While prerelease info regarding the The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has been somewhat scarce, a new gameplay showcase has given an in-depth look at some of Link's new abilities. As a rare direct sequel in the Zelda franchise, Tears of the Kingdom continues the story started in Breath of the Wild, bringing Link back to the same post-apocalyptic Hyrule. However, while the overall landscape seems to be remaining similar to Breath of the Wild's, new additions like mysterious floating islands and gameplay changes like the ability to build vehicles promise to provide big shake-ups to the game's open world.
From its first reveal in 2019, Tears of the Kingdom has been the subject of much speculation, with its brief trailers and short snippets of gameplay giving small sneak peeks at some of TOTK's new tools that weren't in BOTW. Perhaps even more so than the Zelda series' first foray into open-world gameplay, Tears of the Kingdom looks to be an impressively ambitious expansion on the world and mechanics of its predecessor - although much of the game's actual content has remained a mystery, even as it's periodically received new trailers. With a recent gameplay demonstration from series producer Eiji Aonuma, however, four of Link's new abilities have been revealed: Recall, Fuse, Ultrahand, and Ascend, each with seemingly myriad uses.
4 Recall
Recall, perhaps one of the more straightforward abilities, seems to function similarly to BOTW's Stasis - but, instead of freezing objects, it sends them back through time, which might lend credence to certain Tears of the Kingdom time travel theories. In the showcase, the ability is used to ride a rock that fell from the sky back up to access a sky island, meaning that it has interesting applications for exploration - although it's currently unknown if it can be used as freely as Stasis. For the time being, the ability seems like a way to get to sky islands in the early game, although which islands it can allow access to seems somewhat limited.
Aside from using the ability for exploration, however, Recall can also be spotted being used in a previous trailer for Tears of the Kingdom. In it, Link uses the ability on a large metal spiked ball rolling down a hill at him, sending the object back up its path and crashing it through several enemies. Like Stasis from BOTW, the specific use cases of Recall seem somewhat niche in combat situations, with the ability seemingly being most useful for turning the tables on preset traps, but creative players may yet be able to find creative uses for it upon the full game's release.
3 Fuse
The next Tears of the Kingdom ability shown, Fuse, allows players to combine their weapons with objects and materials. From the footage, Link is shown fusing a rock onto the end of a basic stick to create a makeshift hammer, and a pitchfork with a long stick to create a comically over-sized spear. Importantly for BOTW's controversial weapon durability, fusing the weapons seemingly resets their durability and, at least in the case of the stick/rock fusion, greatly extends it, while also increasing the weapon's damage. Fusing weapons with materials, objects, or even other weapons can seemingly lead to specialized equipment, like the greatly extended range of the combined pitchfork.
The ability can also be used on shields and arrows, with the demonstration showing off a mushroom-fused shield, creating an obscuring cloud of smoke when hit, as well as two types of arrows: those fused with White Chuchu Jelly, creating a freezing cloud when fired, and Keese Eyeball-fused homing arrows that track down enemies. Unlike when Link was shown fusing melee weapons however, using Fuse for arrows seemed to pull materials directly from the player's inventory, with a small menu of selectable options popping up - although it seems likely that the ability could be used either way for weapons, shields, and arrows.
2 Ultrahand
In a similar vein to Fuse, the Ultrahand ability allows Link to bind objects together, being the method for creating the vehicles previously seen in trailers. Functioning similarly to the previous game's Magnesis ability, Link uses it first to pick up objects, rotate them, and move them around, being able to stick them to the surfaces of other objects once in proximity. In the demonstration, Link creates a rudimentary boat by fusing three logs and two strange mechanical fans, with the fans starting when hit and seemingly operating off of a limited, but replenishing battery gauge similar to Link's own stamina.
Interestingly, another vehicle shown in the demonstration is a basic flying raft - a wooden platform fused with four downward-facing fans and a sail, allowing it to move with the direction of the wind. The limited battery, however, seems to greatly restrict such devices from gaining too much height, which is a far cry from the sky-faring vehicles previously seen in trailers. While not elaborated on in the gameplay demonstration, it seems likely that Tears of the Kingdom's progression will eventually allow for dedicated ways of building more complicated vehicles, with much greater or even unlimited energy supplies.
1 Ascend
The last ability shown in Tears of the Kingdom's gameplay demonstration, which can also be seen in previous trailers, is Ascend, which allows Link to go through ceilings, essentially "swimming" through until he reaches the floor above. The ability seemingly doesn't let the player choose an angled trajectory, as the demonstration shows Link shooting directly upwards, and while thin ceilings and platforms will allow Link to phase through almost instantly, others will require more time. This can be seen in the demonstration, where Link uses Ascend on the ceiling of a cave to rise to the top of a small mountain, with Link going through a brief, portal-like transition before emerging at the top.
The ability, while more straightforward in its use than Fuse or Ultrahand, seems like a handy aid for quicker exploration, allowing Link to skip climbing in certain areas - and also bying the need to manage stamina. Additionally, Ascend seems likely to be an opportunity for TOTK to add some devious secrets or puzzles, like rooms or areas hidden beneath the ceiling of one area and the floor of another. However, the demonstration also mentions certain limitations to the ability, which are likely related mostly to the ability's range and maximum travelable distance.
As Tears of the Kingdom approaches its long-awaited release, Nintendo is likely to reveal more of the game's underlying systems, with the end of the gameplay demonstration promising that the game still has more to show. Releasing on May 12, 2023, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom promises to be an exciting new addition to the series, and a major expansion on the already impressive Breath of the Wild.
Source: Nintendo of America/YouTube
