“Unveiling Link’s new abilities and more in ‘Tears Of The Kingdom’: A Review”

Nintendo has released ten minutes of gameplay from its upcoming Switch game The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom, revealing a number of Link’s new Sheikah Slate abilities and a look at how Hyrule has changed since Breath Of The Wild.

In a video published today (March 28), Tears Of The Kingdom producer Eiji Aonuma played through the game and pointed out some of its new features.

That included several of the Sheikah Slates’s abilities, as Aonuma demonstrated being able to reverse time with the Slate’s Recall ability.

The second new ability to be shown off was Fuse, which allowed Link to fuse existing items together. Aonuma revealed that this can be used to stick two weapons together, but it can also be used in conjunction with the Slate’s Ultrahand ability (which lets you move objects around) to create boats, cars and hot air balloons for Link to use.

The fourth new Sheikah Slate ability to be revealed was Ascend, which allows Link to float through ceilings to reach their surface on the other side.

Elsewhere, Aonuma took fans through a brief tour of the floating islands that have appeared across Hyrule following Breath Of The Wild. Aonuma revealed that Hyrule has been “changed in many ways” since the previous game’s events, something that was teased in the game’s first mysterious trailer.

While Link was fighting several new enemies, fans were also able to spot that the controversial weapon durability system will make a return in Tears Of The Kingdom — meaning players will only get a limited amount of attacks before their weapon breaks.

Tears Of The Kingdom is set to launch on May 12 for the Nintendo Switch. In today’s demonstration, Nintendo also revealed that it will be launching a Switch OLED model based on Tears Of The Kingdom, which will launch on April 28.

Additionally, a themed Pro Controller and carrying case will launch along with the game on May 12.

In other gaming news, Dolphin – emulation software for Nintendo’s GameCube and Wii consoles – is coming to Steam this year.