Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Image: Nintendo

If you are anything like us (and since you are reading this article, we assume that you probably are) then you will have been thinking about the release day of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom for a good long while now. It took a little while for the marketing campaign to get into full swing, we'll admit, but over the past few weeks it has been impossible to look anywhere without seeing Link's crouched silhouette gawping off the edge of a Sky Island, accompanied by that awesome theme.

Today (12th May) the game is out and we're quickly realising that we have been so busy getting excited to try out Link's new abilities, explore new areas and fight new enemies, that we haven't spent the necessary hours thinking about what it is that we want to do first.

The obvious answer is 'just play the game, duh', but we now know that this is a title to rival the size of Breath of the Wild, and if there is anything that the former game taught us, it's that there is a lot to do and a lot of different orders to do it in.

Now, we're not deep diving into spoiler territory here, but we will be discussing some of the things that pop up in the game as have been mentioned in our review. If you are hoping to head into TOTK completely blind, then it's probably best to stop reading now and come back when you have a good few hours of exploring under your belt. But as we say, there's nothing in here that hasn't been mentioned in our review, so you are safe otherwise.

There are a few different options that immediately spring to mind when we think about how to tackle this beast of a game. With BOTW, for example, there were some who set out to roll credits as quickly as they could on their first playthrough and then save the adventuring for later. Conversely, there were others who wanted to feel as if they had thoroughly explored every corner of the world before heading into the final boss fight, perhaps setting an achievement along the lines of "I'm going to find all 120 Shrines" or (if they were having a particularly bad day) "I'm going to collect every Korok Seed first". And then there are those who have never tackled the final boss and are quite content to explore Hyrule for all eternity, knowing full well that Princess Zelda is fighting for her life in the Castle while Link spends his days collecting lizards.

Our point is that Tears of the Kingdom, much like its predecessor, gives us a lot of options from the get-go and it is up to us individuals to decide what we want to do first.

So, what will it be? Below, we have assembled a poll with a couple of different options for what to do first in TOTK, but we are sure that there will be many, many more depending on your personal preferences. You can input your game plan below and then why not leave us a comment to let us know your primary objective in more detail?

What's your game plan for Tears of the Kingdom? (2,236 votes)

  1. Roll credits as quickly as possible3%
  2. A good few hours of general exploring, then onto the main story33%
  3. Unlock every Shrine first10%
  4. Find every Korok Seed first  0%
  5. Visit every region first19%
  6. I'm never letting this game end31%
  7. Other (comment below)4%

Ah, a new Zelda game! It's a beautiful thing. Happy exploring!