The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has had high reviews and is a masterpiece of a video game that provides tools for players to unleash their creativity and curiosity, but it does appear as though the trailers that provided hype for the game before its release may have been lying a bit, or at least exaggerating the importance of one particular aspect. The sequel to Breath of the Wild had trailers that sparked scrutiny from excited fans each time a new one debuted. For the most part, the game has lived up to, and possibly even exceeded, expectations and is well on its way to becoming a Game of the Year 2023 contender. One issue with the game still remains, however, and it would be an easy one to correct if Nintendo were to choose to release a DLC for TOTK.
The Zelda series’ latest entry has received excellent reviews from critics and fans alike, in part because of the surprising innovations developers put into it with new abilities and powers for Link and an intriguing narrative that adds to the overall world of Hyrule in new ways. The game expanded upon the already massive open world of Breath of the Wild by adding the Depths underground as well as Sky Islands up above. This creative method of giving players new areas to explore, in addition to the new Ultrahand and Fuse abilities Link has gained, were the biggest highlights of the trailers and gave fans a lot to look forward to even before the game was released, but perhaps a certain feature shouldn’t have been quite as prominently featured in the trailers or ideally will be made more useful in the game.
TOTK Trailers Made Sky Islands Seem Like A Bigger Part Of The Game
Each of the trailers presented for Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom before the game’s release showed beautiful images of Link on the Sky Islands. It’s no wonder that Nintendo wanted to use these shots of gameplay to excite fans, as the Sky Islands are beautiful and unique, and spawned many curious theories and ideas about what would take place there and how Link would travel between them. Unfortunately, though the Sky Islands are in the game and remain a beautiful area to explore, there really isn’t much to do on them. The majority of the time that a player spends in the game will involve questing on the relatively familiar overworld or in the Depths rather than on these stylized, but small, floating islands.
A TOTK DLC Could Add More To Do On Sky Islands
The Sky Islands captured fans’ attention in the trailers partly because of how frequently they were highlighted, but also because of the novelty and possibilities they seemed to present. Prospective players’ imaginations had many ideas of clever ways that the Sky Islands could be used and what types of creatures, friend or foe, could reside there. Nintendo has not announced any DLC for TOTK yet, but if they were to do DLC or an expansion to the game, they could use that as an opportunity to finally create the Sky Islands that fans imagined and make it a more captivating area for players to explore.
Additional Sky Islands dropping into reach could be a perfect canvas for developers to craft a DLC adventure that includes puzzles and shrines as well as a side quest objectives. TOTK could even bring back unexpected races from previous games to exist on the Sky Islands to thrill longtime Zelda fans. Naturally, Tears of the Kingdom is already a massive game that provides many hours of entertainment for players and plenty to do and explore. It simply feels as though the Sky Islands have not gotten the opportunity they deserved, and which was hinted at in the trailers, to become more of an integral piece of the Hyrule landscape in this game.
TOTK Predictions Had Good Ideas For Sky Island DLC
Before the launch of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, fans eagerly discussed theories of how the Sky Islands would be used each time a new trailer was made available to them and many of these ideas would make for fun gameplay. These included ideas for bringing back characters and areas from Skyward Sword or more unusual creatures, such as Twilight Princess‘ weird Oocca, who could call the islands home based on their previous lore of living high above the clouds. Even simply building off of fan theories of using the islands to create new puzzles involving the aerial aspects and giving more reasons to create flying mounts using the Zonai technology could be entertaining and give more attention to the Sky Islands.
No DLCs Are Confirmed For Zelda TOTK
Sadly, no DLC plans have been announced for Tears of the Kingdom yet, and based on the history of expansions for Zelda games, it is possible there won’t be any. Players had hoped that TOTK would do a better job of using these floating sky areas than Skyward Sword did, but ultimately the game does not focus much on anything above the surface beyond the occasional objective or shrine. Zonai technologies in the game give ample resources for creativity to be used in tandem with aerial puzzles, or even adding a new piece of Zonai flying machinery for a DLC would be a clever addition to further unleash creative thinking.
TOTK is a wonderful game even if it does not utilize the Sky Islands as much as they seemed to be hinting at in the trailers. The new abilities Link has gained as well as the Zonai technology that has been unearthed and regularly appears to be falling from the sky both give players plenty of new gameplay mechanics. The trailers for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom gave a sneak peek at the game and obviously the Sky Islands made for much more cinematic beauty than the Depths perhaps would have. Hopefully, a future DLC or expansion could give players more to do and enjoy on the Sky Islands.
Source: Nintendo of America/YouTube
