Summary
So you’ve defeated Ganon and finished your first voyage throughThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. As the adrenaline from your encounter begins to wane, and you reflect on your journey as the credits roll, you are overcome by a sense of emptiness and longing. “What now?”
Worry not, brave adventurer! There are still plenty more exciting memories to make on this visit to Hyrule. Many hours of collecting, monster-hunting, documenting, and cartography await if you aren’t ready to let go just yet, especially if you are meticulous and aspire to say you’ve been everywhere and done everything.
Updated on May 18. 2024 by Gabrielle Castania:Already rolled credits on TOTK but still want to get some extra life out of the game? Us too! Below is a list of a few of the things we did to keep TOTK’s Hyrule enjoyable after we handled Ganondorf.
10Make Monster Sculptures
And Display Them Creatively In Tarrey Town
After meeting withKilton and Koltinfor the first time, Kilton will head to Tarrey Town, where heteams up with Hudsonto make sculptures of monsters, provided you give him a picture of them.
The monstersculptures are surprisingly accurate, retaining the pose from the photograph and the specific type of monster, such as whether they’re wearing armor. you may get creative with the photos you take, and the monster will be directly replicated in the sculpture.
Thebosses from the four temples, as wellas Ganondorf himself, can even be made into statues like this - you’d just need to stay alive long enough to snap a picture.
9Make Link The Best House Possible
He Deserves A Place To Call Home (Again)
Once Mattison leaves Tarrey Townfor Gerudo Town, Hudson Construction will start offering Dream Homes. By purchasing a plot of land, you canbuild Link a housejust outside of Tarrey Town.
You use Ultrahandto attach individual rooms together, such as a kitchen, living room, or even a Blessing Room witha Hylia Statue, allowing you to customize the house however you like. You also have the option to add a gallery, where you can have an image you’ve taken on your adventure using the Purah Pad turned into a painting.
8Complete All The Coliseums
If you want to get your hands on some legacy items from Zelda’s past,such as Majora’s Mask, you’ll have to brave the six Coliseums located in the Depths and one north of the Great Plateau.The Coliseums contain dangerous monsters, such asa Thunder Gleeokguarding theTrousers of Awakening.
If you’re planning on collectingall those Korok Seeds, you’ll want to head to the Forest Coliseum in particular to grab theKorok Mask, which shakes when one of the forest spirits is near. Though these Coliseums may be a challenge to take on and come out in one piece, it’s worth the challenge to earn these iconic items.
7Fill Out The Hyrule Compendium
Few things deliver a more consistent dopamine rush than watching all the entries in an in-game encyclopedia fill out gradually. The Hyrule Compendium enables just that kind of experience, and it returns in Tears of the Kingdom, utilizing one of its coolest devices:the Purah Pad.
Not only iscompleting the Hyrule Compendiumreally satisfying, but it’s also a great way to ensure you’ve seen it all and aren’t in danger of any Tears of the Kingdom FOMO. You’ll also get a nice little reward from Robbie for completing it - agolden paraglider fabricwith the icons from the Compendium.
6Wrap Up Side Quests
Just as in Breath of the Wild, you can practically make your way to the endgame the moment you clear the tutorial in Tears of the Kingdom — the game will last as long as you want. But, of course, this is not how the Nintendo Switch generation of Zelda games are meant to be played.
The real meat of the open-world entries istaking on queststhat’ll send you far and wide across the vast and varied ecosystems of the game’s fabulous world. Some quests involve gathering collectibles and will span the entire game, and with Hyrule being as huge as it is, there’s a good chance you’ll have some lingering quests to grind out in the post-game.
5Become A Master Equestrian
While Link is once again starting with a clean slate, having lost all his power-ups and abilities from Breath of the Wild, one thing that does carry over is your horseriding skills. That said, there’s no reason to turn a blind eye to some of the horses available in Tears of the Kingdom.
Throughout Hyrule, you’ll find the Giant White Stallion, the Skeletal Horse,a Golden Horse, and, of course, thetriumphant return of Epona. Any of these horses will make a fine addition to your stable (apart from the Skeletal horse, unfortunately) and will make long-distance treks across the landscape a lot more enjoyable. you’re able to let them lead the way while enjoying the view, as they’ll follow the path on their own, provided there is one.
4Hunt Down Elite Monsters
While you’ll naturally take out the game’s more infamous bosses during the main quest, Tears of the Kingdom is still full of overworld bosses that will present confrontations. you may take more improvised and player-specific approaches to defeating them, especially with the capabilities of the Zonai Devices.
Spread throughout Hyrule, you’ll encounterTaluses of all kinds, Gleeoks, Moldugas,and enemy Constructsthat you can engage in challenging battles with. You’ve spent dozens — if not hundreds — of hours accumulating skills, collectibles, upgrades, and weapons. Where better touse these weaponsthan on some of the game’s toughest denizens?
3Conquer Every Shrine
There are a whopping152 Shrines in Tears of the Kingdom— 32 more than there were in Breath of the Wild. You’ll find 120 of these mini-dungeons on the Hyrule map and 32 in the sky islands, and each one contains a puzzle or challenge for you to take on.
Answering the call of every Shrine in Tears of the Kingdom is a huge undertaking, and you wouldn’t be the only one to have left a few before facing the final battle against Ganondorf. If you manage to locate and complete all 152, you’ll be rewarded witha special armor set- one that you’ll want wait to see for yourself.
2Explore Every Inch Of The Map
Nintendo has truly outdone itself and created an absolutely dense,sprawling world for you to explore— and explore you should. Once you beat the main quest and reload your now-starred save file, you’ll notice that your map of Hyrule now has a completion percentage that correlates withthe places you’ve visited, collectibles you’ve found, and more.
This is far and away the most daunting task you’re able to complete in such a boundless game, but the experience is absolutely rewarding, both in terms of the rewards you’ll receive and the satisfaction that comes from knowing you’ve truly plumbed the depths of the game (get it?).
1Experiment With Zonai Devices
When you’ve played the game enough that the novelty of the story and all the twists and turns therein has worn off, and you know Hyrule like your own backyard, experimenting withthe Zonai Deviceswill be the element of Tears of the Kingdom driving the mostlongevity and community engagement.
The Zonai devices take Breath of the Wild’s playful sandbox idea and inject it with infinitely more possibilities that are just teeming to be discovered. You could use them tomake a mechand take out hordes of enemies like they’re nothing or make aircraft to make traversing the skies of Hyrule a breeze. The only limit is your imagination, how many Zonai devices you have, and how many energy cells you have.
