I’m not even going to explain how I have this information.

And I’m not gonna be giving

away any major story spoilers because I have common decency. Instead, I’ll just talk
about the game world, new enemies, gameplay differences, etc. I will say that this game
is definitely not $70 sky island DLC, and Nintendo is doing a crap job of marketing TOTK,
so I’m gonna go out of my way to do it myself.
If you don’t want to read all of this and just want to know my verdict, I personally give it a
9.5/10 and I like this game more than BOTW, which was a solid 9/10 game for me.

NOTE: Throughout the post, I will give my personal thoughts on the different aspects of
the game.

Game World Differences:

1. MAIN OVERVIEW:

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom starts about 3 years after the events of The
Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The game will reuse the same map as BOTW, but it
will become significantly altered/destroyed through the story events of TOTK, which will
become more apparent as the game progresses. TOTK overall will have a much darker
tone than BOTW (dark/creepy in a similar sense to MM or TP), and this darker tone will be
manifested through the different aspects of the game, such as the story, enemies, etc.
The name Tears of the Kingdom itself can have multiple interpretations: “Tears” as in
crying, refers to the darker themes/tone/motifs of the game, in addition to special story
items that Link will collect throughout the game. “Tears” can also refer to tearing
apart/ripping apart/the destruction that will overcome the Hyrule map in this game.
“Tears” also sounds like “tiers”, which can also refer to the new tiers (vertical
exploration: sky, caves) that will be available to explore in this game.

2) MAJOR DIFFERENCES (SACRED REALM):

One major aspect of this game is that The Sacred Realm has merged into the game world
after the destructive awakening of “Incarnate Ganondorf”, and manifests as giant floating
islands in the sky that Link can travel to through different means. Based on what has
been shown in the recent trailers, the sky islands, which will come to be known as The
Remnants, are much more expansive than what has been shown already. There are 2
major settlements that float in the sky, Mitani village and the City of Tasseukeima (tbf it is
just a glorified massive town, not really a city). Tasseukeima is basically the home of the
last remaining Zonai, and you’ll meet most of the important story characters.

The Construct race, which were shown off in the gameplay demo, are ancient robots that
take on different forms, yet all have the same blue-green Zonai aesthetic. Some of the
variants of these robotic entities, such as The Ranger Construct, are friendly to Link, and
give him information/lore about the sky islands. The rangers are also the ones who
maintain The Remnants by planting and tending to the Goddess Trees that inhabit the
islands. The Soldier and Warden Constructs, however, are hostile to Link and will attack
on-site. The Warden construct itself is a mini moss, the first boss you fight, and is that
giant blocky entity from the most recent trailer. There are also 3 other construct types:
The Dragon Construct, which drops a flamethrower part that link can fuse to his shield or
certain handheld weapons. The Sentry, which just hides and alerts soldiers and scalers
to your presence. And the Scaler Constructs, which are just soldiers but with the ability
to scale and climb walls.

3) MAJOR DIFFERENCES (UNDERGROUND CAVES):

Openings to the underground have appeared across the Hyrule map, and these openings
lead to an extensive underground cave system. Across the caverns are different biomes
with small ruins, enemy types, and fuse materials. There are different tiers to the
underground caves, with biomes closer to the surface resembling more of the aesthetic
of the surface biomes in Hyrule — however, as Link explores deeper into the caves, the
biomes take on a more fungal and alien aesthetic. One major point of interest occurs
near the deepest depths of the world, and that is the “The Forgotten City”, which Link will
eventually learn is the ancient Zonai city of Doumorrin. This area is a massive deserted
underground cavern filled with Zonai temples and buildings. The city’s architecture
resembles much of the architecture created by Mesoamerican peoples and reminds me
of depictions of Tenochtitlan. Link will visit parts of the city throughout the game, but can
only advance to new areas of Doumorrin once he gains greater power and strength
through the various dungeons in TOTK. The size of Doumorrin is EASILY about 1/4 the
size of the Hyrule map, and the city itself is located within a dangerous underground
biome that covers the lower area of the caves called The Gorge.
There are a bunch of other underground caverns and biomes, but I’ll talk more about the
enemies. Like Likes are returning, in addition to Peahats and Moldorms. There are also
reskinned variants of the Moblins, Bokoblins, and Lizalfos enemy types that stalk the
upper tiers of the caverns near the surface.

