies from the previous game are confirmed to return in Tears of the Kingdom. Most of these enemies sport a new look, such as the Bokoblins having longer horns and the Moblins wearing metal caps on their heads.

All Confirmed Monsters and Enemies

Cooking

A mechanic integral to Breath of the Wild makes its return in Tears of the Kingdom. It is certain that there will be new types of dishes and elixirs within the game, thanks to the appearance of new materials found around Hyrule.

Map Marking System Returns

Marking makes its return in Tears of the Kingdom. This will make it easy to highlight notable locations that players want to visit.

Travel Medallion Returns

A helpful item from Breath of the Wild makes its comeback in Tears of the Kingdom. This item can be used to create a fast travel point in the map.
Travel Medallion Guide

Shrines

Shrines are also returning from Breath of the Wild. Like the previous game, there are over a hundred of these dungeons that you can clear and get rewards from.

List of All Shrines

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