Every time in ‘Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom‘, right in the middle of any plain, the cinematic of the crimson moon appears, it’s a reason to be concerned. The dead come back to life, stronger enemies emerge, and your wisest option (at least if you’ve just started your adventure in Hyrule) is to seek refuge in a sanctuary or wait until the chaos subsides. But what if we tell you that beyond being a brilliant narrative device, there is a significant reason for its appearance roughly every three hours of gameplay?
Child of the Moon
Every 168 minutes of gameplay, the crimson moon appears in the new Zelda to stir things up. Well, more or less: advanced players have discovered a way to trigger its appearance ahead of time. If you push the limits of what the Switch is capable of, thereby overloading its memory, the game interprets it as a “panic button” to exit with the relevant cinematic.
For instance, when many objects appear near Link or he is pursued by numerous enemies simultaneously, the crimson moon eliminates them by resetting the game. It’s a method to hide something that many of us already suspected: the Switch isn’t exactly the most powerful machine on the market, and the new adventures of Link and his companions make the most of it.
Where any other developer might have gone for a more hasty way to address memory issues, Nintendo has proven they’re the best in their field for a reason, concealing their shortcomings while simultaneously enhancing the game’s dark and despairing tone. They rescue the Switch from itself, preventing players from witnessing its limitations.
They’ve accomplished so much with so little, quite literally: even though ‘Baldur’s Gate 3‘ might have the potential to be the game of the year, none other has transformed its shortcomings into opportunities quite like this one. A marvel that never ceases to amaze us.
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