Gameplay Differences:

1. NEW ARM ABILITIES:

Due to story reasons, Link has this new “arm” which grants him new abilities. The first 4
below are the abilities highlighted in the gameplay demo, so I’ll talk about them briefly
while adding some clarifying info.

2) FUSE:
The Fuse ability allows Link to fuse almost any 2 items together to create weapons,
including existing weapons/shields. It also allows him to fuse any item in his inventory to
his arrows, which provide unique buffs/aspects to the arrows. This system will address
the weapon durability concerns (weapon durability will be in TOTK), as it allows Link to
fuse 2 of the same weapon together to increase durability, or other items to damaged
weapons to further increase the durability, and possibly give said weapon a buff/aspect.
It is important to note that you can only fuse 2 items together. YOU CANNOT FUSE
ANOTHER ITEM TO AN ALREADY FUSED WEAPON/TOOL.

3) ULTRAHAND:

The Untrahand ability is similar to Fuse, except Ultrahand fuses other items together
(items that are not weapons) in order to create vehicles, platforms, and other
contraptions. Amongst The Sky Islands (The Remnants), Link can find Zonai technology,
such as fans and batteries that extend the lifespan of the tech. These items can power
self-made vehicles that race, fly, or surf around the world. You can also complete
optional “Tarrey Town”-like side missions where you can build new settlements and add
onto already existing towns, which is actually really fun.

4) RECALL:

The Recall ability allows Link to rewind the movement for a singular object, such as a
boulder rolling down a mountain, or a piece of The Remnants falling down to the ground
(which Link can rewind in order to reach the islands). This is the main way that players
can reach The Remnants, although there are other ways too (such as using Ultrahand to
build a floating platform). Also, if an object hits an object that is being recalled, it will
affect the movement of said object, so just be careful and mindful.

5) ASCEND:

The Ascend ability allows Link to jump up and no-clip through the ceiling up to the
nearest ground. There are a few restrictions (Link cannot ascend through super long
stretches of ground), but this ability is super useful in the caves and for traveling
amongst closely clumped together sky islands.

The abilities that I highlighted above are the abilities that Link receives at the beginning
of the game, but by completing certain “dungeons”, Link can acquire more arm abilities.

6) MORPH:

The Morph ability works similarly to Cappy in Super Mario Odyssey — that is, The Morph
ability allows Link to “possess” malice enemy types and control them. This is super
useful in avoiding/creating new and unique combat opportunities, and infiltrating enemy
ranks, especially in the hordes underground where it can become congested.

7) GLIDE:
This arm ability was shown off in the title reveal trailer and creates a giant platform when
Link is falling in the sky from The Remnants and allows him to glide great distances over
the Hyrule map in short amounts of time. Glide essentially eliminates the need for ground
traversal (which is useful later on as the map and enemies dynamically become more
dangerous).

8) DESCEND:

While technically not a separate arm ability itself, Descend is just an extension of Ascend
and acts in an opposite manner, by allowing Link to no-clip through the ground to the
nearest ceiling below (same restrictions apply).

9) GRAPPLE:

This ability allows Link's arm to become a “long rope” itself and grab onto certain
(Zonai-checkered) surfaces to swing across chasms, in addition to grappling onto certain
walls to run across them. This ability is useful both in the sky islands and the caves, as
the ruins in both areas are Zonai-themed and have the checkered surfaces that Link can
grapple onto.

Enemies/Dungeons/Bosses/Thoughts on Story:

1. ENEMIES:

All enemies from BOTW will be present in TOTK (and more of course, which I sorta explained
above). Overall, the combat is pretty similar to BOTW, but with more enemy and mini-boss
types. Not really worth going through the effort to list them all.

2) DUNGEONS:

There are 7 mandatory story dungeons that Link has to complete, but there are also 4 optional
“dungeons” that contain the 4 other arm abilities I mentioned above (MORPH, GLIDE,
DESCEND, GRAPPLE — and yes, the game CAN be completed without these other abilities,
although I would not recommend going through the game without them.)

