Zelda fans, listen up! Tears of the Kingdom will most likely have classic dungeons again. After analyzing the latest trailer thoroughly, we have spotted many details that point to dungeons we know from masterpieces like Ocarina of Time.
Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is THE most anticipated game at the moment, without a doubt. And we will add on to that excitement, by telling you all about our latest discovery in the third Zelda TotK trailer. The one thing that almost every Zelda game had in common were the three M's in dungeons... massive, magnificent and mysterious.
I'm talking about the ones like Arbiter's Grounds from Twilight Princess or Ocarina's Forest Temple. Those were the really big fish that we will always remember beating.
Unfortunately, there was none of that in Breath of the Wild. All we got were four divine beasts that looked the same, followed the same gameplay mechanics, and had the same boring bosses. Let's face it, before entering a divine beast in BotW, you would never feel the same excitement you had when first setting a foot into the Ancient Cistern in Skyward Sword. God forbid... even the Water Temple from Ocarina was better than any of the divine beasts.
Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Dungeons
Breath of the Wild is a masterpiece on its own. The gameplay is revolutionary, the possibilities feel endless, and the open world is breathtakingly beautiful. But one thing many Zelda fans were missing in Breath of the Wild were the dungeons. Obviously, there still are 120 shrines and four divine beasts that we can't forget about. But they can't compare to REAL and proper Zelda dungeons like Snowpeak Ruins, the Forest Temple and Majora's Mask's Stone Tower.
After analyzing the latest and final trailer for Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom , we came to the conclusion that real Zelda dungeons might make a return in the upcoming BotW sequel. As we all know by now, the BotW map has been expanded by a lot. Not only is Hyrule now covered in floating sky islands, but Link is also going way underneath the surface.
Death Mountain
The latest trailer included a lot of footage that showed underground locations and gameplay. One of those sequences shows the inside of a stone cave that is covered in magma, which we assume to be Death Mountain.
In earlier Zelda games, the Goron area dungeon would always be located inside Death Mountain. Since we didn't get to access the inner part of the volcano in Breath of the Wild, we can't rule out that the inside could hide something bigger. It's quite hard to imagine that a full on Zelda-style fire temple is locked inside that mountain, but the trailer certainly shows some enemies, some railways, and a pretty big cave. Looks like a decent dungeon to me...
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Gerudo Desert
Another sequence in the trailer shows a GINORMOUS temple rising from the sand in the middle of Gerudo desert. What this building is in detail is still unknown, but it definitely looks like it is made for exploring. In another scene, we can also see huge holes in the ground, with sand flowing into an unknown area. On first sight, they reminded me a lot of these holes that you would find in Jabu Jabu's Belly in Ocarina of Time. Furthermore, I think they could function similarly, by bringing us to a deeper level in the underground. Maybe that is where the giant temple is located, before it rises to the surface.
Another thing that I kept thinking about in the past, is why the Gerudo desert is so empty. Of course, it's a desert, so we can't expect massive cities and villages. But having a desert of this size in the game, containing nothing but two single shrines seems kind of odd for Nintendo, don't you think?
Another detail that hints at a desert temple are all of these ancient ruins that you can find in Breath of the Wild. In the desert, you can spot remains of ancient buildings, which are proof enough that the area once had more to offer before it was completely covered by sand.
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More Dungeons In Other Regions
It certainly looks like we'll be getting some new locations to explore in Death Mountain and the Gerudo Desert in Tears of the Kingdom. But hey, have you ever wondered if there might even be more places hidden somewhere in Hyrule? Honestly, while wandering around Death Mountain in BotW, everything felt so complete and amazing. It's hard to imagine there could be more to it, you know? But at the same time, what if there are hidden temples or secret spots on the map, that we just never noticed in Breath of the Wild?
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If you're still not entirely convinced by this theory, you will be in a second. The new Zelda is called "TEARS of the Kingdom". I think we all know by now that we will probably have to find the seven Tears in order to beat this game. This is one of the core principles that almost all Zelda games had. In Ocarina of Time, we would have to find six medallions in six dungeons. In Twilight Princess, we had to find the four Fused Shadows in four dungeons. In A Link to the Past, the three pendants are necessary to obtain the Master Sword and ultimately defeat the game's final boss, even these can only be obtained after completing THREE dungeons.
You get where I'm going with this. If we have to find seven tears, they are probably not just lying around Hyrule. Funny thing is, they have never been mentioned before in Breath of the Wild, so these Tears must either be new or just forgotten... maybe because they have been hidden in ancient dungeons for thousands of years? Who knows...
In the latest Tears of the Kingdom trailer, we see that some Tears are in the possession of Zelda, Riju, Sidon, Tulin, Ganondorf, and that other Girl that many assume to be goddess Hylia. Let's just ignore the fact for now that there is still one Tears missing.
One thing that is certain: Tears of the Kingdom must feature immersive and challenging dungeons in order to satisfy the expectations of dedicated Zelda fans. With the release date just around the corner on May 12, let's remain optimistic and hope for the best.
Until then, you should really pre-order the game on Amazon to make sure that it gets to you on time.
It's funny to see how drastically our view on this game has changed. Just two months ago we were afraid that Tears of the Kingdom might actually be a big flop... check out what we said back then, do you feel some of our criticisms?