Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom beginner’s guide: what to do if you get stuck

Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom – this game can be overwhelming to newcomers (pic: Nintendo)

With the newest Zelda drawing in many who have never played a game in the series before, here are some tips to help get you started.

It’s impossible to deny how successful The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom is. Aside from multiple perfect review scores from all over, it’s become the fastest-selling entry in the history of the series.

While long-time Zelda fans undoubtedly had their copies pre-ordered as soon as they were available, a good chunk of players are brand new to the series and are getting into it through Tears Of The Kingdom.

That can be an admittedly overwhelming experience, especially if you never played its predecessor Breath Of The Wild. So, we’ve put together some basic tips and advice you may need for your first journey through Hyrule.

Head for Lookout Landing ASAP

One of the joys of Tears Of The Kingdom is that you have near unrestricted freedom the moment you leave the starting area. However, we do advise that you make Lookout Landing your first port of call.

It’s easy to find, since it’s your first real story objective but doing so also grants you access to some extras that’ll make future exploration easier. Chief among them being the paraglider, a very important item that lets you save yourself from nasty falls.

It’s also where you’ll activate your first tower, which reveals a portion of the overall map. There are plenty of them scattered throughout Hyrule and they’re easy to spot in the distance, so feel free to make them a priority.

Attempt every shrine you see

Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom – shrines double as quick travel points so make sure to activate each one you see

Aside from the handful of them you complete in the tutorial area, shrines are technically optional challenges, but we advise you visit every one you spot. Their various puzzles and combat challenges may prove difficult, but the reward is worth it since you receive a light blessing: a valuable resource needed to upgrade your health and stamina.

Even if you find yourself unable to complete a shrine’s challenge, it’s worth at least activating and opening the door to them, since they’ll register as a quick travel point. That way, you can use them to instantly warp about Hyrule and you can easily revisit any uncompleted shrines later.

Regularly return to Lookout Landing for health and stamina upgrades

Lookout Landing has an underground bunker you can visit which contains a goddess statue. It’s this that you visit to trade in your light blessings for health and stamina upgrades.

It costs four blessings for a single upgrade, so be sure to periodically revisit the statue once you’ve accumulated a sizable amount. As for what to prioritise, it’s ultimately up to you.

If you find yourself losing to enemies often, invest in hearts to keep yourself healthy. If you’re more of the explorative type, invest in stamina since it’ll allow you to run for longer stretches of time and, most importantly, have an easier time climbing up walls and gliding.

Cook as often as you can

Eating food will be your primary method of recovering health and while you can eat the stray fruit and mushrooms that litter Hyrule, they’re best saved as ingredients for a much heartier meal.

You’ll want to forage for ingredients whenever you can (fruit from trees, fish from the water, hunting animals, etc.) and make use of cooking pots frequently. You can typically find them at stables but sometimes they’ll be at enemy camps, free to use once you’ve cleared out the nearby monsters. In fact, stock up on monster parts too, since they can be used for stat boosting elixirs rather than food.

Don’t be afraid to experiment with cooking combinations, since even a failed attempt will create something vaguely edible that can restore a couple of extra hearts. If successful, you could make something extremely potent and potentially with some bonus effects, like a temporary boost to your climbing speed. The game will also save the recipe for you, so you don’t have to memorise it if you ever need to make it again.

Pay attention to ingredient descriptions, as they often contain hints as to the possible bonus effects. For example, using spicy peppers can make meals that warm you up and temporarily prevent cold damage. This will help you get through that snowy section of the tutorial area.

You can also acquire cooking pots as a Zonai artefact from the gachapon machines, but these are one-use items. You cook one meal and the pot will vanish, so they’re best saved for emergencies.

Help Koroks if you can

Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom – the Koroks are everywhere (pic: PC Invasion)

The Koroks are these small leaf faced creatures that you’ll run into throughout your adventure. They’re usually hidden and require you to solve a puzzle (or even just lift an inconspicuous rock), but you’ll also spy them out in the open with rucksacks so large that they can’t walk.

Talking to these Koroks will trigger a mini sidequest where they’ll ask you to help them meet up with their friend, who will start a signal fire to let you know where they are.

Actually bringing the Korok to their friend is the tricky part and usually requires you to use your Ultrahand ability to create some means of transportation. The good news is that there are usually Zonai artefacts near these Koroks that you can use. For example, a pair of wings and a rocket that you can place the Korok on and then blast across a river to reach their friend.

Helping these Koroks will earn you two Korok seeds instead of one, which is handy. If you find yourself stumped on what to do with the available artefacts, or don’t have any of your own in your inventory, though, feel free to move on, leave a marker on your map so you always know where they are, and come back later.

Spend Korok seeds for more inventory space

As for why you should be getting Korok seeds, that’s because you can trade them to a character named Hestu – a walking, talking, tree-looking fellow carrying a pair of maracas – and he will increase your inventory space for your weapons, shields, or bows by one.

