User:DecafPotato/drafts/The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (ゼルダの伝説 ティアーズ オブ ザ キングダム) is an upcoming 2023 action-adventure game developed by Nintendo EPD and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. A sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017), Tears of the Kingdom retains many aspects of its predecessor, including the open-world environment of Hyrule, which expanded to allow for more vertical exploration. Link, the protagonist of Tears of the Kingdom, journeys alongside Zelda in the game, and is opposed by Ganon.

Following the completion of Breath of the Wild 's development in 2017, a sequel was conceived after the game's downloadable content (DLC) was unable to contain all ideas put forth by the development team. Breath of the Wild director Hidemaro Fujibayashi and producer Eiji Aonuma reprise their roles in Tears of the Kingdom. A teaser trailer for Tears of the Kingdom was aired during E3 2019, a full reveal was aired at E3 2021, and the game's title was not revealed until a September 2022 Nintendo Direct. While Tears of the Kingdom was initially planned for release in 2022, it is currently scheduled to be released on May 12, 2023.

Development
Development of Tears of the Kingdom began following the completion of Breath of the Wild in 2017.

Marketing and release
Tears of the Kingdom was announced at E3 2019 with a teaser trailer showing Link and Zelda exploring a cave.