See Link’s New Abilities In Legend of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom New Trailer

Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom gives Link new phasing and flying powers.

By Jason Collins | Updated

Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

We’ve got more exciting news regarding Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Following the game’s reveal and the fact that it would be the first modern Zelda game to receive a multiplayer component, Nintendo just dropped another trailer showcasing Link’s new time-related powers and his new phasing and flying abilities.

Nintendo dropped the new trailer on its Nintendo Direct showcase, which Nintendo apparently prioritizes over large-scale gaming conventions such as E3. The news trailer offers insight and some of the best details about the game yet, even though the scarcity of new details remains maintained. It would seem that Nintendo doesn’t want to spoil Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom too much for the gamers, in light of the game’s upcoming release just months away; the game is scheduled to release on May 12, 2023, for Nintendo Switch.

As per the recently dropped trailer, gamers will have access to an array of new abilities in Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and instead of a Sheikah Slate, which powered Link’s abilities in the previous game, our protagonist now has a new, glowy robotic arm. Whether or not the new arm is the work of the Sheikah Tribe remains to be seen, but Link was seen using the arm’s abilities in the previous trailers as well. One of those abilities is to phase through solid objects and matter, a new version of the previous game’s Statis power and what seems to be a power to rewind time.

The time rewind powers aren’t a novelty in gaming, as we’ve seen from other games in the industry. 2003’s Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, whose remake is stuck in development hell, was among the first games—if not the first—to implement extensive time manipulation mechanics into the gameplay, allowing players to manipulate time and interact with the environment and opponents in different ways. 2012 Blades of Time explored this concept further, and it worked pretty well, despite the game flopping hard.

Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

In fact, that particular release on Nintendo Switch was voted third in the Worst Reviewed Games of 2019 by IGN. However, no one can actually see Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom getting anything else but a positive reaction from the gaming community, considering that it’s a sequel to one of the best video games ever made. Sure, this raises the quality bar Nintendo has to reach, but we have little to no doubt that Link would make the time rewind powers work well in his favor.

Other than the new phasing and time manipulation powers, Link from Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom also soars through the skies, skates on rails, and drives a car and an airship. The game was previously announced back in June 2019, but it was kept under an impenetrable veil of mystery at Nintendo, with piecemeal details revealed through trailer drops. Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is scheduled to release for Nintendo Switch on May 12, 2023.