Ahead of the release ofThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, the producer for the game Eiji Aonuma has talked about the number of times he has beaten the game. While many fans are still waiting for their chance to playTears of the Kingdom, the producer says he has seen the story to completion many times over the course of development.
Over the past few months, Nintendo has provided a morein-depth look atTears of the Kingdom. While there are many things that fans will have to discover during their own playthroughs, several trailers for the game have been shown, revealing things such as characters, locations, and abilities. In addition, Aonuma and several other developers have provided some behind-the-scenes commentary on the game through a series of Ask the Developer interviews.
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During one of these Q&A sessions forTears of the Kingdom,published on the Nintendo website, Aonuma revealed the impressive number of times he has already beaten the game. WhileTears of the Kingdomdoes not release until May 12, the producer noted that he had played through the game “from start to finish” around 20 times.
While beating most games 20 times is impressive, it is even more notable in Aonuma’s case.Tears of the Kingdomis thesequel to 2017’sBreath of the Wildand looks to feature a massive open world, especially with the inclusion of sky islands. Aonuma revealed that some of these playthroughs were completed quickly. However, he said that others were finished at a more meandering pace, taking many detours along the way. In fact, Aonuma recommended that fans playing the game for the first time employ this same playstyle, saying that “it’s more fun with detours, even more so than in the previous game.”
Beyond revealing how many times Aonuma has playedTears of the Kingdom, these Nintendo Q&As with the developers have provided a number of other details about the project. For example, the developers detailedcreating the Ultrahand ability forTears of the Kingdom. According to one part of the interview, a prototype was made using assets fromBreath of the Wildto show the potential of the Ultrahand in the new game.
With therelease ofTears of the Kingdomimminent, numerous other gamers will finally have the chance to play the game for themselves. Hopefully,Tears of the Kingdommanages to meet the expectations of the many fans excited to jump back into the world of Hyrule and see everything that Aonuma and the rest of the development team have added in the sequel.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomlaunches May 12, exclusively for the Nintendo Switch.
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