3) STORY DUNGEONS:

There are 7 total story dungeons in TOTK, and in contrast to the freedom and open-world nature
of BOTW, these dungeons sort of have to be completed in a particular order. The first dungeon,
The Construct Manufactory, must be completed first. The next 3 dungeons can be completed in
any order: Hebra Citadel, The Faron Mines, and The Doumorrin Sanctuary. The last 3 must be
completed in a certain order as follows: The Sheikah Archives, The Zonai Observatory and
Research Labs, and The Arc of Doumorrin in order to reach Incarnate Ganondorf. Each story
dungeon is uniquely themed-ish and has a variety of puzzles that you must complete. What is
cool about these dungeons is that they reward Link for completing the optional “dungeons”
(explained below) to gain the other arm abilities; puzzles become easier to complete, and each
story dungeon takes less time overall to master. The first 4 dungeons are rather short (sort of
like the Divine Beast dungeons), but still fun enough and “unique” enough to where I didn’t have
much of a problem. The last dungeons are much longer and overall more fun to complete, but at
the same time, they are much more difficult.
4) FIRST 4 STORY DUNGEONS:

The Construct Manufactory is the first of the dungeons that you have to complete, and it is an
abandoned Zonai factory/industrial building. There was nothing really noteworthy about this
dungeon because it was more like a tutorial dungeon than anything else — even the boss, The
Manufactory Warden, is just a larger version of the Warden Construct.

Hebra Citadel is the structure that materializes beneath the raging storm above Hebra Peak. It
is similar in aesthetic to the first dungeon, but with more of an ice theme. Again, it is not really
noteworthy. The boss is called Frozen Ancient: Eadrin and takes the form of a giant
Wizzrobe-like sorcerer. It was just a damage sponge, hit it enough times and you kill it.

Then you can complete The Faron Mines, which is a Zonai ruins below the Faron region in the
highest cavern tier. This dungeon was pretty cool, as it featured more diverse terrain and natural
puzzles. The boss was called Burrowing Fiend: Tremorath, and was a giant horned worm that
would borrow beneath you and attack from below if you stayed in one spot too long. You kill it in
a way similar to a Molduga, but Tremorath has a second phase where it would slither after you.
Just use shroom bombs to stun it and hit its one eye — rinse and repeat until it dies.

Then there was The Doumorrin Sanctuary, which is a large temple on the outskirts of the city.
Another standard dungeon, and it kinda reminded me of Skyview Temple from SS in terms of
aesthetics — overgrown and crumbling. The boss was called Corrupted Berserker: Zonarok,
and is a stupidly difficult warrior-type boss that was similar to the Stalfos mini bosses from SS.
5) LAST 3 STORY DUNGEONS (THE SHEIKAH ARCHIVES):

These dungeons were definitely better than the first 4, as they featured more segments and
diversity in the aesthetics and enemies. The first one you have to complete is The Sheikah
Archives, which is this library/“museum” themed dungeon. It is located in the pit beneath the
elevated Hyrule Castle. You first explore the upper levels of this structure, which is the
“museum” segment. This area has a bunch of artifacts and skeletons of different creatures on
display around the different rooms, and the enemies you face are the malice-infused versions of
these skeletons. You have to find the 4 hidden keys in the “museum” in order to reach the
archives below. Once you ”Ultrahand” the complete key, you have to fight a returning boss —
Malice Incarnate: Stallord, which takes on the appearance of a humanoid blight Ganon with
bones. To kill this boss, you have to weaken the arm and leg joints until it has no more malice,
and then destroy the exposed bone matter until Stallord has nothing to rebuild itself with. Once
you destroy the entire body until only the head remains, just destroy the head. After the first
boss, you can travel further below to find the library/archives section of this dungeon.
The library/archives section is much more difficult than the previous section, and the main
enemy type here is giant spiders. You don’t have to find any keys here, but you just have to
travel to lower and lower regions while fighting off increasingly larger spider enemies. Once you
reach the bottom of The Sheikah Archives, you will be in the spider nest, and have to face
Arachnid Abomination: Malicestra. This boss has the ability to climb the walls and teleports
around the arena, shooting web attacks and attacking from above. You just have to shoot it in its
eyes to stun Malicestra then attack the abdomen. The boss can summon spider enemies while
regenerating health, so just be wary.

6) LAST 3 STORY DUNGEONS (ZONAI OBSERVATORY AND RESEARCH LABORATORY):

