The Legend of Zelda: Tears of Kingdoms tackles one of BotW’s most controversial mechanics in the best possible way

There are two very different kinds of people in this world: those who like weapon durability and those who hate it. It is a casserole of game design choices that has formed the basis of endless discussions since time immemorial. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Unlike other Zelda games; this title introduces some major changes to the core role-playing game formula that greatly innovate the series’ personality. It’s not that the old man bestowed upon you a magic sword in some dusty old cave, but you need to find your weapon – arm yourself with a branch if need be – in order to survive.

But branches – and by extension, anything, apparently – rest. Even a Master Sword, once you get it eagerly, breaks after a while of use–though not permanently. For some, Breath of the Wild became the controversial Zelda game because weapons broke—and quickly. Even finding yourself to be something ridiculously powerful doesn’t excite you, knowing it’ll be reduced to ashes in about two encounters.

Enter The Legend of Zelda: Tears of Kingdoms, and based on today’s big game reveal, we know some significant new mechanics will be added to the game. First, there’s rewind–an easy way to make the falling stones retrace their steps and take you back to heaven. Next up is the ascent – a sneaky little move that Link can use to pop his shaggy blond head off the ceiling and into another room.

At the end, though, there’s a spark: a creative mechanic that opens the eyes to this expansive fantasy world. Want your weapon to be longer so you can poke enemies without getting in their dangerous attack range? Attach the branch to the pitchfork and stab away safely. Want to make a far away shield to keep anything from getting too close? Then, attach a puff mushroom to your buckler.

This mechanic has exploratory advantages—we showed in the trailer embedded above that Link can fuse branches together into a sort of neat raft—but, for me, the killer app here is the weapon. I’m not too concerned about whether weapon durability is still in the game, as long as I can randomly pick up bits of enemy gear and environmental pieces and piece them together into something amazing.

Think about it: you’re deep into enemy territory, Link is covered in bruises, and you know you’ve only fired a few shots from your bow, and you’re left with nothing but rope and wood. But the camp you just cleared is full of low-level equipment; shields, swords, flaming sticks. Can you attach the three swords to your shield and “hack” to the final waiting spot? Can you attach a flaming stick to the end of a spear and play “Far Away” with any horde in the depths of an unexplored dungeon? Even when your resources are limited, your options are open — a combination that makes Breath of the Wild great from the start.

So, what would the combination of fuses and weapon durability feel like in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom? I think there’s a lot of fun in grooming the environment, picking up weapons, and using them until they break. It forces you to be a jack-of-all-trades-know all the different things Link cares about in the world. Wielding a mighty ancient sword one minute and desperately improvising with a cheap goblin spear the next? This is the Legend of Zelda in Halo – letting you observe the battlefield and make decisions on the fly, when everything is in sync with the way you play, the true fantasy of power really pays off.

There are fuses in there, too, to make things more interesting–could simply take items off the ground and glue them together randomly, solving the annoyance of your favorite melee weapon breaking mid-encounter? I think so. Nintendo’s developers knew how to make these inventive mechanics work in modern Zelda – see, to this day we still see people generating new speed stats in BotW – I think this “my The idea of ​​”world – by blacksmith” is the perfect accompaniment to a mechanic that is as controversial as weapon durability.

Now, as for stamina and stamina…that’s another topic entirely.