Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’s Best Features

Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom: 60 Things We Love

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has somehow outdone its predecessor in terms of open world exploration, organic discovery, and free-form gameplay, resulting in a modern masterpiece with hundreds of secrets to discover. Over two months since the Zelda sequel’s launch, players across the internet have found dozens of gameplay secrets, smart design elements, and cute details that make Tears of the Kingdom a game for the ages.

Here are 60 details we love in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Many thanks to players on the iGV Guides team and fans across social media for discovering many of these fun nuggets.

Gameplay Mechanics

• Fuse a rock to your weapon: No more struggling with Korok missing rock puzzles! Just slam your weapon into the missing space, or use Ultrahand to move it to the right spot.
• The gap in the rock circle usually points in the direction of the missing rock: This makes finding the rock a bit easier if you’re a completionist.
• You can bring all your weapons and shields into Shrines: If you’re having trouble with a puzzle, you can leave the shrine and Fuse whatever you want to your inventory. Rocket shields are especially helpful!
• Fuse Bomb Flowers to your shield for explosive jumps: This adds a new dimension to shield surfing.
• Fuse explosive crates or barrels to spears: This creates a long-range explosive javelin.
• Fuse President Hudson signs to your shield for a personal billboard: You can even fuse Riju’s Sand Seal plushies from her room in Gerudo Town.
• Separate materials from fused magic rods: Take them to Tarrey Town to break down the weapon and retrieve valuable resources like rubies, sapphires, topazes, and Star Fragments.
• Ascend through a Stone Talus: Find the right angle and climb right through it! You can also use Recall when it throws its arm at you.
• Use Ultrahand and Recall together to create elevators: Move a platform up and down with Ultrahand, then stand on it, use Recall, and watch as the platform takes you on the path you created.
• Build bridges out of logs: The game doesn’t break when you create massive structures, which is pretty remarkable.
• Fuse springs to your shield in low gravity sections: This allows for some incredible shield surf jumps.
• Enjoy shield surfing on grind rails: Tears of the Kingdom turns into a Tony Hawk Pro Skater experience.
• Use Autobuild for farming apples and other materials: Glue a ton of apples together, save it as a favorite, and walk around an orchard with Autobuild activated to collect apples instantly.
• Save pre-made Ultrahand creations as favorites: Make a small adjustment to the creation, like removing and reattaching a battery, and you’ll be able to save it.
• Fuse carts or sleds to your shield for shield surfing: This adds a new layer of speed and fun to shield surfing.
• Use frozen meat for the fastest and most durable shield surfing: Freeze a chunk of meat with an Ice Fruit for an incredible shield surf experience.
• Fuse beehives to your sword for a swarm of bees attack: This is one of the most fun fusions in the game.
• Access your inventory while paragliding: Drop Brightbloom seeds to light up your landing spot, drop a bomb flower on an enemy camp, or use a Wing to save yourself from falling.
• Use Zonai cannons for mining: Activate a Zonai cannon and grab it with Ultrahand or fuse it to your shield to make mining less tedious.
• Points of interest are more visible than in Breath of the Wild: Towers have spotlights, incomplete Shrines have a green swirl, and memories are located at enormous geoglyphs.
• Switch between minimaps in the Depths and on the Surface: This makes navigating between the two worlds much easier.
• Lightroots in the Depths are directly below Shrines on the Surface: And, the name of each Lightroot is the Shrine’s name backwards.
• The Depths is Hyrule’s “Dark World” mirror: Mines are below towns, water is an impassable wall, Goddess Statues are aligned with Bargainer Statues, and much more.
• Follow the Tear locations on the Geoglyphs to find the Light Dragon: The Light Dragon flies clockwise from one Geoglyph to the next, making it easier to find.
• Blupee bunnies lead you to nearby caves: This makes Bubbulfrog farming much easier.
• A chest icon appears on the map after completing a Shrine: This makes it easy to track your progress.

NPC Interactions

• NPCs have dialogue for any scenario, regardless of quest order: This makes the game feel more dynamic and responsive.
• Rescued NPCs remember you and may have items to sell: This adds a layer of depth to the world.
• NPCs react to weather and time of day: Penn will apologize for making you work in the rain, and stable owners will be surprised if you’re awake late.
• The Stable Trotters will turn back if you take them the wrong way: And, don’t set their stage coach on fire!
• NPCs react to your outfits, even underwear: This adds a fun layer of humor to the game.
• You can sniff out Yiga clan members by talking to NPCs while wearing the Yiga clan outfit: They’ll tell you to take off the outfit and lay low.

Easter Eggs and References

• Important places from Breath of the Wild have Easter eggs: For example, the Shrine of Resurrection has an Autobuild schematic.
• Zelda moved into Link’s house in Hateno Village: You can also get a hint about the Champion’s Leathers location.
• The Temple of Time holds a nod to getting the paraglider in Breath of the Wild: This is a fun throwback to one of the most memorable moments in the game.
• Cece will put down Link’s Hylian Hood after completing the Mayoral Election questline: This makes Link look like he does on the box art.
• Cece shares design similarities with Madam Couture from TriForce Heroes: This is a fun little detail for fans of the Zelda series.
• King Rauru is a nod to Ocarina of Time: The Sage of Light in that game was also named Rauru.
• You can get Ganondorf’s horse: It’s located on the coast just southeast of Hateno Village.

Combat and Enemy Interactions

• You can trick enemies into picking up weapons: Disarm them with electricity, swipe their weapon, and drop the new weapon you want them to pick up.
• You can cause battles between different enemy types: This adds an element of unpredictability to combat.
• Wear the Bokoblin Mask to blend in with enemies: You can even drop an apple to give a Bokoblin a snack.
• Use Recall on Flux Construct projectiles to ride up to their weak spot: This is a great way to deal damage from a distance.
• Remove Flux Construct limbs with Ultrahand: This makes them much easier to fight.
• Use Recall on Rock Like Like boulders and Octorok projectiles: Send a crushing blow back at the enemy.
• Lynels are located in the Depths below stables: This makes farming Lynel materials much easier.
• Dazzlefruits instantly destroy skeletons: This is a quick and easy way to take them out.
• Skydive through Colgera’s weak points to deal massive damage: This is a fun and effective strategy.
• Hinoxes have fun reactions: They’ll cover their eyes when you shoot them repeatedly, and you can burn off their shin guards.

World and Environment

• Waterfalls from Sky Islands fall further when it’s raining: This makes it easier to access the Sky Islands near Zora’s Domain.
• Link gets a burst of energy to reach shore if he’s out of stamina: This gives you a last-minute chance to survive.
• Link shivers when it’s cold and sweats when it’s hot: This adds a layer of realism to the game.
• It’s cooler in the shade in hot areas like Gerudo Desert: This adds a layer of strategy to exploration.
• You can use your horse to keep the president standing at certain Hudson signs: This is a fun and silly little detail.
• You can fish easily with Shock Fruits or Bomb Flowers: This makes fishing a breeze.
• The Game Over screen changes color depending on how Link died: This is a fun little detail that adds personality to the game.
• Hold ZL while taking selfies to unlock epic poses: This adds another layer of fun to the photo mode.
• Make a campfire with a piece of wood and a fire fruit: This is a simple and effective way to take a break.
• The Purah Pad is designed to resemble a Nintendo Switch: This is a subtle nod to the console the game was designed for.

These are just some of the incredible details in Tears of the Kingdom, and players will surely uncover more for years to come. For everything else about The Legend of Zelda, stay tuned to iGV.