Zelda Tears of the Kingdom release date: Breath of the Wild 2 news
Breaking down everything we know about BotW 2, AKA The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
Set that hype into overdrive as the sequel to Breath of the Wild is now here. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom release date is finally here, four years after its initial reveal back in 2019.
Before diving into the open-world sequel and checking out the new Tears of The Kingdom shrines or exploring with your trusty paraglider, it's best to catch up on everything that was confirmed before the launch. This includes several stellar trailers, important release date information including file size and release time, and more.
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The game's final trailer is about as epic as you'd imagine for a game of this scale and you can check it out below:
On top of the trailers, Nintendo released a few new commercials in the hours leading up to the game's release. Have a look at them here.
Read on to find out everything there is to know about The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom release date, file size, release time, and to catch up on gameplay and story details. It's dangerous to go alone, so do read through this.
When is The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom release date?
The Zelda BotW 2: Tears of the Kingdom release date is 12th May 2023, the developers from Nintendo have confirmed.
This new release date was announced in a recent YouTube video, with orders for the game being available now at retailers including Amazon.
The original Breath of the Wild launched in Spring 2017 – so the gap between games in this series was roughly six years.
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When was the Tears of the Kingdom release time?
The Tears of the Kingdom release time was 9pm on Thursday 11th May. Nintendo games typically go live at this time on the evening before they release.
Even if you missed this release time, you're now able to play the game following the full launch on 12th May.
What is the Tears of the Kingdom file size?
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom file size is 16,684MB (16.684GB), it has been confirmed by Nintendo.
If you're planning on playing the digital version of the game, this is roughly how much space you will need free on your Nintendo Switch.
It may not seem like much for an open-world game of this size and scope (seriously, Nintendo is some kind of compression wizard), but you do need to have that 17GB free to download and play the game.
Can I pre-order The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom?
Yes, Tears of the Kingdom is available to order right now. It's a bit late to call it a 'pre' purchase, though, with the game being out already.
You can nab your copy using any of the links below. If you were wondering, the TotK price is listed at £59.99 GBP at all of these retailers.
- Pre-order Breath of the Wild 2 from GAME
- Pre-order Breath of the Wild 2 from Amazon
- Pre-order Breath of the Wild 2 from Argos
You can also order the Tears of the Kingdom Collector's Edition from GAME for £109.99. This fancy edition of the game includes a physical copy of the game, an artbook, SteelBook case, ICONART steel poster, and a pin set containing four pins. You can check it all out in the image below:
Tears of the Kingdom story and gameplay details
There are quite a few things we can gather from the game's latest trailer (embedded in the intro of this page), including that the "open-world" aspect of the game is now to become even more open!
With Hyrule quite literally shattered into pieces, Link will take to the skies to explore new locations and presumably seek some vengeance against Ganon in the process.
Those new locations are the Sky Islands, so we'll have action that takes place in the sky as well as on land – a good mix that fits the feel of Zelda nicely.
As far as when the game is set, it's hard to say without getting into spoilers. We know that Hyrule has been torn up and fractured, resulting in the many new aforementioned floating islands in the sky. Is this the same Hyrule? And if so, how long after Breath of the Wild are we? The game's setting is an enigma, and we can't wait to get stuck in.
This includes with some fun new powers for us to try out including Link's ability to teleport through rocks, and the new Ultrahand ability that looks really interesting.
These new features are just a few of many, so our already high excitement levels were stratospheric for the hugely anticipated sequel ahead of launch.
What consoles and platforms The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom be available on?
There's no way Nintendo would let go of one of their oldest and most popular franchises - The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild sequel launched exclusively on the Nintendo Switch, with PlayStation and Xbox consoles being left out of the party as you'd expect.
What's new with The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom gameplay?
The popular Hyrule map from the first game is making a comeback, but it will wish it hadn't as it is set to be shattered early on in the game and the pieces it leaves behind look set to become floating islands for you to explore - each with new dangers and challenges to face.
The catacombs also seen in the teaser led to speculation this follow-up will include several underground dungeons to explore - or perhaps even a sprawling subterranean network. This existence of Tears of the Kingdom dungeons was later confirmed by the Zelda developers just days ahead of the release.
And as mentioned above, look for new powers, new ways to travel and all sorts of exciting new additions to the game now it has launched, including the ability to take flight and glide your way around the locations.
Link will be able to craft just about anything you can think of together in this game to make for some breathtakingly inventive weapons and pilot-able vehicles.
Finally, it is rare to see titular character Zelda exploring caves with Link, especially in explorer gear - which led many to believe that she would be a playable character for the first time (in the mainline series at least) and that there will be co-op mechanics in many of the dungeons.
The game is also said to have been influenced by Red Dead Redemption 2 - so make of that what you will!
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom gameplay trailer
Recently, series producer Eiji Aonuma (who has excellent glasses) graced us mere mortals with a lengthy gameplay demonstration showing us what creative mischief we’ll be able to get up to in Hyrule in the BotW sequel Tears of the Kingdom, check it out here:
There's even a limited edition Switch OLED
As the cherry on top, Nintendo announced a limited edition Switch OLED to coincide with Tears of the Kingdom.
It was released before the game itself (Friday 28th April), and we reckon it'll be the definitive way to play it.
Read more on Tears of the Kingdom:
- Zelda Tears of the Kingdom cast - voice actors revealed
- Zelda Tears of the Kingdom shrines - key locations
- Zelda Tears of the Kingdom Master Sword - how to get it back
- Zelda Tears of the Kingdom Paraglider - location revealed
- How long is Zelda Tears of the Kingdom? Hours needed
- Zelda Tears of the Kingdom OLED Switch - custom console
- Zelda timeline explained - series order
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