The Japanese gaming giant began development on The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom more than a half-decade ago, long after the series’ last iteration was published in 2017 for the Wii U and Switch. And, despite Nintendo’s planned aim of 2022, the BotW sequel was delayed significantly last spring. The studio ultimately committed to a mid-2023 release date in September, along with revealing the game’s formal title.

Gematsu page: https://t.co/wy3kDu9JwH pic.twitter.com/tPGGBZatGW — Gematsu (@gematsu) November 18, 2022 This categorization corresponds to Nintendo’s decades-long tradition of producing family-friendly AAA games. While the initial 2019 teaser showed Link and Zelda exploring an underground tunnel, implying that the future title could be darker and scarier than Breath of the Wild, the Korean classification also fits what little Tears of the Kingdom gameplay has been shown thus far.