The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Gameplay Reveals New Abilities, Themed Switch OLED, and More

gadgets.ndtv.com:

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is out May 12 and ahead of its release, Nintendo has unveiled 10 minutes of in-depth gameplay. In it, producer Eiji Aonuma walked us through the sprawling lands of Hyrule and the floating Sky Islands, whilst offering glimpses at Link's new abilities, ranging from time rewind, the ability to fuse objects to construct weapons, and more. He also confirmed that development on the much-anticipated sequel was now complete — the game was originally slated for a 2022 release but got delayed into this year. The video also revealed a The Legend of Zelda: Tears of The Kingdom-themed Nintendo Switch OLED model, launching April 28.

The gameplay footage for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom opens with Link riding around on his horse and exploring Hyrule, before noticing a giant rock falling from the sky. He's then seen using the new ‘Recall' ability on the boulder, essentially rewinding its movement and using it like a fancy elevator to get to the Sky Islands. Once he was in a well-elevated position, Aonuma popped open Link's paraglider and floated onto one of the many floating islands. “There are lots of ways to reach the Sky Islands, so we hope you'll try a lot of different methods,” Aonuma said via an English translator. The weapon durability factor also returns in the sequel, with armaments like wooden branches breaking apart in just a few hits. To counter that, he demonstrated Link's new ‘Fuse' ability, letting him combine a tree branch and a boulder to form a makeshift hammer, which is understandably more resistant to hits and degradation.

Of course, other combinations such as an extended pitchfork are also possible, helping us keep enemies at bay, while we continue prodding at