Let’s start from scratch (and don’t worry, I’ve linked the full opening of GameXplain at the bottom of this post so you can live it with me). An inky black screen. In a small white font, the words “Gifts from Nintendo” appear in the center. A dissonant chord rises in the track, accompanied by a slow-beating bass drum beat as words are replaced with “The Legend of Zelda”. Two more drums. “Kingdom Tears”. Words fade on the screen, revealing your reflection as you sit gawking at the TV. I’m about to see a movie? That is not best friend handwriting? Where is the plinky piano? I need a hug.
And just like that, we go straight into a cutscene of Link and Zelda exploring the passageways beneath Hyrule Castle. A cold open! In a Zelda game! It exudes confidence that all games in the series should say, We’re not holding your hand in this, let’s get to work.
Princess Zelda beckons you and the camera switches to a third-person view behind Link. Wait, am I? IN cutscenes? God, they’ve given me control! Yes, I quickly ran up walls and sprinted around every nook and cranny as I once again mastered the dash and jump buttons, but I quickly decided to slow down beside the Princess — there was a feeling appropriate ominous feeling, and I didn’t want to ruin it with Link’s grunts and cries.
My walk through the tunnels continued in such a ghostly fashion, walking solemnly beside Zelda, occasionally interrupting the atmosphere to deal with any dialogue options she had available – I have What can be said? I don’t want to miss anything. The traditional lore dump is present in this sequence, but given Zelda when perusing the War of Captivity murals, it kept me hooked from start to finish. No scramble the skip button here.
And so we continued our journey through the tunnels as the mysterious Darkness grew around our feet. I was no longer an active ‘player’, controlling the pace of the story unfolding in front of me, instead, I felt strangely passive but still immersed in the reality of the scene, going with the exact speed the game wants me to and immerse in it. increase the tension with each step. I wouldn’t go as far as to say I’m ‘living in it’ at the moment, but if Princess Zelda sneezes I wouldn’t be surprised if I, sitting on my sofa, respond with “bless Friend”.
The dissonant piano keys continued to get louder, now accompanied by those inverted chorus notes that played a prominent role in the intros until I finally reached the climactic cutscene. First of all, a cutscene opens with a culmination? You must be kidding me. But more importantly, OH.
Who would have thought that all the ominous atmosphere was leading to something? Well, practically anyone who watched the original reveal trailer. I’ve seen the clip of the dehydrated Ganondorf turning his head countless times at this point, but there’s something about watching the full version that makes me grin (probably because I now know how good he looks. like in her outfit). fully hydrated form, who can say?).
In fact, watching all of these clips play out their full length is a strangely uplifting experience. Zelda falls into a pit, Link gains his bony arm, Ganondorf before being buffed will revive muscle fibers one by one. These are all things that I, like everyone else, knew would come, and then they were there! In their correct order! Maybe I’m a simple hobbyist, but seeing all that anticipation pay off in the context of the game itself. big.
What starts out is the opposite of your classic Zelda opening, ending with the same quest. This is not the end of a legend, but the beginning of a story. Link lost (almost) all of his heart, Master Sword was gone, Hyrule Castle was floating in the sky. I went into the main game for a worse position compared to when I first started losing all my abilities (wait, is TOTK Metroid-alike?). This is not my usual spirit-raising Zelda. I am sad, anxious, curious and most of all very, very excited for the many hours of adventure to come.
At the end of the day, can you ask for anything more from the first 15 minutes of the game?
What do you think of the opening to Tears of the Kingdom? Venture down the dark tunnels of the comments below and let us know.
