Fact Check: Will The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom feature weapon durability?

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is definitely one of 2023's most anticipated games. The upcoming open-world action-adventure title is a successor to the acclaimed 2017 offering, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. This cross-gen Nintendo Wii U/Switch game blew critics away with its seamless open-world and organic problem-solving mechanics.

From the ingenious manner in which objects in an environment react with one another to an unparalleled level of freedom, not many games approach gameplay as Breath of the Wild did.

However, one aspect of this title that was criticized was weapon durability. All items that can be used to deal damage can break after a few uses, meaning players cannot stick to using e specific weapon or playstyle. With that said, many have been hoping that developer Nintendo will make weapons last longer or remove the durability feature entirely for Tears of the Kingdom.

---

Does The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom feature weapon durability as well?

Unfortunately, weapon durability is here to stay. As revealed by new gameplay footage offered by Nintendo for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, the feature is returning. In the clip, game director Eiji Aonuma shows the feature off by picking up a branch on one of the Sky Islands and battling a Construct enemy with it. Due to being fragile in nature, the item broke into nothingness after a bunch of hits. While this will make some fans pout for sure, there is good news.

It seems like the developers have been listening to fan feedback. While it has not dissuaded them from implementing weapon durability, they have employed a workaround to make items last longer. Thankfully, players can use the Fuse system — one of the few new mechanics introduced in Tears of the Kingdom and represented by a green sword and rock icon — to attach two objects together.

The gameplay demonstration once again showcased this by combining a tree branch and a small boulder. This creates a fundamentally new item resembling a hammer, which also enhances its durability. The same can be done with two different weapons, like a pitchfork and a spear, to create a type of lance. This is a surprisingly smart way to circumvent the problem without doing away with it.

As players have found many new ways to approach different scenarios in Breath of the Wild, the same can be expected of Tears of the Kingdom. Smart gamers are bound to unearth new methods via which weapons can be made to last longer than items with traditional Fuse usage. Perhaps some may even find a way to avoid the eventual wear and tear of a Fused weapon as well. This makes sense as the system joins two objects, so it must un-Fuse them as well.

This latter ability of this mechanic can help Legend of Zelda players keep adding to the durability of items with new replacement parts. But the extent of how FUSE works in-game remains to be seen.

---

When will the game be released, and for what platforms?

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is in development at Nintendo and will be published by the Japanese gaming giant as well. It is set to be released on May 12, 2023. It is in development exclusively for the Nintendo Switch hybrid console.