The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom trailer released at today's Nintendo Direct was simultaneously the most and least surprising bit of the show. We expected a new trailer for the long-awaited sequel, still due out May 12, but we did not expect Link to drive a car in it.
The trailer opens with yet more ominous monologuing about the fall of Hyrule under a hail of monsters... and then cuts to Link doing us all proud by messing about in a field, ripping wheels out of lakes and using them to make what seem to be customizable vehicles. That includes a straight-up car, a hot air balloon, and a primitive helicopter platform. I don't know what you're doing, Link, but you're doing amazing.
Other standout snippets include the auto-targeting arrow Link fires around 1:24, which is swiftly followed by a Ratchet and Clank-style grind rail at 1:28. I'm pretty into the bomb lobber at 1:31, too. I wonder what else it can lob?
This new green rune presumably tied to Link's slate is curious as well. It seems to work like the magnet in Breath of the Wild, but with the significant addition of layered 3D rotation, indicated by handy X and Y axes. This is likely key to assembling (or repairing?) the aforementioned vehicles, and it opens the game up to a host of compact object manipulation puzzles.
Nintendo saved the big Zelda drop for the end, but it dropped another bomb earlier in the show: Metroid Prime Remastered has finally been announced, and the release date (at least digitally) is today. Go play it!
