In action-adventure games such as The Legend of Zelda series, it isn't unusual for fans to collect a myriad of "key items." These items typically helped players with progression by allowing them to enter areas and perform actions that they couldn't before, like using bombs to break weak walls or using the iconic hookshot to get to new areas. Key items are so important, they even have their own special fanfare that plays once they're obtained. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, however, may be looking to do things differently.
As Hyrule has changed since Breath of the Wild, it's only natural that Link's abilities would change with it. In a recent gameplay showcase, fans were given a quick glimpse and breakdown on what a few of these new powers can accomplish. The one ability that has gamers talking is the new Fuse ability which allows Link to attach objects together to create all sorts of things like stronger makeshift weapons, rafts, and even cars reminiscent of Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts. This power may limit, if not outright remove, the use of key items in the next Zelda game.
How the Fuse Mechanic Makes Key Items Obsolete
When it comes to key items in the Zelda series, some are as simplistic as the Lens of Truth from the Nintendo 64 games that make it so that players can see invisible objects and secret passage ways, while others are iconic and memorable such as the many bomb bags that help clear paths in dungeons. The Legends of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom almost does away with this format by just introducing the Fuse mechanic.
As seen in the latest Tears of the Kingdom gameplay showcase, the Fuse mechanic is exceedingly simple to use. Players can take things out of their inventory at any time (even in battle) to add it on top of another weapon or object. The combinations seem to be endless, and it turns things that used to sit in fans' inventories in Breath of the Wild into helpful tools. With the right things to use, there's no reason fans can't make their own hookshots or iron boots, so it begs the question if key items will be involved when players have their own ingenuity at their disposal.
How Tears of the Kingdom's Fuse Mechanic Offers New Challenges
While being able to make personal key items sound intriguing, this may inadvertently made the game harder for some. Key items are rather important to the flow and pacing of the title's overall progression. As players climb their way across Hyrule's Sky Islands, they likely won't need to find one singular item to progress, but smaller, more scattered items to make the one specific tool required to reach dungeons, shrines, and other secrets that Zelda is known for.
This may make the absence of key items a bit of a double-edged sword as some players who are used to the standard Zelda formula may end up rather confused as to which tool is made with what items. It also opens up the possibility that important items such as the hookshot may break, which could also frustrate players. There will likely be a few key items that are important to the story that can't be destroyed like how many of Breath of the Wild's weapons didn't last forever.
However, Breath of the Wild owes a good fraction of its notoriety to how clever a good number of its player base turned out to be, as the game remains a talking point in Zelda communities since fans still share videos of them accomplishing incredible feats when the odds are against them, or managing to clear Shrines in ridiculous ways. It could be argued that this Fuse mechanic was made to give these very same players even more freedom, which could change Zelda as gamers know it for the better.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is scheduled to release on May 12, 2023 for Nintendo Switch.