This was certainly my favorite of the dungeons. The Zonai Observatory is located high amongst
The Remnants, essentially in the highest tier of the world you can explore. You first have to
complete the lower section of the dungeon, which is just the control station so you can gain
access to the observatory and research lab. The enemies here are just pure malice
manifestations, taking on a variety of different forms. Once you complete the lower puzzle, you
can explore the upper dungeon. The idea here is to reassemble the central Orrery in the
observatory by exploring the research lab and surrounding areas.
Once Link has reassembled the central Orrery, malice corrupts the Orrery structure itself, and it
becomes my personal favorite boss in the game, an ethereal planet-malice structure called
Twisted Celestial: Malignorium. You have to use Zonai-Charged fused arrows in order to land
any damage to this thing, and hit the planet objects you assembled on the structure. The only
attacks the boss has is shooting charged malice at you, and using its “arms” to try to crush you.
Once you stun each of the planet structures enough, you have to climb on top of this boss and
destroy each of the 4 energy outlets on the “back” of this thing. You have to complete this step
quickly because Malignorium will shock Link with electricity and cause him to fall off. Once each
of the power outlets is destroyed, the “head” or sun object of Malignorium will disassemble itself
and float around attacking Link. Really the best way to kill this boss is to use the Grapple ability
to climb onto it and hit it with your weapons, but if you didn’t complete the optional dungeons to
get that ability, you can just spam shoot the boss with arrows until it dies. Overall, the puzzles in
this dungeon were the most creative and enjoyable in my opinion, and The Zonai observatory
and research lab took me the longest to complete out of any of the dungeons. 10/10 dungeon
and boss.
7) LAST 3 STORY DUNGEONS AND FINAL BOSS (THE ARC OF DOUMORRIN):

I’m going to keep this one brief because there are a lot of story spoilers, but the arc is located in
the middle of Doumorrin. The dungeon itself is fine, but certainly the least interesting out of the 3
final dungeons in my opinion. The aesthetic is similar to The Doumorrin Sanctuary but with a lot
more enemy types and puzzles. The final boss, guessed by anyone with half a brain, is
Ganondorf, or as he is called in this game, Gerudo Incarnate: Ganondorf. He basically spends
the entire game “rehydrating” himself, which is funny because of the meme associated with that
idea. The final design of Ganondorf reminded me immediately of the kind of proportions in WW
Ganon, but a bit more realistic artistically obviously. It was different from the muscular version in
OOT, but instead just an immense broad-shouldered, broad-chest kind of design. The fight itself,
gameplay-wise, was great, my second favorite behind Malignorium. It was a multi-phased fight
(3 sections) where you have to dehydrate Ganondorf in order to kill him. The ending was very
interesting story-wise… and sets up a very interesting timeline shift. I’ll leave it at that for now.

8) ZONAI TRIALS:

These trials are denoted by a giant boulder surrounded by green swirly Zonai magic (which
have been seen in the trailers and the art book), and they essentially replace the shrines from
BOTW. The Zonai Trials are also unique in their own sense, as in contrast to BOTW, there are
only 36 Trials, but each trial takes more time to complete (and in my opinion, is much more fun
and engaging). Trials are also different from BOTW, as most of them are not mini-dungeons, but
“quests”. At the beginning of each trial is the ghost of a trapped Zonai who needs Link to
complete a task for them. These tasks can range from defeating a powerful boss to solving a
BOTW shrine-like puzzle, collecting items while being hunted down (like the Trials in Skyward
Sword), or completing a stealth section (similar to the Yiga Clan quest). After successfully
completing the trial, the trapped Zonai ghost will “enhance” Link — which essentially increases
his damage potential in combat, walking/running/climbing/swimming speeds, decreases the
amount of damage taken from a hit, etc. Link is given a skill tree in his arm, and he can dedicate
these enhancements toward those branches on the skill tree.

9) OPTIONAL “DUNGEONS”:

The optional “dungeons” are just the elevated labyrinths from BOTW and do not require Link to
complete them in a particular order. They follow their own secondary storyline, which ties nicely
into the main story and doesn’t feel disconnected or separate in any way. Despite being optional
dungeons, they are on par with the first 4 story dungeons, but overall, they are relatively boring
like the divine beasts. The bosses for each of the optional dungeons are not unique in any way
either, just being the same boss but with slight variations. The dungeons are as follows: Akkala
Labyrinth, Hebra Labyrinth, Gerudo Labyrinth, and another new Zonai Labyrinth that rises out of
the ground in the Lanayru province. Because they are elevated in the sky now, there is a lot
more to explore in these structures. Your main goal is to reach the core of each Labyrinth after
running through a 3D maze solving different puzzles to progress. The boss in each area is just a
variation of the Zonai Dragon Construct, which becomes easier to beat the further along you are
in the game.

10) MY THOUGHTS ON THE STORY:

Again, I'm not going to reveal any spoilers for the story, but I will say that it is much more linear
than BOTW's story. Imagine Twilight Princess or Skyward Sword. Take that information as you
will.