The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
| The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Nintendo EPD |
| Publisher(s) | Nintendo |
| Director(s) | Hidemaro Fujibayashi |
| Producer(s) | Eiji Aonuma |
| Designer(s) |
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| Programmer(s) |
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| Artist(s) | Satoru Takizawa |
| Composer(s) |
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| Series | The Legend of Zelda |
| Platform(s) | |
| Release |
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| Genre(s) | Action-adventure |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is a 2023 action-adventure game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. The player controls Link as he searches for Princess Zelda and fights to prevent Ganondorf from destroying Hyrule. Tears of the Kingdom retains the open-world gameplay and setting of its predecessor, Breath of the Wild (2017), and features new environments, including an area composed of floating islands in the sky and an underground area beneath Hyrule known as the Depths. The player has access to various devices that aid in combat or exploration and can be used to construct vehicles.
Tears of the Kingdom was conceived after ideas for Breath of the Wild downloadable content exceeded the scope of DLC. Development was led by Nintendo's Entertainment Planning & Development division, with Breath of the Wild director Hidemaro Fujibayashi and producer Eiji Aonuma reprising their roles. The developers were inspired by social media posts to create gameplay mechanics that encouraged experimentation and sometimes struggled to differentiate the sequel from its predecessor. A teaser was shown at E3 2019, while a full reveal featuring gameplay was shown at E3 2021. Tears of the Kingdom was originally planned for release in 2022, but was delayed until May 2023 to allow the developers to refine it.
Like its predecessor, Tears of the Kingdom received critical acclaim. It was praised by critics for its expanded world, new powers, scale, and story, with minor criticism for its technical performance. It sold more than 10 million copies in its first three days of release and over 21.73 million copies by March 2025, making it the Switch's eighth-best-selling game. An enhanced edition of Tears of the Kingdom was released for the Nintendo Switch 2 in 2025, and a spin-off titled Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment is also planned for release on the Switch 2.