The new Fuse mechanic shown off in the latest gameplay demonstration forThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomopens the door for tons of creative freedom when it comes to tackling challenges across Hyrule. From crafting weapon, to building new modes of transportation, it’s obviousThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomis upping the ante from its predecessor in terms of mechanics players will get to sink their teeth into. However, with this emphasis on crafting, the game shouldn’t miss the chance to bring back a mechanic from one of the series' Game Boy Advance entries.
Kinstones inThe Legend of Zelda: The Minish Capwere a fun collectible that allowed players to combine their half of a stone with that of an NPC in order to unlock certain secrets and treasures. This was a great way to get players to interact with other characters while also serving the game’s lore of trying to reconnect the Minish with the people of Hyrule. While it’s unlikely thatTears of the Kingdomwill feature the Minish as a race of characters found in the game, it could build upon the concept of Kinstones to further develop its Fuse mechanic.
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How Kinstones Could Influence Tears of the Kingdom
Now thatThe Legend of Zeldaseries is going all-in on crafting withTears of the Kingdom’s Fuse ability, it would be a great to see the game draw upon past iterations of crafting mechanics featured in the series. In addition to something like the ability to craftBomb ArrowsfromThe Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, having a mechanic that involves crafting an item with an NPC similar toThe Minish Cap’s Kinstones would be a welcome evolution of the Fuse ability that has already been shown.
While Kinstones could make a return inTears of the Kingdom, it seems unlikely given their significance to the lore of the Minish. However, that doesn’t mean a similar collectible couldn’t exist and allow for a crafting mechanic that requires an NPC to complete. The way fusing two Kinstones inThe Minish Capunlocks a hidden treasure somewhere in the world would be perfect forTears of Kingdom’s expansive open world, so it makes a lot of sense to include this type of feature in the upcoming title.
Even if it doesn’t involve the fusing of two items like Kinstones,Tears of the Kingdomcould still include a mechanic that allows the player to trade items with NPCs for iterative rewards. This type of system could reward players for interacting with NPCs and give access to potentially useful materials for Fusing or other unlockable rewards. It could even incorporate an elaboratetrading sequence like inLink’s Awakeningwhere players must trade specific items with specific characters around the map in the correct order to unlock the final reward. A quest like this could be the culmination of what’s possible when Fusing items to find the very specific thing an NPC wants.
Kinstones helped solidifyThe Minish Cap’s theme of bringing people together, and with the vast open world ofTears of the Kingdom, a similar mechanic could help support that theme once again. Nintendo has the perfect opportunity to make this game a love letter topastZeldatitlesby incorporating aspects of those games within its host of new systems and abilities. Given how much crafting will seemingly play a role inTears of the Kingdom, it only makes sense to allow NPCs to share in the same crafting as the player.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomreleases onMay 12, 2023 for Nintendo Switch.
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