This article is part of a directory: The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom - Complete Guide And Walkthrough
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Tears of the Kingdom has an incredible starting zone that effortlessly walks you through each of the game’s major new mechanics and abilities. It’s a mostly guided experience from one shrine to the next, with optional detours for extra challenges, but everyone will take the same path through this intro until they unlock the four new powers and take the dive off of Great Sky Island to land in Hyrule proper. As you emerge from the lake and swim to shore, the world around you spreads out endlessly in every direction. It is here where your journey begins, and it’s up to you to decide where you want to go - or at least, that’s what I thought.

The on-rails intro doesn’t really end once you get to Hyrule. As my colleague Ben Sledge points out, it’s pretty important to stick with the main quest. If you don’t head straight to Lookout Landing to meet Purah, head to Hyrule Castle to meet Captain Hoz, then accompany Purah to Skyview Tower, you won’t be able to access the Skyview Towers that fill in the map, and you won’t get the paraglider either. Once you do all of that, you’ll then need to head back to Lookout Landing and meet Josha and Robbie, who will take you on your first adventure in the Depths and reward you with the camera - an essential tool for completionists and one of TOTK’s best side quests, so don’t miss it.

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After that, you’re free to go off in any direction you desire… except, not really. Purah and others around Lookout Landing will encourage you to head northwest to Rito Village first, and for good reason. On the way there, you’ll start two more main questlines: one where you meet Impa and start investigating Zelda’s story through Dragon Tear murals, and one that begins at Lucky Clover Gazette and continues at every horse stable across Hyrule. If you don’t start these quest chains right away, you’ll waste time exploring places and landmarks that you don’t have access to.

one of the stables in the legend of zelda tears of the kingdom all stable locations guide

Tears of the Kingdom largely maintains Breath of the Wild’s sense of freedom, but I find I’m running into a lot more gates than I ever did before. I often find myself in places I’m not supposed to be yet, and not just because I’m underpowered for the enemies. Sometimes I’m tempted to blame myself. On the way to Rito Village, I wandered off the path, bouncing from one point of interest to the next, until I eventually found myself halfway up the Hebra mountain and looking for a way to reach a platform in the sky. I followed that path all the way to the Wind Temple without even realizing where I was going. My drive to explore took over and suddenly I was in the center of a whirlwind on a flying ship full of wind locks I couldn’t interact with because I didn’t have the right ability unlocked. I should have gone to Rito Village first when I was nearby, but I was just following my gut and it happened. Breath of the Wild never made me feel like I was sequence breaking, but Tears of the Kingdom does it all the time.

I constantly feel like I’m in the wrong place at the wrong time. After the Wind Temple I started heading south towards Gerudo Canyon, until I spotted a massive cube hovering in the sky I wanted to explore. I made my way up there (it was hard) and unlocked the shrine that sits on top of it, only to be told I needed to solve the maze below it first - which incidentally gave me a much easier way to get back up to the sky cube. Later, I tried to follow Robbie’s directions to Hateno Village to get the Purah Pad upgrade, and the little bastard wasn’t even there. It turns out you have to unlock autobuild first, an ability I didn’t even know about, before Robbie will go to his lab. There’s so many things that need to be done in a specific order, and I constantly feel behind the curve.

I’m using guides a lot more while playing Tears of the Kingdom than I did with Breath of the Wild. It’s fine, I like guide writers, and I think you should go click around on some of our excellent Tears of the Kingdom guides after this, but I also don’t like feeling that I’m missing important things if I don’t look up what to do. Tears of the Kingdom offers so much more to do, but at the cost of Breath of the Wild’s simplicity and elegance. You can still go anywhere you want in Tears of the Kingdom, you just probably shouldn’t.

Next: Every Shrine Has Something To Teach You In Tears Of The Kingdom