All of that is replicated in Tears of the Kingdom. In the meantime, you could undertake mini quests or enjoy the stunning beauty of the realm Nintendo had wrought. And, yes, most players got around to that eventually. Breath of the Wild expanded the template via an “open world” where you could wander wherever you wished across the vast Kingdom of Hyrule. The Zelda series invented the 3-D action role-playing genre more than 20 years ago, with the groundbreaking Ocarina of Time. (It’s a bit more complicated than that, but no need to get bogged down in Zelda lore, with its many, many timelines.) She is the princess whom Link is sworn to protect. This all happens after an ancient evil is reawakened and he is separated from Zelda. Jumping off cliffs and diving right in is something Link does over and over early in Tears of the Kingdom, a vast sprawl of a title that reputedly takes up to 70 hours to complete. That honour rests with Link, an intrepid elf with floppy blond hair, an emo pout and movie-star cheekbones (a look reportedly inspired by 1990s-vintage Leonardo DiCaprio). There are a few things to bear in mind if you’re coming fresh to the Legend of Zelda video-game franchise. In the world of gaming, no franchise is more exalted than Zelda, which this month dominates the cultural conversation with the new game The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Meanwhile, the TV version of The Last of Us had cameos from Ashley Johnson and Troy Baker, aka the original Ellie and Joel from the game.īut even amid all this, one fact remains immutable. One of the biggest draws at last summer’s Dublin Comic Con was Charles Martinet, best known as the voice of Mario from the iconic platformer Super Mario Bros (which has this year spawned a $1 billion-grossing animated feature with Chris Pratt and Jack Black). Gaming voice actors have, for their part, become cult figures. Big-name actors have lent their voice talents to games, among them Jeffrey Wright, Keanu Reeves and Idris Elba, who is such a gaming geek that he never leaves home without his Nintendo Switch.

As the success of HBO’s recent television adaptation of the PlayStation hit The Last of Us demonstrates, the hobby has gone global and mainstream.

Video games are no longer just for hardcore pixelheads.

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