 Tears of the Kingdom is about to shock the world. I kid you not, we obviously know there is a Nintendo Direct coming very soon, but regardless some people seem concerned that this game isn't going to be as impressive as Breath of the Wild or because it's a Switch game, it's not on new hardware, it can't be visually impressive or maybe you think you're done being impressed by anything Switch releases after Scarlet and Violet and the mess of the performance, you're done. There's nothing they could do, but let me tell you something, there's a few reasons that Tears of the Kingdom is going to shock the world and I know that you might think otherwise because oh maybe that's why they're not marketing the game a ton because hey it can't be as impressive. In fact, you're not alone. Kit Ellis from the Kit and Krista podcast were recently on our own podcast and he stated right there, they actually have an entire podcast on this topic, but he said on our podcast that one of his predictions for Tears of the Kingdom is that basically we wouldn't be impressed by it. But I disagree, a couple reasons. There has never been a Direct sequel to a Zelda game that ever felt exactly the same as the one before and I mean that, think about it, Spirit Tracks doesn't feel anything like Wind Waker. Majora's Mask doesn't really feel anything like Ocarina of Time and we can talk about oh the same Hyrule or oh the same this or oh the same that, guys they have spent a ton of years, six years developing this game. It is going to feel fundamentally different in many, many ways and is going to end up being shocking. Now from a visual perspective, yes, they have worked on new technologies, right? New AI upscaling, FSR being used and other techniques being used with Switch games today that were not available or not being widely used back in 2017. On top of the fact that Breath of the Wild was made for Wii U and not Switch. They've had six years to build this game from the ground up for Switch and optimize it for Switch and make it visually impressive. We see this already with the clouds. Some people like Digital Foundry were originally calling the clouds and tears of the kingdom volumetric. It turns out they're not volumetric but it's a very clever trick using 2D images to create a volumetric effect. There's going to be a lot of these really clever development techniques that Nintendo will have invented specifically for this game. So just from a visual perspective, when we finally get this blowout which is probably coming in February, it's going to blow our minds just visually. It's going to be a visual feast, especially on Switch. You might think you're done being impressed but just wait, we're not done yet. Beyond that, we have to talk about the game itself. What can they do with this game to impress us? Well, we don't know what they're going to do with shrines or replace shrines or Sheikah towers and there's lots of theories about zonai towers and all this but the obvious answer is there's going to be dungeons. And I don't know what form these dungeons are going to be but imagine that they put the dungeons organically into the world. Think those shrines like the maize or the mushrooms or Eventide Island. Think the shrines that are just organically part of the world. That's what I'm getting at here with dungeons. They could rethink the way dungeons are instead of them being closed off like the four divine beasts were or instead of them being like a traditional Twilight Princess Zelda dungeon or something, it's a more open concept that you find organically that just is part of the world rather than segmented from the world. You're exploring an underground cave and without even realizing it, you're actually in a dungeon and it starts to click the more and more you go in the deeper and deeper you get or you're in the sky and you know you just see a random door, you go through that door and inside just seems like oh look there's a shop or there's a this next thing you know it's more intricate than you expected and before long it's a full on dungeon and there's even holes in the roof maybe that you can climb out of and just jump out and start soaring away anytime you want. It would be amazing to me to have this open concept for dungeons where they can still be these temples and these large structures but they're not like confined you don't feel restricted rather they come up with clever ways to hinder your progress that makes sense and it's not just rain. Rain is cool but let's come up with some more unique ideas. Now beyond that there's going to be abilities. Okay Sheikah Slate abilities they appear to be gone. Link so far to date has not shown any Sheikah Slate abilities. We have seen two new abilities so far or at least one new ability and one item ability the item ability was a shield breathing fire that's really cool we've had fire objects before just not with the shields right the shields in Breath of the Wild didn't do anything special they were either made out of metal they were wood or they were you know whatever and they had different durabilities they didn't really do much besides obviously your parrying and blocking of attacks you know basic things shields do but now you have a shield that breathes fires they're going to be one that breathes ice is the one that does electric electric stuff is there going to be some new you know type of thing from that new elemental ability but beyond that is obviously the reversal of time there's going to be other mechanics guys link is going to be able to do more than just reverse objects in time he's going to be able to do a hell of a lot more and obviously the time reversal mechanic makes you think what if there's time travel in general in this game another thing is people worry about the world right all breath of the wild to this tears of the kingdom it takes place in the same high rules so I can't be impressed by this really really beyond the visual improvement imagine a greater enemy variety imagine a world that looks familiar but when traversing is fundamentally different imagine a world that's like going from Witcher 2 to Witcher 3 it's just bigger it's just grander there's just more going on you the high rule you think you knew ends up not being the high rule you thought it was all alone this is without considering the possibility of a dark world the possibility of a twilight realm or anything else they might want to bring back a sacred realm there are so many possibilities that look right now tears of the kingdom may not be blowing people's minds some of you probably has the sky islands and the temples put out possibilities the story a lot of us Zelda lore people are really digging into the trailers and finding a site for everything we can but if we fundamentally sit back and think about it none of the Zelda games have ever been directly the same as the one before so I just I don't see how we can't be impressed with it it's the longest in development Zelda game of all time it's using one of the best engines we've ever seen in video game history and it's being built for the ground up for switch look guys it's going to end up blowing our minds why is Nintendo waiting because they know they know they know when they blow the lid off on this game marketing wise no one's gonna be able to shut up about it they know it they're not afraid they're not hiding they don't think oh we're just gonna rest on people who played Breath of the Wild are gonna want to play this game we're not gonna market it very much oh no no no when they blow the lid off it's all anyone's gonna be able to talk about good prayer guys prepare that moment in Breath of the Wild when you walk out into the Great Plateau and it opens up and you see this giant vast world to explore and then you actually get to explore it any direction you want any way you want to go low high swimming they're gonna recapture that moment in a completely different way and this is without me even talking about the possibility of sky combat imagine fighting a dragon mid-air can't do that in Breath of the Wild imagine multiple enemies attacking you mid-air and you're having to navigate that with various mechanics and abilities guys this is going to it's going to blow our minds so just you wait little patience it's a virtue for a reason thank you guys so much for tuning in let me know your greatest hopes and dreams for tears of the kingdom and I'll catch you in that next video