2025 – Year of the Sages

We're looking back at yet another year and there is actually quite a bit to talk about when it comes to Zelda, keeping the momentum after The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Echoes of Wisdom in 2023 and 2024.

This is mainly due to Nintendo's newest system, the Nintendo Switch 2. Already in January of this year we saw the announcement, which would characterize the rest of 2025 for the Japanese video game company. A Nintendo Direct at the beginning of April then gave us a look at the lineup for the rest of the year.

The Nintendo Switch 2 itself launched on June 5th, together with Mario Kart World and Nintendo Switch 2 Editions of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. These paid upgrades let the games run in 4K, 60FPS and HDR, but they also give you access to a second save slot in case you want to start over without losing your previous progress.

In addition, you can connect both games to the Zelda Notes app on your smartphone. This lets you easily find missing shrines and Koroks, discover a large number of new voice memories, hunt for trophies, and even share Autobuild creations via QR codes.

Two years after its release, four new amiibo were released for Tears of the Kingdom, one for each of the new sages: Riju, Sidon, Tulin and Yunobo. New paraglider fabrics, which you can unlock with these amiibo, were added to the game as part of the update.

Both Echoes of Wisdom and the remake of Link's Awakening also received the same boost in resolution and performance, where in this case they were part of a series of free updates. Echoes of Wisdom even got a new feature on top, where you can now create favorites in the list of echoes.

Via the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack you could now play GameCube games on the Nintendo Switch, which includes The Wind Waker. It's not the port of the HD remaster that everyone was hoping for, but it's better than nothing...

And all of the above happened on the same day, on June 5th, so there were a lot of old things to enjoy in a new light all at once, given that you already had/have a Nintendo Switch 2. Only the new amiibo could still be used on a normal Nintendo Switch.

But that wasn't the end of it, where Nintendo still had another ace up their sleeve to potentially convert Zelda fans to the new system in its first year. Right in April we got the announcement for a new Hyrule Warriors game, called Age of Imprisonment, which was going to explore the Imprisoning War from the memories in Tears of the Kingdom.

For the first time in the Hyrule Warriors series this would become a canonical tale, where you get to experience Zelda's journey into the past as it happened. And this also put the beloved princess in the role of the protagonist for the second time after Echoes of Wisdom, while there were many new faces to meet, like the ancient sages under their masks, or the traveling Korok Calamo and his Construct friend, who looks and acts suspiciously like Link.

At first the game was scheduled for winter, but then came out already on November 6th. Two free updates followed to flesh out the post-game, adding a new difficulty mode, more Challenges, tougher monsters, and more. And this makes you wonder if Nintendo was pushing the game into 2025 for some reason...

In any case, the first months of the Nintendo Switch 2 were a celebration of the new era for Zelda, which has started with Breath of the Wild in 2017, with the launch of the Nintendo Switch. Whether Nintendo will further continue this era on the Nintendo Switch 2 or start something new remains to be seen.

Something completely new that awaits us is the upcoming Zelda movie. This year we got a first glimpse, announcing Bo Bragason and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth as Zelda and Link. However, we will have to wait until May 7th 2027 to see it.

2025 – The Arrival of Lurking Legends

While it was too early for a new Zelda game to come out in 2025, Action Adventure enjoyers still got served quite well, because 2025 saw the release of two of the most long-awaited games in the gerne with Metroid Prime 4: Beyond and Hollow Knight: Silksong. These titles had been announced in 2017 and 2019 respectively and were in the making ever since.

However, the former saw a bumpy development, which had to be restarted in the middle, while Silksong simply took as long, because Team Cherry had too much fun developing it. And the different results tell the tale, where the sequel to Hollow Knight delivers one of the best Metroidvania experience to date, while Prime 4 is suffering from a small identity crisis.

Breath of the Wild – Voice Memories Tour

In order to get attuned to Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment, I had decided to play the Nintendo Switch 2 Editions of both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. My main goal was to discover all the Voice Memories that come with the Zelda Notes app and get back into the world of these games while doing so.

Sadly, I didn't have much time during the weekend, so I'm only finished with Breath of the Wild for now and will have to rush through Tears of the Kingdom before Thursday. But I also don't want to rush, where I try to wander, glide or drive from one Voice Memory to the next, getting a good look at this Hyrule in 4K resolution and 60FPS. And it's certainly quite nice.

