The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom Has Been Rated For Nintendo Switch

You mean it's not AO? Disappointed.

It's not T...?

I hope this game is darker, 12+ isn't a great sign for what I was hoping for though lol

Edit: Notice they said the skies and more again.
I sense secretssss

@FroZtedFlake MM was rated E right? I’m sure it can still be dark, there’s still hope!

@FroZtedFlake Majora's Mask was rated E for Everyone when it first came out. And it's probably the darkest Zelda game.

Please say they are putting dungeons in the game

Don’t see this game rated any higher then E10+ like BoTW

@strollin_stu "I'll eat my strollin foot" absolutely made my day.

Twilight Princess got a T rating, iirc.

I mean...was there any doubt???

Rated 18 for gambling, extended Tingle nudity, and a particularly harrowing sequence involving the Master Sword and gelding at the local stables.

You guys are funny! We're almost at 2023! Ratings are totally different now than a decade ago I bet. 12+ now is probably the equivalent of teen 20 years ago. Heck, stuff on regular TV would be considered R when I was a kid.

I don't get this obsession with "dark" Zelda... it's this attitude that got us twilight princess shudders

Twilight Princess is a solid game that’s not nearly as obsessed with being dark and edgy as it looks on the tin once you actually get a ways into it. Probably for the best they swung hard away from that-but-even-more, but good times.

Please rate it M. I want to see the meltdowns.

"The description says it's a "role-playing game for the Nintendo Switch in which the stage of the adventure to find Zelda expands into the sky"

Must be after a pie eating contest.
Poor Zelda.

Did anybody seriously expect anything more than a Teen rating? Nintendo would never release an m rated game that they themselves created. First party Nintendo M rated games don't exist. I mean duh!

Still it would be cool if that were possible but sadly it's not.

@FroZtedFlake there isn't a teen rating in pegi it jumps from 12 to 16 so most teen rated games in the States get a 12 rating in europe

@Mauzuri

To this day i still think Twilight princess is the best Zelda at least before BOTW. I'm not even totally sure i agree with the seemingly general consensus that BOTW is the best current zelda game so far. It's good and did alot of things right but when Tears of the kingdom releases i think we'll see how flawed it really is in comparison.

Old gamer here and BOTW is probably one of top games that I have ever played in my long gaming life.
I love adventuring in games and the open world and BOTW along with the shrines gave so so much to that.
But, I’m concerned about this sequel, if the land Hyrule is the same as BOTW then there is nothing new on that land to adventure around, I have spent over a hundred hours exploring that land already.

I really hope the new stuff above or below is equal in size to give me new adventuring areas to explore.
I really hope Nintendo haven’t created what I will call an Add On type package, I mean it’s been in development for over 5 years so surly the new adventure areas to explore should be amazing and expansive. Also I hope there are shines still as well, they bought a welcome break and a focus on puzzle solving.
I have haven’t been a big fan of Nintendo of late due to certain aspects of change in the last three years of in house AAA game development, so I pray they haven’t created a shallow Add On type Zelda game.

Please Nintendo do not go higher than pegi 12. A mature game does not need that stuff.

@Mauzuri I won't deny that the dungeons and music are good... but that's not all that goes into a Zelda game

@FroZtedFlake Haha this makes me think about how the Made in Abyss Anime is ratet 12 in my country while somthing much tamer like Persona 5 got a 16.
Age ratings are funny.

Wait, there's a new Zelda coming out??? NO WAY!!! <--sarcasm

Botw is a true masterpiece, the only thing i missed are more lively villages and dungeons.
Sometimes it felt kinda empty in many areas.
I also miss the magical stuff (ocarina of time and majoras mask) where you can smash dins fire unto the ground etc, mask transformations (majoras mask) swim like a true zora, or smash like a goron (loved that)
But the best part whas always the ocarina of time item. Playing that flute was the best part in ocarina of time.

For me it doesn't have to be dark. But it has to be mysterious and exciting. Just like Breath of the wild. 🥰😉

@FroZtedFlake 12+ is basically what T rating is.

My guess is that this will receive an M rating in Australia (equivalent of PEGI 12 and ESRB T) for "Fantasy themes and violence", or just "Fantasy violence".

Slightly off-topic, but the ESRB seems to rate violence way too leniently at the lower categories of late. I was playing Card Shark and I was surprised that it was rated E10+ considering that it contains depictions of suicide and other deaths. The violence itself is only mild due to the wide framing and stylised visuals, but I feel that the context accentuates its impact. It also contains gambling themes, but the ESRB is weirdly lenient in that respect too.

It's also bizarre to think that Pokémon Legends Arceus was given only an E rating in the US, despite it being considerably more violent than any other game in the series, and I can imagine younger children finding the game to be quite frightening in parts.

All main series Pokémon games from X & Y onward have been rated PG in Australia for mild violence (and also themes in some cases), but I think Legends Arceus was the only game to actually earn its PG stripes. I was a little worried that they might go so far as to slap it with an M rating. This is the same Board that gave Nickelodeon All-Stars Brawl an M rating, after all, for family-friendly cartoon violence. To emphasise how ridiculous this decision is, Happy Tree Friends: False Alarm on Xbox 360 received the same rating and that contained frequent depiction of cartoon bloodshed and viscera.

