Nintendo showed off its final trailer for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and there is a lot to unpack with this one. While nothing was entirely confirmed in the final trailer for the game, there is a massive hint that a fan favorite is returning to the series — classic-style dungeons.
While players didn’t particularly dislike the shrines and Divine Beasts in Breath of the Wild, it felt less like Zelda without the dungeons that made the series a hit, such as the Inside the Deku Tree and the Temples of Ocarina of Time. The trailer makes us feel that the classic dungeons could return in the latest entry — and here’s why.
Are Classic Dungeons Making a Return in Tears of the Kingdom?
The final trailer for Tears of the Kingdom showed off a lot, such as Link flying through the sky, jumping into water-like blobs, and even the return of a scary form of Ganon. But the dungeon-like glimpses that we will show in this article really caught players’ eyes. There are two specific points in the trailer that we are talking about here.
Fire Dungeon in Tears of the Kingdom
By the looks of it, a dungeon reminiscent of the Fire Temple is returning — where we see Link running through a massive area that seems to be closed off. This closed-off structure and “domain” looks just like entrances to dungeons from the past — specifically Death Mountain Crater.
A couple of scenes later, we see Link falling through a tunnel-like structure, surrounded by lasers, that is once again closed off. This could be a puzzle in one of these theoretical dungeons. We even get a look at Demise, a classic boss of the Zelda series — who would be the perfect fit of a Fire-like dungeon. Now you may argue, “Well, it could just be another shrine,” Although this could be true, these areas look way too complex to be considered shrines we saw in Breath of the Wild.
Related: All New Enemies in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
A Glimpse of a Temple is Shown
Later in the trailer, we see Link standing in an area resembling a castle. But maybe this is a Temple? Considering it resembles the Forest Temple we saw in Ocarina of Time — just without the green shrubs and trees. The way the trailer portrays this area makes us believe that this location will be important to the content of the story. Hopefully, it turns out to be a dungeon with complex puzzles and navigation that all Zelda fans have grown to love.
While all of this is just predictions, and nothing will be confirmed until the game officially releases May 12, 2023 — we are hopeful that Nintendo heard the fan’s feedback, and dungeons will make a total return. A terrific way to integrate these locations into the game would be to make each dungeon a holder of one of the “Tears” that we can see Zelda hold at one point in the trailer. This would be similar to the Triforce Shards we had to collect in previous Zelda entries.