Funnily enough, I had originally purchased my current 50'' TV to play Breath of the Wild on it almost nine years ago. And Breath of the Wild was now the first game where I made use of its 4K resolution... Its visuals have aged well, but it's probably a good thing that its textures got updated for this.

Anyway, I'm not going into detail about the Switch 2 Edition here, since my focus was on experiencing all 125 Voice Memories. And this was more fun than I thought it would be. The problem with such recorded audio messages is that you just stand there listening, which pauses the gameplay and feels a bit awkward. It is not a good design choice, where other games are guilty of this as well (for example the Horizon series). The actual Memories, which show you a cutscene, work much better in this regard.

However, that would not have been the right format for the information conveyed here, which is about the smaller details of Hyrule, from the time before the Great Calamity. And listening to Zelda makes it feel like an audio guide for a museum or tourist attractions. You look around, while she gives you some history about it.

Since these Voice Memories were recorded after Tears of the Kingdom and during the development of Age of Imprisonment, they have used this as an opportunity to hint at certain things. For example, Zelda mentions that Mipha was rather embarrassed by how publicly they have displayed her statue at Zora's Domain, where in Tears of the Kingdom Sidon moved it to a more remote location.

Speaking of Sidon, they are even teasing a scenario from Age of Calamity here, by stating that little Sidon was intrigued by the Lynel at the Shatterback Point.

And even the room behind the Goddess Statue in the Forgotten Temple gets mentioned, even though this is of no significance to this game. It may even cause first time players to try and find a way in, not knowing any better. 

There is also talk of how the ruins north of Gerudo Town once used to be part of the town, before a tyrant unleashed a Molduga and destroyed it. That tyrant was certainly Ganondorf and maybe we will see this happening in the new Hyrule Warriors.

But the Voice Memories also raise some questions that may get answered. For example, there are multiple theories as to how the Rauru Settlement got its name. It could have been the king's residence, Queen Sonia's birthplace, or simply the village of place of great support for Rauru. The truth might be something else entirely and maybe we are going to find out. 

And then there are the Dueling Peaks, of course, where we already saw in Tears of the Kingdom how it was one mountain in the past. Maybe some event in Age of Imprisonment will cause the mountain to split. Maybe it was even Zelda herself, which would be hilarious.

I also thought it was interesting how the nearby Deya Lake got artificially created to prevent a drought of Lake Hylia, as a reservoir. So, I expect this lake to not be a thing in Age of Imprisonment.

One Voice Memory, "The Divine Beast of Lightning", even confirms the excavation site of Vah Naboris. It's a shame that they couldn't do the same for the others, because I thought this was quite interesting. In hindsight this seems like the most obvious spot for it, but I actually never took note of it.

Another very interesting reveal comes with the Springs of Power, Wisdom and Courage. Zelda explicitly states there that these were sights to worship the three Goddesses Din, Nayru and Farore. of course, this makes sense for every Zelda fan, but I don't think these Goddesses were ever mentioned by name in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom.

What I also liked is how the Voice Memories will take you to the locations on the map that you can potentially miss for the 100%, because there is nothing else there, just a name on the map. Those are the Shadow Hamlet Ruins, Stolok Bridge and the Gerudo Desert Gateway. Thanks to the Voice Memories there is now something else there... Well, technically.

You don't see anything in the game itself, which is probably the biggest complaint I have about this feature. It reminds me of how certain things worked in The Wind Waker. On the GameCube you had the additional secrets that you could only see via the Tingle Tuner. And on the Wii U you could use the map on the GamePad to navigate to treasure spots that you only see from a distance. In both cases you had to use a second screen to find something that you couldn't see on the TV.

However, the Zelda Notes app doesn't update in real time. It only updates your location on the map every two to three seconds. And the radius that triggers these Voice Memories is actually quite small. In some places it's obvious where you need to stand, in others you might run back and forth until you finally hit the spot...

There was also one memory that was quite difficult to find, in the throne room of Hyrule Castle's Sanctum. You can't just walk there, because it will trigger the final battle. Instead, you have to go to the room above the Sanctum and take a staircase that leads down from there. This let's you safely approach the throne without triggering anything.

This was my final memory, by the way. I started at Hateno Village, went to Lurelin Village from there, to the Faron Woods, to West Necluda and Kakariko Village, to Zora's Domain, Akkala, Death Mountain, Hyrule Forest, Mount Hebra and Tabantha, the Gerudo Region, the Great Plateau, Hyrule Field and finally Hyrule Castle. 

