Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom devs on the game’s dungeons

Dungeons have been a staple of the Zelda series, and they’re back once again in Tears of the Kingdom. However, it sounds like they’ve received an upgrade since the last game, Breath of the Wild.

Director Hidemaro Fujibayashi, technical director Takuhiro Dohta, and art director Satoru Takizawa had a few words to say about the dungeons in a Nintendo interview. One of the more notable aspects is that they were made “unique to their respective environments”, according to Dohta. That’s in contrast to the Divine Beasts in Breath of the Wild that had similar designs. Takizawa said they were challenging to create.

Here’s the full discussion:

We’ve only discussed the skies, but this title has its dungeons too, right?

Fujibayashi: Yes, we haven’t talked about the dungeons yet. They’ve changed from the previous game. For example, there is a dungeon that connects directly from Hyrule’s surface. If you dive from the sky straight into the dungeon, you’ll trigger an event. We think this will be a new experience that wasn’t possible in the previous game.

Dohta: We’ve made dungeons unique to their respective environments, so we think you’ll be able to enjoy the wide variety of regional characteristics.

Takizawa: Making a “wide variety” was pretty challenging. The four Divine Beasts were the dungeons in the last game, and they shared similar designs. This time, the dungeons are huge and each carry their own regional look and feel, just like traditional The Legend of Zelda games. We think they will provide a satisfying challenge for players. They were certainly a challenge to develop! (Laughs)

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom will be out for Switch on May 12, 2023.