You’ll need to complete a sidequest first but it’s fairly simple. Hestu can be found cowering northwest of Lookout Landing (look for Carok Bridge and cross it to reach him) and after you speak to him, take out the two tree enemies nearby.

In case you haven’t encountered these enemies yet, you’ll want to either chop them down with sharp weapons like swords or axes or set them on fire (fusing fire fruit to your arrows should do the trick). Just be aware, the fire strategy won’t work if it’s raining.

After that, you can trade any Korok seeds you have to Hestu and then he’ll relocate to Lookout Landing, giving you another excuse to revisit. He’ll later move to his home of Korok Forest, once you’ve gained access to it.

Be aware that Hestu starts only asking for one seed per inventory upgrade, but they gradually become more expensive with each one.

Fuse regularly

In a world where even the best weapons break after too much use, Link’s new Fuse ability should help ensure you’re never defenceless. Its core function is to fuse items to your weapon or shield, which can potentially increase their power or grant new effects.

However, what this also does is repair the weapon or shield in question. So, if you find your current sword is on the verge of breaking, fusing it with a nearby stick, rock, or another sword will not only make it stronger but also effectively turn it into a brand-new weapon.

It’s also helpful if you ever come across a new weapon but have a full inventory. All you have to do is discard a weapon (try not to throw it at something or it’ll break), pick up the new one, and then fuse the one you got rid of to another one of your weapons.

Just be aware that the fusing process can’t be reversed. You can unfuse two items via the inventory menu but doing so destroys both of them. It’s there for if you need to free up space, not so you can get two items back.

Don’t go the Depths without brightbloom seeds

There will be opportunities where you’ll get to explore an underground labyrinth known as the Depths, but this is perhaps the most dangerous location in all of Hyrule because it is pitch black down there.

It’s very easy to get picked off by enemies or fall into a puddle of Gloom because you can’t see where you’re going. Thankfully, brightbloom seeds are quite common, especially underground, and help light your way.

You can activate them by either throwing them at the ground or a wall or fuse a seed with an arrow so you can fire it into the distance. The light they emit encompasses a generous range, so don’t feel like you need to be constantly throwing seeds about the place.

Ascend if stuck in a cave

If you ever find yourself exploring a cave and either struggle to go back the way you came or need to make a hasty retreat, just use the new Ascend ability and you’re out in a flash.

This may sound too good to be true, but all Ascend requires is for there to be a flat surface you can climb on to above the ceiling. Activating the ability automatically pans the camera up anyway, so you can see what’s above you. So long as the marker is green, you’re a-okay to shoot up and away.

Get yourself a few horses and visit the stables

Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom – returning Breath Of The Wild players can carry over their horses from that game but newbies must start fresh (pic: Nintendo)

Traversing Hyrule on foot can be a slog sometimes, so you’ll want to try and wrangle at least one horse to make things a bit easier. Wild horses can be found throughout Hyrule but making one your steed is an exercise in patience.

You’ll need to sneak up on one from behind, by crouching and moving slowly towards them. Then, once the prompt appears, leap on their back. They’ll try to shake you off but start soothing them and, soon enough, they’ll calm down and can be ridden.

Make sure you register them at a stable ASAP, so you can call upon them whenever you stop by. Even if you need to leave your horse on a mountainside somewhere, the stable will fetch them for you when you ask, as long as they’re registered.

Try and tame a new horse every now and then, since some boast better stats than others, like faster run speed.

There are multiple stables around Hyrule and they all share the same registry for the sake of convenience. You’ll want to speak to the proprietor of each one you find in order to earn pony points (get enough and you can receive new items) and you can pay for a good night’s sleep if you’re low on health and out of food.

They’re also a hotbed for gossip; chat with other guests or the stable workers and you can get some hints for new objectives and sidequests.

Learn how to be stealthy

Sometimes, charging into the thick of battle isn’t the most optimal strategy for dealing with enemies. If you find yourself dying to a particular mob, perhaps being sneaky is the better option.

If you successfully sneak up on an enemy from behind, a prompt will appear allowing you to pull a sneak attack and take the enemy out with one hit. Even if you’re spotted afterwards, that’s at least one less monster to worry about.

If you’d rather not get near an enemy encampment, try picking them off from afar with arrows. Enemies at high vantage points alert their friends once they spot you but you can take them out in one hit if you aim for their faces.

Keep an eye out for red explosive barrels as well. Hitting them with a fire arrow will ignite them and take out any nearby enemies which could make things more manageable.

Don’t hesitate to reload a save

Tears Of The Kingdom’s autosave feature is something of a godsend given how frequently it saves your progress. Suffer an embarrassing death and you’re at least restored with all your stuff back.

However, what if you waste too many resources trying to help a Korok? Or accidentally throw away your best weapon? Just reload your last save from the menu. There’s literally no consequences for doing so.

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With the newest Zelda drawing in many who have never played a game in the series before, here are some tips to help get you started.