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.

Tears of the Kingdom – Voice Memories Tour

After exploring all the Voice Memories in Breath of the Wild over the weekend, I went on to do the same in Tears of the Kingdom. And this was arguably more important in preparation for Age of Imprisonment. It was also a bit more interesting, because you get memories from Rauru and Master Kohga in addition to Zelda's, where every character is responsible to entertain you on a different layer of the map.

Rauru's were probably the least interesting. He only got 35 of the 240 Voice Memories and they felt a bit pointless, at least most of the time. Also, with the sky islands it didn't make much sense to travel from one memory to the next, so I teleported quite a lot. And Rauru's memories were often right next to the warp point, making this quite effortless.

Well, it was interesting how Lightcast Island got used as training grounds for Rauru's (and Zelda's) light power. Maybe this will play a role in Age of Imprisonment, but it's doubtful that the Warriors engine will properly be able to implement light reflections. He also mentions that there used to be more Crystal Refineries, but the vendors are just a menu point in Hyrule Warriors anyway, so I also doubt that this will have any relevance.

Oh, and they've used Frost Emitters to create the snowy sky islands, also as a training ground, but for Constructs. Zelda mentioned something similar about Mt. Hylia in her Breath of the Wild Voice Memories, where she suspects that the snowy landscape is not a natural phenomenon, but instead was potentially created by ancient technology to provide such proving grounds for heroes.

As for Zelda's new Voice Memories, they felt a bit more lively and closer to the heart, mainly due to them happening only recently. It bridges the two games quite nicely and there is a lot in here where you'd wish that this were part of the main game.

The most important point by far is the confirmation that all the Sheikah technology has turned to dust and disappeared some time after Calamity Ganon had been defeated. I don't understand why they couldn't have mentioned this in Purah's diary as well, because this should have been the minimal effort to give the players some sort of connection to the events of Breath of the Wild.

It also gets explained that the wells were all freshly dug up in their attempts of rebuilding Hyrule. Well, it doesn't make much sense that it never occurred to anyone to do this any earlier, since water is essential to everyone's survival. But I do appreciate that they didn't ignore the fact that the wells were all buried in Breath of the Wild.

They even tried to explain how the Horned Statue moved from one place to another. When it was calling out to Zelda, trying to steal her life energy, there was some divine intervention in the form of a lightning strike. And then it toppled into the water... I don't see how it would end up beneath Hyrule Field from Hateno even if it were able to float, but anyway.

Zelda also talked about the Horned Statue in Breath of the Wild and the majority of the Voice Memories share the exact same locations, often referencing each other. For example, you can find one at the inn in Zora's Domain, in both games. First Zelda lamented how hard the beds were, suggesting that they should come up with something that feels like floating in water. And 100 years later she is rejoiced to find water beds.

But there are some new places as well, where some of the Voice Memories make you revisit the "video memory" locations from Breath of the Wild, which was a nice touch. It didn't cover absolutely all of them, however. And they make you also visit all the memorials that were placed all over Hyrule to commemorate the people fallen in the Great Calamity. This was a good detail in Tears of the Kingdom, but also something that you could just ignore completely before. And I like that this is given more significance to the Voice Memories now.

As for other details, you will learn that Misko was imprisoned in the Hyrule Castle Lockup a long time ago. And I liked the joke about Eventide Island, where Link was afraid that they might be stripped of their possessions again, so he covered his eyes when approaching the island together with Zelda... but didn't warn her beforehand.

Oh, and there was this joke about the old man's hut. In Breath of the Wild Princess Zelda absolutely trash-talks the thing, how they should have it teared down for safety concerns. And in Tears of the Kingdom she has learned by now that her father had built the thing and felt a bit sorry.

If you're looking for some comedy gold with these Voice Memories, then you want to be traveling the Depths. What Master Kohga has to say has zero value, but it is absolutely entertaining, also thanks to his fantastic English voice actor, Erik Braa.

It is very different from the rest, because it's more like an actual journal, where you can follow his steps through the Depths right from the spot where he fell down in Breath of the Wild, still cursing the cursed Link. Well, a lot of it is about his obsession with Zonai Devices, which makes sense, since effectively half of the Depths and all of the Yiga installations down there simply exist for the Autobuild stuff.

His obsession with the "Magnificent One" is equally funny, especially with how Kohga tries to not be annoyed by the Gloom, because it has to be a blessing from the Demon King. And it's irony of fate how he turned around at the Gloom's Approach, because some from the Yiga thinks they have figured out the Zonai terminals. But I like to think that Ganondorf didn't care about the Yiga at all and probably would have just killed Kohga if he came any close.

Interestingly, Master Kohga was traveling back to the surface and down into other chasms, in order to reach the Abandoned Hebra Mine and the Gloom's Approach. And no one took note... So much for the observation from Lookout Landing. Well, to be fair, the Yiga know how to be stealthy.

But what I didn't understand how Kohga knew of the "Magnificent One" in the first place. He mentions him very early, when he first ran into some hostile Bokoblins as he was still alone down there, but how did he know about Ganondorf at that point in time? After all, they were worshiping Calamity Ganon before, not the Demon King. So, that seems to be a plothole, but otherwise I liked this part quite a lot.

It also reminded me that I'd really like to learn more about the Depths in general. What is this whole place even supposed to be? Remnants of past Hyrules? What's the deal with the Bargainers? And can we have a Bargainer as a playable character in Age of Imprisonment? Maybe I can discover some answers tomorrow already...

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.