The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is going to have big dungeons with distinct designs, Nintendo confirmed in a developer Q&A published Wednesday. One of the biggest questions for Tears was whether it would offer something different from Breath of the Wild’s Divine Beast dungeons, which all had a largely similar aesthetic. Now, we know that there will be more variety to look forward to.
Here’s the relevant passage from the Q&A, and it’s worth reading in full:
We’ve only discussed the skies, but this title has its dungeons too, right?
Fujibayashi: Yes, we haven’t talked about the dungeons yet. They’ve changed from the previous game. For example, there is a dungeon that connects directly from Hyrule’s surface. If you dive from the sky straight into the dungeon, you’ll trigger an event. We think this will be a new experience that wasn’t possible in the previous game.
Dohta: We’ve made dungeons unique to their respective environments, so we think you’ll be able to enjoy the wide variety of regional characteristics.
Takizawa: Making a “wide variety” was pretty challenging. The four Divine Beasts were the dungeons in the last game, and they shared similar designs. This time, the dungeons are huge and each carry their own regional look and feel, just like traditional The Legend of Zelda games. We think they will provide a satisfying challenge for players. They were certainly a challenge to develop!
Personally, I really liked the Divine Beasts — I loved using Link’s arsenal of tools in Breath of the Wild to do things like solve puzzles and move Vah Ruta’s elephant trunk. But I’m also thrilled to hear that more traditional Zelda dungeons are returning for Tears of the Kingdom, as I have many fond memories of working my way through dungeons in previous games.
I can’t wait to delve into everything new in Tears of the Kingdom in what’s coming down to a matter of hours, as the game will be released on Nintendo Switch on May 12th. If you want more to read ahead of launch, you can check out parts one and two of Nintendo’s developer interview right now and parts four and five on Thursday.