Breath of the Wild – Improvements Needed from Tears of the Kingdom

On June 5th both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom will receive major updates that allow them to be played with nicer graphics, better performance and additional features on the Nintendo Switch 2 (see here). In case of Breath of the Wild we will be looking at version 1.7.0.

Well, we're talking about Nintendo here, where it's rare that they are fixing their games once they are released, unless we're dealing with critical issues. But they do it from time to time, so there are the occasional updates for your quality of life needs... And the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition is a great chance to bring over a number of such improvements that were introduced with Tears of the Kingdom, where they had learned from their mistakes in Breath of the Wild.

Of course, we would have heard of such improvements by now if there were any, since Nintendo invited the press to play many of the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 games. So, this is likely another missed opportunity to do one or more of the following:

• When using the quick select you can now sort and drop your weapons, bows and shields
  
• Whenever you can't take an item out of a treasure chest, because your inventory is full, it displays the quick select to let drop something and make room.
• The Travel Medaillon can now be upgraded at the Hateno Ancient Tech Lab, so that you may place up to three of them at the same time.
• The armor inventory limit has been increased to 150.
• The Sheikah Sensor now has a height pitch, making it easier to track things in a vertical space.
• There are no glitched treasure chests any longer that cannot be accessed.
  
• When you touch the ground after gliding, riding, swimming or boating for a longer period of time, randomly spawning foes won't appear instantly any longer.
• Not all Lynels will evolve into the silver / golden tier, so you can still get all their pictures and weapon tiers at the end.
  

This is all some minor stuff, really, but it made Tears of the Kingdom more enjoyable overall, where it would be a shame if Breath of the Wild never saw the same level of polishing.

 

There are also some bigger things that they could change or add, but this is really entering true remaster territory. It starts with the main menu, where the vertical inventories allow for a much quicker navigation.

And they should also add Sticky Frogs, Sticky Elixirs and the Froggy Armor, which always has been one of the most-wanted features for the game. Climbing in the rain wasn't the big game changer in Tears of the Kingdom, because the Zonai vehicle stuff lets you traverse terrain easily, but this addition would see a lot of use in Breath of the Wild. Another much desired feature was the Recipe Book, giving you a nice overview of everything you can cook and also an incentive to really try out all the different ingredients.

There also could be the more sophisticated sky diving mechanic, even though you wouldn't be able to utilize it as much. And finally, a remaster should add some additional shrines to offer more warp points. The Rito Stable, Kara Kara Bazaar and Deplian Badlands immediately come to mind here, where all of these areas got shrines in Tears of the Kingdom.

Breath of the Wild & Tears of the Kingdom – Nintendo Switch 2 Editions Announced

Last year we had some rumors that Nintendo might be working on a new version of Breath of the Wild for the Nintendo Switch 2. Not only turned this out to be true, but they are also going to release an enhanced version of Tears of the Kingdom at the same time, as part of the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition program. You can watch a full overview trailer on Youtube, which wasn't featured in the Nintendo Direct, and these editions will launch together with the Nintendo Switch 2 on June 5th.

"The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition" and "The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition." That's quite a mouthful. I would have called these "2nd Edition" if it weren't for the fact that this is the third version of Breath of the Wild, counting the one on Wii U, which already had less features than the Switch version.

Anyway, those are not full-fledged remasters. Like with Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, these are the same old Nintendo Switch games with some graphical updates installed on top of them. They don't go into any specifics here, only mentioning higher resolutions and frame rates, as well as HDR support, but I suppose it will be similar to Metroid Prime 4 (either 120FPS or 4k in 60FPS). They also have improved the texture quality for Breath of the Wild and the load times of both games are now much faster.

In addition, both games will now support a second save file, which comes with the usual number of automatic and manual save data entries. This will allow you to start a new game without losing your old data or using a second user profile on your system, which is handy. Your old save data will also carry over. Plus, it sounds like you will technically be able to continue on your adventure on an old Nintendo Switch after playing on the Switch 2, but the data in the second save data slot won't be accessible in that case.

If you have the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack, then you will get access to these updates for free, as long as you stay subscribed. So, this will work similar to DLCs like the Booster Course Pass or Happy Home Paradise, where the access to them can be revoked. We've seen that there is going to be a new version of Breath of the Wild, version 1.7.0, which enables all this and may only be offered on Nintendo Switch 2. Version 1.6.0 was already exclusive to the Switch and never made it onto the Wii U (it contained the VR feature).

