Spoiler Warning:
The rest of this article contains significant spoilers for Tears of the Kingdom about the story, gameplay mechanics, etc. that you might not wish to see. Continue reading at your own risk.
The Hero of the Wild awakens, cold, naked, and gasping for air with long and heavy breaths. These surroundings are unfamiliar to him — this odd, dark cavern covered in twisting roots. Doing a quick bodily inspection reveals Link’s new appendage; a dark-green, glowing arm with what looks to be some sort of metal binding or runes attaching the limb to his body. Then he receives a mysterious psychic message — at this point, déjà vu is probably setting in. This mysterious voice guides Link out of the mysterious cavern. He grabs the only possession he has left besides his undergarments; the decayed Master Sword, which is fortunately strong enough to cut some vines down.
Link moves through the ruins, learns that his arm can actually activate some simple machinery, practices his diving techniques, and then he finds it… The light at the end of the tunnel, what he’s been searching for all along–a treasure chest containing a much-needed pair of pants. Then, behind the chest, the light of the sun breaks in to reveal the way out. Link runs to the exit to discover he is way up in the sky, on a huge set of floating islands.
Wherever the surface might be is shrouded by clouds. In the distance are other floating objects, and… a dragon? Where was he? The only thing the Hero can do is dive head-first into this mystery, and so he does, literally. The silence is broken by beautiful orchestral music as Link dives into the unknown. The title is displayed, and it is time for the player to engage in the Tears of the Kingdom‘s first challenge, the Great Sky Island.
The Great Sky Island serves as the tutorial area for Tears of the Kingdom, much like The Great Plateau in the game’s predecessor, Breath of the Wild. This area is where the player learns about all the crazy new mechanics this game has to offer. Just like the Great Plateau, the Great Sky Island has four shrines, each with obstacles that force the player to use one of the new mechanics.
This island chain offers the first enemies, a brand-new family of enemies called Zonaite Constructs. These appear to be soulless automatons, made of dark jade mosaic armor pieces and held together by some mysterious, glowing energy that contrasts the light greens, yellows, and browns of the islands. Not all of these Constructs, however, are malevolent, Link will also find some Constructs that speak and offer the hero some guidance. To no one’s surprise, these Constructs are simply programmed automatons used during the Zonai’s era and are merely doing what they are programmed to do. Unfortunately, some of the more militaristic Constructs still follow their program to attack anything they perceive as a threat — which is exactly what they perceive Link to be. They will battle Link on sight, which means they serve as a constant obstacle to deal with during the game.
Similarly to the Breath of the Wild, Link is summoned to the Temple of Time — not the one of the Great Plateau though, but a different one on the Great Sky Island (I do not know why there is a second one, I am just as confused as you). Here Link comes face-to-face with a spirit named Rauru, and the quest for tutelage begins. He tells Link that he needs to access the Temple of Time, but (unsurprisingly) Link needs to complete the four shrines on the island first. The four shrines conveniently line up in a circle on the islands, so navigation is not really an issue for the tutorial, which I think is a good choice given the plethora of new information the player is receiving.
The challenge of the Great Sky Islands focuses less on finding each shrine, and more on figuring out how you are going to get to each shrine. There are gaps that Link can only cross by building bridges, bodies of water that require him to build a raft, and even broken railways where Link needs to not only construct a moving minecart system but also deduce how to circumvent the broken rails.
This is also where we get our first Korok Seed, which involves carrying a Korok to his friend on the opposite side of a gap. A simple bridge will help get the Korok across, but I can only assume this task leads to many Korok’s falling to their demise on the surface below in many playthroughs (I personally favor strapping the Korok to a rocket and sending him to his friend that way.) Then, of course, we have a frigid section of the Great Sky Island, which serves as a harsh reminder to Link that he needs to wear warmer clothes when trekking through cold areas.
While the Great Sky Island can initially look pretty barren aside from the Temple of Time and the shrines, there are some nice caverns to find, which foreshadow the immense amount new of caves and caverns the player will find in this new version of Hyrule.
In the Pondside Cave, Link can finally find a shirt to put on after running around topless till this point. He can also find a Bubbulfrog, a weird, ethereal-looking frog that leaves behind a Bubbulgem when you kill it. There is also the Mining Cave where Link learns about Zonaite energy and how it can be harnessed into batteries. This cave is also home to a great forge where he can mine Zonaite deposits in exchange for more of this energy that he definitely does not understand.
The Bottomless Cave gets its name from the giant hole in the center, which Link can fall into. Here we find another Bubbulfrog and we witness the return of the iconic Like-Like enemy species, which were absent in Breath of the Wild. Last, there is the Pit Cave, which has a cooking pot and some conveniently-placed spicy peppers that Link can cook into a meal to receive some cold resistance. Hiding in here is yet another one of these Bubbulfrogs.
After Link has completed all the Shrines, he gains full access to the Temple of Time. Inside, Link appears before a glowing aura that hangs on a platform above the surface of Hyrule. For the sake of avoiding spoilers, I will just say… some story stuff happens. What matters most though is that this is when the Hero of the Wild is summoned back to Hyrule. He takes a great dive once again to begin yet another journey, this one even grander than the last.
