As few would have predicted, a brand-new mainline game for the Switch is launching at this stage in its lifecycle, with an added surprise: a 2D title starring Princess herself as the primary protagonist – and it’s not just arriving, but also now mere weeks away from release. Ahead of its highly anticipated launch, Nintendo has released a comprehensive new gameplay trailer, revealing a fresh wave of details.
The trailer kicks off by showcasing the diverse biomes you’ll explore as you venture across the kingdom of Hyrule, familiar to fans of the series to varying degrees. These include the dunes of the Gerudo Desert, the Zora settlements along both the ocean and river Jabul in the Jabul Waters area, the tranquil Kakariko village, the Eldin Volcano region’s rugged cliffs and lava rivers, and many more.
Gamers will have an array of distinct options to explore on this vast and varied digital terrain, presenting a wealth of potential playstyles. Here is the rewritten text: For beginners, you’ll discover various points of interest known as waypoints dispersed across the map, serving as convenient jump-off points that allow for immediate warping anywhere on the planet once they’re located.
Zelda’s equestrian skills enable her to traverse Hyrule freely, and as an added advantage, she enjoys a bonus against enemies, allowing her to either charge through them swiftly or gallop directly into combat to inflict damage. As soon as Zelda acquires the Echo of the Carrot Merchandise, she will utilize this echo to summon her horse at any moment. While it may appear that entirely distinct species of horses are attainable.
While venturing through the realm of Hyrule, players might stumble upon innovative smoothie shops where they can combine their collected resources to craft unique blends, each providing exclusive benefits and boosts. What’s more, you’ll also have the ability to equip Zelda with various types of equipment, some of which can provide gameplay advantages and boosts, while others will be purely cosmetic.
Meanwhile, a key new ability is showcased in the trailer, which appears to have a significant impact on the core gameplay mechanics. With her extraordinary abilities, Zelda can not only conjure Echoes of various entities but also harness the power of her Tri Rod to bind objects to her movements using her remarkable Bind capacity.
In a nutshell, this means that objects can be transferred to Link in the same way she moves; if an obstacle like a massive boulder blocks the path, he can bind it to himself and move around it until it falls off a ledge into the abyss, clearing the way ahead for Zelda. This mechanic can be used in various ways. Using Bind as an example, Zelda can illustrate her skills by unearthing buried treasures or cleverly repositioning an enemy above a precipice, causing it to plummet to its demise during combat. The binding process may also be applied to echoes, allowing for further manipulation and control of these residual energies.
Alternatively, with her access to Reverse Bond, Zelda can bind herself to an object or creature’s motion, enabling her to mimic its movements – such as binding to a bird for flight or a speedy foe to traverse challenging terrain more efficiently. Check out the trailer for further details.
The highly anticipated title launches on September 26 exclusively for the Nintendo Switch. The latest ESRB rating for the title suggests that while Princess Zelda remains its primary protagonist, it will also feature Link, the series’ standard protagonist, as a playable character. Discover more about that through this link.
