The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom[b] is a 2023 action-adventure game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. The sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017), Tears of the Kingdom retains aspects including the open world of Hyrule, which has been expanded to allow for more vertical exploration with the inclusion of The Great Sky and The Depths. The player controls Link as he searches for Princess Zelda and fights to prevent the Demon King from destroying the world.

Tears of the Kingdom was conceived after ideas for Breath of the Wild downloadable content (DLC) had exceeded its scope. Its development was led by Nintendo's Entertainment Planning & Development (EPD) division with Breath of the Wild director Hidemaro Fujibayashi and producer Eiji Aonuma reprising their roles. A teaser was shown at E3 2019 with a full reveal at E3 2021. Tears of the Kingdom was initially planned for release in 2022 before being delayed to May 2023.

Upon release, the game received critical acclaim for its improvements, expanded open world, and features encouraging exploration and experimentation. It sold more than 10 million copies in its first three days of release and over 18.51 million copies by June 2023, making it one of the best-selling games on the Nintendo Switch.