During the recent Ask the Developer interview, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom's art director, Satoru Takizawa, discussed one of the classic elements of traditional Zelda games that will be making a comeback in the upcoming title — dungeons!

The game's predecessor, Breath of the Wild, underwent a significant transformation from the conventional Zelda format, not just by implementing a vast open-world, but also by abandoning the series' staple lengthy dungeons. Instead, the four Divine Beasts were the closest thing to the series' traditional dungeon elements, which some players found to be repetitive.

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This time, however, the developers have poured their hearts into creating a more traditional Zelda experience by creating "huge" dungeons that "each carry their own regional look and feel", hoping that players will enjoy a "satisfying challenge".

Director Hidemaro Fujibayashi also offered examples of the game's updated gameplay, stating that "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."

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

Image credit: Nintendo's Ask the Developer

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom will be released tomorrow (May 12)! Pre-orders and pre-downloads are now available, so make sure to download the game beforehand in order to dive into the game right at launch!