Map Differences Between Tears of the Kingdom and Breath of the Wild Documented by Fans

I’m sure I wasn’t alone in having two major questions since the announcement of Breath of the Wild‘s sequel: “What is it called?” and “When can I play it?” On Tuesday, those questions were finally answered, and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom will be releasing on May 12th, 2023. Let the speculation begin! With those crucial details out in the open, our queries will turn to the game itself. What will be different from its predecessor? What will carry over? Ever the excavators, Zelda fans have already begun the process of delving into these questions with the little information we’ve received thus far. Specifically, people are starting to identify some striking alterations to Hyrule’s landmarks in Tears of the Kingdom.

Tuesday’s reveal trailer has been the primary source of dissection on this topic. The below screenshot, originally posted by Reddit user u/ngerbs32, has garnered particular interest for its potential implications.

 

The scene contains both Death Mountain and Hyrule Castle, both iconic landmarks in Breath of the Wild and throughout the Zelda franchise. They’ve never looked quite like this before, however. The Goron homestead appears to be billowing Malice, the manifestation of Calamity Ganon’s influence, from it’s maw atop the Eldin region. More startlingly, Hyrule castle has ascended out of the ground and is floating above the world’s surface. This was seen in the initial announcement trailer as well, and there is already speculation that this is a result of Link and Zelda’s discovery of the entity (believed to be Ganon/Ganondorf) that awakens in that scene.

Twitter user ArtoftheWild took the initiative to seek out the locations within Breath of the Wild that appear in the new trailer for Tears of the Kingdom. As you can see in the tweet below, the Divine Beasts and Sheikah Towers are conspicuously absent, though new structures seem to have appeared that were not present in Breath of the Wild.

 

While the extent of Hyrule’s changes will likely be impossible to evaluate until we get our hands on the game, this bodes well for Tears of the Kingdom. It’s understandable that Nintendo would want to stick with its outrageously successful formula, but they’ve never been one to churn out carbon copies, and it looks as though they will continue to keep fans guessing with Tears of the Kingdom.

What do you think? How drastically will Hyrule be changed in Tears of the Kingdom? What other iconic landmarks would you like to see in some new form? Let us know in the comments below!

Source: Gamesradar+, Art of the Wild

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