The fact that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and something as kid-friendly as 1-2 Switch share the same E10+ rating in the States is utterly absurd. Meanwhile, there's at least one scene in BotW where a character appears to be "bleeding", albeit in a stylised fashion, and that's not to mention all of the ways in which Link can die. The Yiga clansmen are also particularly menacing along with Ganon's various forms. For these classification schemes to be of use to parents, they really need to ensure that there is some consistency in the manner in which they apply their guidelines.

@FroZtedFlake Yes it is? T is 13+ in NA, right? So it's the same rating.

Is anyone going to actively avoid trailers/news in the run up to release?

I avoid movie trailers and it's amazing watching them 'blind', especially as trailers give away so much.

Imagine firing Tears of the Kingdom up with no knowledge other than the first two trailers (so, basically nothing apart from sky islands and some new abilities), everything being 100% fresh and a surprise at every turn.

Why is everyone disappointed by the rating? Botw was somewhat dark, and it was E10.

My personal wish list for Tears of the Kingdom:

1) Actual dungeons
2) Greater enemy variety drawing from the entire Zelda series
3) Address the breakable weapons, PLEASE. At the very least let them last longer before breaking, and DON'T make any Legendary weapons breakable, for crying out loud (what was the point of finally getting them in BotW when they had to be mounted at Link's house in order not to risk losing them forever!??)!
4) Bring back meaningful, iconic items (example: Hookshot). Make finding treasure chests something to actually get excited about again.

@blindsquarel They are putting dungeons in the game..... you're welcome.

@Mrkittyhead I think if they gave away free gold plated jewel encrusted master swords with every copy of the game people on here would still complain.

clearly the game is done so why do we have to wait till May? 6 years and 2 months to make a sequel using the sake engine, same world, same assets on the same hardware pretty pathetic

@wolfsniffer That attitude gave us one of the best Zelda games? Nice

@Snatcher @JonWilson, that's true, but Majora's Mask did get an E10 and then a T upon each re-release, so they seem to have gotten stricter.
They did say this game will be dark so I guess I shouldn't worry too much, heck we're already seen the neck snap of old man ganon

@JonWilson If by dark you mean goofy then sure.

Zelda, a role playing game? Good one, Nintendo.

Yeah, it's been 18 years since the last T rated Zelda. I don't count Majora's Mask becoming rated T over time because it wasn't intentionally made with that rating

@Bobb

Precisely!

@GinMiguel Intent for the rating doesn't matter. The rating is whatever the rating board says the rating is. Or did you mean 'initially'?

@mariomaster96 I really don't get how anyone can have this opinion unless the only other Zeldas they've played were on the cdi but to each their own

@wolfsniffer I really don't get how anyone can have this opinion unless they don't like good games but to each their own

@KBuckley27 Because they want to sell the new Pokemon over the holidays

@strollin_stu I need that. I'm way too excited for this game. I can't wait to get lost in Hyrule again. BotW was such an amazing experience...
Think I'll play through it again.

Why are Nintendo Life article titles progressively decreasing in quality the more I stay here? Whatever happened to the accuracy given to the article's topic, or in the case of the Pokémon anime, any respect given to spoilers?

@ArcticEcho initially

Seeing the game not being rated T is honestly disappointing. Not all Zelda fans are kids. Keep the darker Zelda games for teens and adults and the light-hearted ones for kids kinda like how there's both Star Wars media that interest to adults and others being for kids. I can try to live with that. Also remember guys, no pre-orders.

@Vivid_viking 😂

@KBuckley27 Do you remember the worldwide pandemic that killed millions of people and made working from an office nearly impossible? That probably had something to do with your toy taking a long time to get made.

@The-Chosen-one the...ocarina?

@ch37 I wish I had the strength/willpower to do it but I don't.

@Truegamer79 Eternal Darkness?

You guys just leaked the main quest of the game. But at least very few TOTK leaks are out in the wild

@Giancarlothomaz

That's not first party Nintendo. Nintendo was only the publisher. Great game though!

Aw, and here I was hoping Link would be dismembering Bokoblins and dropping f bombs left and right;)

@Pokemaniacal So did both of my teenage sons. They work for Kroger. It was a nightmare, and of course they both got sick. I'm an emergency dispatcher, I worked the whole pandemic as well. I got the virus twice. So did my wife, who is a server. We aren't exactly corporate types.
You don't get to be a martyr here. You filled out the application, and you showed up to work. And if you think you are a "little person" because of your profession, you might want to try something that doesn't put a chip on your shoulder.

@FroZtedFlake Y'all really forgot that BOTW1 was rated 12 in Korea as well, right?

That, and the fact that there's no 13+ in Korea (similar to the PEGI system).

@ValZ I didn't forget, I just didn't know that! Good to know though, and pretty assuring, thanks!

E10 + is pretty scary Zelda game I think like Ocarina of time. With redead Zelda enemy. This is a huge high number for a Zelda game.