Nintendo Direct February 2023 Final dropped the biggest trailer to date, while we STILL DON’T know what the game is actually about, at least they showed more Hyrule in this trailer than in any other trailer so far. So let’s go back to each scene and break down everything we see here in the upcoming Tears of the Kingdom.
The first shots start off pretty slow, showing us a few new things. This angle facing Death Mountain from the Mabe Prairie shows more of the spiral patterns on the ground that we’ve seen in previous trailers. Lightning also has a slight green tint, normally lightning is lighter white in Breath of the Wild so this may not be a normal thunderstorm. Throughout the trailer there are dozens of examples of weird rocks, piles of malice, and new buildings repeating over and over, so I won’t go into it because we already know the land of Hyrule has changed pretty much.
The military training camp next to the Korok forest, without the Sheikah tower, is now overrun with new longhorned bokoblins and a new type of flying enemy also seen in the previous trailer. Previously thought to be the Kargaroks, these appear to be brand new enemies. Since they seem to abound in Hyrule by the number of times they appear in this trailer, they could be our new general annoyance when scrolling down or up, and we’ll probably be engaged in many air battles with them.
The area between the Tabantha and Hebra ranges is shown next, with two bright towers fitted with spotlights. We also get a closer look at a storm circling Mount Hebra. With a different ground design seen again from previous trailers, the purpose of all of this remains unexplained. However, keep in mind the shape and color of these towers as you will see them again later in the video. One thing to point out is that Vah Medoh has disappeared from its resting place here, above Rito Village, and we still don’t know what happened to the Divine Beasts.
It starts to pick up a bit here, as we see some weird ground formations completely unique from Breath of the Wild. Next to this square platform here and the ground symbol from the previous photo, you can see this structure north of Gisa Crater located atop Mount Cuho with its center and protrusions in other directions together. This is interesting as it is the largest new structure we have seen on the ground floor so far.
This is when it starts to get interesting. With each trailer, the exploration of the underground was teased more and more, and it’s now a confirmed reality. In this shot, we see a Longhorn Bokoblin with a backpack and a rock hammer chipping away at a common ore. While we can’t look up to confirm the cave ceiling, you can pretty much confirm it from the background audio here, which has a reverb that matches the cave setting, which would be a wise new sound addition as even Breath of the Wild’s underground location doesn’t account for this type of sound. You can also see the Longhorn Lilzalfos armed with a throwing spear and a Lizal Bow, and covered with rising malice, likely all empowered by the new villain. There are also new groups of malice appearing on the face of the earth. Next to new vegetation and alien-looking trees in the background, blue flames dot the ground to the right. These magic-style flames could be Poe’s, but were more likely something seen before in Twilight Princess, spirits as seen in the Twilight Realm. We’ve seen multiple Twilight references along with Skyward references in previous trailers, so we’ll see how this all connects.
