We have a new trailer, we have a title, and we have a release date: May 12th. But what happens until that date? What can we expect in the next eight months, before we can finally play the new Zelda ourselves? (And I'm not talking about The Wind Waker HD and Twilight Princess HD or any other additional Zelda release here, they would have announced those by now if they were still to come to Nintendo Switch in 2022.)
The next station really should be some actual live gameplay. They can't just keep showing trailers forever, where this game already got as many trailers as Breath of the Wild had, not counting the original tech teaser from E3 2014. We will probably get at least one more, but this should be closer to the release, like the infamous Nintendo Switch Presentation Trailer from January 2017.
Speaking of, before that trailer we didn't really know much about the story of Breath of the Wild and even after the trailer most of it was still unclear. It was the first time that they've shown us the Champions, some of their descendants, the Divine Beasts in action, and so on, but they didn't really explain any of it. Like, we didn't know how the scenes from the past were integrated into the game or any of that. You had to play the game to find out and this was great. There is no need to tell everything upfront and part of the magic is to find things out yourself.
This may be repeated with Tears of the Kingdom, where most the current question marks may remain until May 12th. Still, getting some more context or seeing the beginning of the game in advance would be nice to not be completely confused for eight months straight.
The first actual gameplay of Breath of the Wild was shown at the Game Awards 2014 with Aonuma and Miyamoto talking about apples, where the Game Awards 2022 may be a good timing to also show Tears of the Kingdom in action for the first time. I could see them introducing us to the "morph through ceilings" ability in some underground environment during the early game. The last two trailers have been all about the sky, so we need some reminder that the game world also has been expanded in the other direction. And spelunking should be a good way of showcasing the new ability.
Of course this doesn't have to happen at the Game Awards, another episode of Nintendo Treehouse: Live would do the trick as well. And this could happen at any time as proven, where at the end of last month we did get one for Splatoon 3 and Harvestella. But these are usually a bit more casual, where a first introduction to the gameplay of Tears of the Kingdom should probably come from higher up, where a Nintendo Direct might even be a better fit.
Nintendo Directs of the recent years were scheduled in February, June, and September. The one in June is for E3, which was skipped this year, but we might get one in 2023. Of course this will be after the game's release, but maybe they will announce DLC there if there isn't an Expansion Pass available from day one again.
However, between now and the release of Tears of the Kingdom there will most likely be only one more Nintendo Direct, the one in February. It's the perfect place to show one more trailer and maybe announce any form of Special Editions or amiibo and the like. The game could also get its own dedicated Direct, similar to Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and Splatoon 3, but this would be a first for Zelda and doesn't seem necessary, because they don't really have to show and explain that much in advance. And certain things, like DLC, can also be announced at any time, really.
So, here is a summary with the potential timeline for Tears of the Kingdom in the next months:
- December 9th: showcase during the Game Awards 2022
- February Nintendo Direct: final trailer and further announcements
- May 12th: launch
- June: Expansion Pass announcement during E3
Well, it's nothing spectacular, but it's good to have a bit of a hypothetical roadmap ahead, before we all go crazy. Keep in mind that there are eight months left, where I personally want to play through Breath of the Wild once more before the release, this time on the Nintendo Switch. This alone will keep me entertained for a couple of months.
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