The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is low-key a horror game

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom I am afraid It’s not because players are using Link’s powers to torture poor Korrox or building war machines to raze enemy settlements to the ground. That’s because the entire land of Hyrule has experienced an earth-shattering event called the Upheaval, and the once-pastoral land now oozes a sticky goop that looks like a raging blood-and-poison cocktail. In this Hyrule, even trees are not safe, as they can uproot themselves and kill Link. tears of the kingdom is not just a sweeping fantasy adventure; It is also a horror game.

In tears of the kingdom, Zelda is gone and the vibes are off. It’s not that Link can’t find him. It’s that she shows up in random places all over Hyrule and then keeps shooting into the ether – but at the same time, she’s not herself, but acts like a doll or some kind of corpse. once the blood moon rises – a regular occurrence in both breath of the wild And tears of the kingdom In which the demons killed by Link are resurrected – players will be treated to one of the strangest cutscenes in Zelda history. In breath of the wild, Zelda politely calls out to Link and tells him to be on his guard. In the new one, Patricia Somerset does a very creepy version of Zelda’s voice describing the revival of the monsters. All Link can do is watch helplessly at the blood-red-stained sky as the ritual comes to pass and the evil moves on.

Again, the greater land has undergone an event known as the Upheaval, and is now covered with red-and-black circles that the characters refer to as “gloom”. As Link descends from the Sky Islands, he gets a bird’s-eye view of holes in the ground’s surface, each one lined with a ring of material. If you dare to venture into one of these holes – and it took me a while to muster up the courage – you’ll discover a terrifying underworld called the Depths.

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Image: Nintendo EPD / Nintendo

From the moment I stepped from the surface into the depths, a sense of unease undermined my every step. I jumped into the pitch-darkness. I didn’t know how far away the ground was, or what was around me when I landed. I flapped my glider by taking it in and out because I wasn’t quite sure where anything began or ended. I reached the ground safely, but even solid ground did not give me that much protection. It’s still pitch-black. Link must illuminate the area with one sphere of light at a time, using items such as the Brightbloom Seed. However, their light only stretches so far, and the danger of unseen enemies always lurks just a stone’s throw away.

The enemies in the depths are even more unusual than their counterparts on the surface; They glow with a red demonic aura. If you spend too much time touching gloom (or if you are hit by gloom hands), Link’s maximum health will temporarily decrease. If you lose two hearts, for example, those hearts are Went — and you have to take specific steps to get them back, like cooking a special food or returning to the surface. Link is alone in the dark, and he can come away from a fight severely weakened if he isn’t careful enough. It is a thrilling but terrifying experience.

even in routine activities tears of the kingdom Can apply a tempering of dryness. Random trees called Evermines would animate themselves, violently chasing Link and attacking him. Or maybe Link is running around a mountain only to find a pack of vicious and screaming Gloom Hands covering everything in their wake. They’re strong, but the panic they create is their most debilitating force—enough to blow the senses of a seasoned Zelda player, because they come on fast and hot.

Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Play Gamez

And while it all seems very scary and overwhelming at the moment, the horror of tears of the kingdom Totally true to the Zelda franchise. Take Gloom Hands, for example. Creepy hands that probably need to learn what a sinker is have been a feature of Zelda games for decades. Some examples include Purple Patrolling Floormasters. wind Wakercreepy infinity swing Ocarina of Timeor inside zant’s hand Twilight Princess, even the cartoons wind Waker pitted his Link against the screaming zombies that clung to him and devoured him.

All of this to say, the gloom all around in Hyrule feels very true to the spirit of Zelda, and I for one am glad (even if I’m also a little apprehensive) that tears of the kingdom in panic once again after breath of the wild,