The wait for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom continues, but not for much longer. With a May release date, the next major Zelda title has many fans hoping for a game that can recapture Breath of the Wild's magic with smart improvements. Sky islands will feature prominently in Tears of the Kingdom, and Link will seemingly need to ascend them to restore a broken Master Sword and defeat a new Malice-fueled threat. Beyond that, there's still not much that fans know, and a Nintendo Direct detailing the game is expected in the next few months.
Fortunately, Nintendo recently added an ESRB age rating to the game's official store page. There is no detailed description associated with it, but just having a rating indicates that the game should be nearing completion. However, a common narrative has been that Tears of the Kingdom would include dark tones and content similar to Majora's Mask, an entry beloved for those very elements. Yet the rating revealed to be E10+ for Fantasy Violence and Mild Suggestive Themes, fans now have reason to keep their expectations in check.
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Zelda's Age Ratings Have Always Trended Low
The Legend of Zelda has always been an action-fantasy franchise oriented toward younger players. Fans of all ages can enjoy each game in the series, and Zelda does not flaunt its mature content. More often than not, Zelda titles receive E for Everyone and, more recently, E10+ ratings. Ganon's forces aren't going to slay themselves, so players need to cut through the various beasts in Link's way, and there are occasional moments of dark storytelling alongside grim locations like the Shadow Temple and the Arbiter's Grounds. Most other adult content is downplayed or turned into a running joke, like the "adult" milk bars.
The only mainline Zelda game to break this trend in ESRB ratings is The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, which received a T for Teen mostly due to the game's realistic art style - though the presence of some blood and intense violence also pushed it up. The only other Zelda titles with T ratings have been the two Hyrule Warriors games and, thanks to its association with Twilight Princess, Link's Crossbow Training. Even the infamously morbid Majora's Mask originally got an E rating, which was later bumped up to E10+ alongside Ocarina of Time for their 3DS remakes.
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Tears of the Kingdom Seems As Dark As Usual
The Legend of Zelda series has not felt any particular need to push its ratings higher. It's telling that it took an extra dose of realism or the sight of Link mowing down entire armies to get any T ratings. Most recently, Breath of the Wild received E10+ for Fantasy Violence, Mild Suggestive Themes, and alcohol use that could have been removed by changing a couple lines. Now, Tears of the Kingdom has received the same rating for the same reasons except alcohol.
In November 2022, the South Korea Rating and Administration Committee gave Tears of the Kingdom an age rating of 12 and up, only citing mild violence. The ESRB rating a month later agrees that there will be fantasy violence, as well as mild suggestive themes that could be attributed to the Gerudo people's voe-based antics. As the most recent versions of every major 3D Zelda title except Twilight Princess now share an E10+ rating, it's hard to say what this means for darker elements. Even with less warning labels on its rating, Tears of the Kingdom could still rival titles like Majora's Mask in some respects. Yet fans may have jumped the gun assuming this title would be a return to Majora's Mask's nature.
Fans May Have Misread Tears of the Kingdom's Tone
From the first teaser for the unnamed Breath of the Wild sequel, people were talking about how much darker it could be considering the trailer went for a horror tone with distorted music and the resurrection of what looked like a mummified Ganondorf. Comparisons were drawn to the last direct console sequel in the Zelda series, Majora's Mask, and the discussion became so ubiquitous that producer Eiji Aonuma commented on it with IGN. Aonuma noted that the trailer was definitely darker than Breath of the Wild, and possibly even darker than Majora's Mask. However, the relationship was no deeper than that.
Emulating Majora's Mask was not a priority of the development team, and Aonuma stressed that the game was deep in production and might not keep this tone. Considering this interview was from 2019, it's reasonable to assume the vision for Tears of the Kingdom has solidified into something more typical for the Zelda series. The original quote may have even been misinterpreted, with Aonuma just comparing the trailer's tone to Breath of the Wild and not Majora's Mask. Either way, theorizing how dark Tears of the Kingdom could be is a dominant part of the game's discourse, and now that fans are starting to learn more concrete details, Tears of the Kingdom should - as Aonuma and later Bill Trinen have said - take on a life of its own.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom launches May 12, 2023, for Nintendo Switch.
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