Habemus nomen! At long last, we have a name for the continuing adventures of Link and Zelda. No more bemoaning the whereabouts of BOTW2 or using its lengthier, but more Nintendo-correct identifier, “the sequel to Breath of the Wild.” Now, we’re crying Tears of the Kingdom!
The September 13 Nintendo Direct had been rumored to be “chock-full of Zelda.” And yet, as the program drew to a close, there was no evidence of two of the most popular rumors, the release of Twilight Princess or Wind Waker for the Switch. And as for BOTW2? Oh, there were teasers at times – mention of a hero who’d been asleep for a thousand years (nope, not Link, for all his tendency to take long naps); mechanical heroes (not Divine Beasts, but instead DLC content for Xenoblade Chronicles 3); and even a passing reference to putting an end to Calamity (Harvestella).
And a couple points in the Direct were just plain cruel: “there’s one more game we should mention” turned out to be Goldeneye 007. No aspersions being cast here, and Goldeneye is a classic, but still, if there’s one more game to be mentioned…
Eventually, Shigeru Miyamoto appeared, raising hopes. Said hopes were promptly dashed, however, when he left after talking about Pikmin.
By the time the program was winding down, many were indeed in metaphorical tears over the dearth of Zelda news. Could the silence portend another delay?
But in the program’s dramatic closing, we received snippets of scenes from the long-awaited sequel, followed by the grand reveal: Tears of the Kingdom would be its name, and it was coming to our consoles on May 12, 2023. (We had a moment of dismay, watching the Twitter feed, when Nintendo Europe offered a date of 12.05.2023, and we read it the Americanized way. December 5! Say it isn’t so! And it isn’t.)
The Zeldaverse is already fast at work speculating about the scant couple of minutes video in this latest trailer. Mind you, much of the clip consisted of scrolling, bronze-hued Hyrulean runes and Zelda-glyphics. We’d have loved more action scenes, like the one with Link perched atop what looks to be a stone loftwing.
Nonetheless, while smarter Zeldaphiles than us analyze the trailer (no doubt someone, somewhere, is scouring those runes to figure out what the symbols represent), we are content to have a date certain and a title. We have eight months to research new, high-flying cocktails to pair with gameplay!
Editor’s Note: The photos in this post are the clear property of Nintendo, albeit captured on our computer screen; please don’t sue us (or the thousands of others who have also done so on social media), we’re just enthusiastic!