The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom is the sequel to the award-winning open-world entry in the series. But when can you play the game and when is The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom’s release date?
This new adventure will take Link back to the Hyrule of Breath of the Wild, but with added verticality thanks to new floating island areas high in the sky. We can also expect new gameplay mechanics, powers for Link, and more. It’s going to be one of the biggest Switch releases of the year, so here’s all the Tears of the Kingdom info we know so far.
The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom release date
The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom release date will be May 12, 2023, with the highly-anticipated sequel coming exclusively to Nintendo Switch. With its predecessor being widely dubbed one of the best Nintendo Switch games ever, it’s got some big shoes to fill, but early signs from trailers have looked promising.
The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom gameplay
Various trailers have shown off short snippets of Tears of the Kingdom gameplay – no extended gameplay of the game has been released just yet.
The trailer below from late 2022 shows Link scaling cliff faces, skydiving, and gliding through the air on a new aerial mount.

The most recent trailer from February 2023 shows a bit more gameplay and some potential new mechanics. Link can be seen skating a metal track, driving a new land-based vehicle, flying in a hot air balloon, and piloting an aerial vehicle that looks like a large drone.

The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom story
The story of The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom is shrouded in mystery right now. But, we do know it is a direct sequel to Breath of the Wild, so we can expect the story to pick up from where that one left off.
Trailers have shown short glimpses of what might be in store, but nothing concrete about the story has been confirmed by Nintendo so far.
There you have it, everything we know about The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom’s release date, gameplay, story and more. While you wait for the next Legend of Zelda game, make sure to check out our list of the best Switch exclusives to see what other amazing titles you can play in the meantime.