There has yet to be a confirmation on this, but it looks like the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition of Breath of the Wild won't come with the DLC on the card. At least the box or the website doesn't mention anything about the DLC (Update: the site even warns about in-game purchases). Curiously, there have been editions of the game that also came with the DLC on card, so this would feel like a rip-off if it were true, because you would still have to pay more for Breath of the Wild than Tears of the Kingdom if you want the full experience.

 

ZELDA NOTES

There is an additional aspect here and this is the new "Zelda Notes" app, which is similar to the NookLink app for Animal Crossing: New Horizons. You will be able to access it via the existing Nintendo Switch Online app.

This offers a variety of new features for both games, some of which are useless gimmicks, but others are actually quite interesting. The not-so-interesting stuff is an amiibo boost, where you can scan any amiibo a second time per day after using it five times. You can also edit your screenshots in the Photo Studio. And there is an Item Sharing feature, which seems to be the spiritual successor to the Tag Mode from Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks, where you can trade consumable items and weapons with your friends.

The Autobuild Sharing is probably more interesting, because this lets you turn your builds into a QR code, which then can be scanned and transferred into the game by other players. This is really nice to have and makes we wish that Link's Awakening will be added to the Zelda Notes app at a later date, because this would be awesome for sharing Chamber Dungeons.

Then there's the Play Data, which keeps track on a number of statistic and even features a set of medals that you can earn based on them. So, both games are now basically getting achievements, the uncreative kind. I'm mostly curious about how this will behave in relation to your existing save data. Both games do track a number of hidden statistics, mainly in relation to the level scaling system, and maybe everything this new play data needs is already there. It would be very unsatisfying if the hundreds of hours I have put into both games were for nothing with these play statistics.

Many players are not even done with their existing playthroughs, but maybe the Navigation app will help with finally getting to the 100%. It's essentially like all the fan-made guide maps out there, or apps like the Breath / Tears Companion. So, this isn't anything new, but the main advantage is that this can be connected to your game, so the apps knows what things you have already found and what you still need to discovers. It's very convenient and absolutely perfect for finding your last missing shrines or Korok Seeds.

For those who have already completed the game or aren't as interested in collecting golden poops, there are also the Voice Memories, offering a new experience. These play special diary entries in certain locations, featuring Princess Zelda, King Rauru and even Master Kohga. However, these are not an actual part of the game – you have to visit the corresponding locations in the game and the app will then play the voice entries. It's a bit weird and disconnected, which reminds me of the Tingle Tuner in The Wind Waker. There you also had these little story segments happening on your Game Boy Advance, but with nothing visible in the game. It's weird. Still, this might be the most worthwhile addition and a good reason to revisit all these locations, where it looks like there will be a lot of them.

My Thoughts & Plans

Overall, these new editions make a lot of sense. They could have gone with completely new remasters of these two games and they certainly would have sold well, where in case of Breath of the Wild I also had a number of ideas how to improve the game while they are at it. And some of that may still make it into the upcoming update... (More on that later.)

But I also dreaded the idea of there already being a third version of the game, while I haven't even started Master Mode on the Nintendo Switch yet. Turns out that this is actually a good thing, because when I now replay this massive title for the fourth time, I will be able to do so with better frame rate, nicer graphics, and some new features, which is a great incentive. Collecting all 900 Koroks again will also be easier with Zelda Notes.

But I'm not sure I ever want to replay Tears of the Kingdom, unless there is a major remaster, which gives you a new experience. This game was just too much for me. I will check out the new Voice Memories in any case, which should work in the existing save files, and then let's see how these new medals will work. Luckily, I will be able to play the upgraded versions right away, once I have a Nintendo Switch 2, with the NSO Expansion Pack. Though, in the long run it makes sense to purchase the upgrade packs or even the physical editions, so you don't require the subscription. I also own the Booster Course Pass and Happy Home Paradise...

Anyway, these upgrades also makes sense when you're looking outside the bubble of the Zelda fandom. Even inside the Zelda community the number of players who have fully completed both games is quite low, mainly due to the Korok Seeds. And the more "casual" players are either still in the middle of playing these games or have lost interest at some point, because it was all too much. And these people were certainly taken into consideration when making these new versions of both games, not just the fans. Being able to pick up from where you've left off in 4k graphics and with additional guidance certainly sounds appealing.