Nintendo says newcomers can enjoy Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

If you’re curious about Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, which releases this week for Switch, but haven’t played Breath of the Wild or the series, don’t worry.

In the ninth volume of Nintendo’s ‘Ask the Developer’ series, Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma said Breath of the Wild or previous Zelda experience wasn’t needed to play the sequel, as it’s “easy to get into” and the gameplay ideas can be “solved intuitively”.

Tears of the Kingdom director Hidemaro Fujibayashi added that the team made the story “comfortable” for new and returning players. Nintendo created a character profile feature to make character relationships “easy to understand” without knowledge of BOTW or the series.

If you played Breath of the Wild, you’ll enjoy seeing the differences and the new character profile feature may remind you of the original game. Nintendo also sought a “new sense of wonder” in this familiar but different world to excite experienced players.