Yesterday afternoon Nintendo showed just over 10 minutes of gameplay of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. After a long time without knowing anything, the Japanese company showed quite a lot of footage of the expected game, and among this we could see a mechanic that will be the main element of everything: the combination.
With the voice of the charismatic Eiji Aonuma, producer of the game, in the background, the trailer explained what we could do with this combination. The summary is simple: practically any element that appears in the game can be combined. It’s as easy as that. For example, during the gameplay a mushroom is placed on a shield, so that when the enemy hits it a cloud of smoke is generated. Similarly, you also take a branch from the ground and connect a stone to turn it into a mace. And that’s it.
Almost half of the gameplay is focused on this mechanic. It’s not without reason, as you can even see how to combine several logs and a turbine to create a boat. And best of all, they’ve already said that we’ll be able to craft aerial elements, cars and much more.
With all this behind us, the only thing that comes to this writer’s mind is that the next Zelda is social media fodder. If with Breath of the Wild we already saw some really crazy activities, everything points to the fact that this Tears of the Kingdom is going to give a twist to that concept.
Nintendo is not stupid. Well you’ve seen the videos that have circulated of the previous Zelda, what better than to offer even more freedom when it comes to approaching a situation? The way to face an obstacle is going to offer more possibilities than ever before. The combination is not only a new mechanic: it is the central axis of this Zelda in terms of design. Plus, we have to keep in mind that we’re now going airborne, so “crafting” flying objects will be essential.
I don’t know if I’m more eager for Tears of the Kingdom to come out and play it myself or to see what people do with the game. Probably the latter.
