Ahead of our main review for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom… let’s have a listen to some of its amazing music.
It features some outstanding compositions across a vast, four hour or so set of work. It’s one of the best soundtracks since Gareth Coker’s brilliant work on 2020’s Ori and the Will of the Wisps.
No big surprise, really, with Nintendo’s track record. Let’s all open our earlobes and have a listen in time-honoured fashion.
Tears of the Kingdom’s Stirring Musical Moments
Tears of the Kingdom is often a very relaxing game. One steeped in a sense of timely solitude, with your character perched atop vast landscapes to the tune of the above. It’s serene—a very calming experience.
Escapism at its finest, really, and you can potter around on various sky islands with the sunset in the distance… Hyrule all laid out below you in the distance.
Across this blog over the year’s we’ve strived to show non-gamers this hobby isn’t all about death and destruction (shooting stuff with guns). Nintendo usually distances itself from that anyway, pushing for imaginative projects that promote a sense of wonder (or just glee).
For Breath of the Wild in 2017, soundtrack duties were split between Nintendo’s Manaka Kataoka, Yasuaki Iwata, and Hajime Wakai. The result was music often fragmented and sparse with much piano tinkling—a constant delight.
For Tears of the Kingdom we again have Wakai and Kataoka, but this time joined by Maasa Miyoshi, Masato Ohashi, and Tsukasa Usui.
Trying to describe the full breadth of the music is difficult. There’s a huge range of stuff going on, but we guess ambiance and upbeat melodies are the main themes. The Water Temple is big on the former.
The traditional Zelda music of series lore doesn’t feature much in these open world titles, although there are occasional flourishes nodding to Ocarina of Time (1998) and the like.
Some fans are a bit sniffy about that, but we welcome Nintendo doing something totally different with its franchises.
As Tears of the Kingdom has its brooding, dark moments. The Depths (which can be very spooky at times) features a suitably menacing theme.
The Depths highlights another side to the Tears of the Kingdom universe, which was employed by Nintendo in the first game.
Silence!
Sometimes during playing you’ll notice there’s no music at all, just the sound of a river flowing or some birds tweeting. Maybe the wind rustling through trees. But it’s all part of the introspective nature of the game.
And it’s very effective at, say, the sky-based sections of the game with all the dramatic landscapes out there ahead of you. Then something like this will kick in.
Other times there’s just something more fun and upbeat.
Such as the Lookout Landing area, which is central to your adventure and a lively hub of activity. Nintendo makes it clear this is a cool place to be.
A brilliant work, it’s a fantastic soundtrack. Recently we flagged up the very best indie game soundtracks, maybe it’s time to compile one for AAA titles like this.
As Tears of the Kingdom has a vast soundtrack packed with intricacies. The whole thing covers an enormous game with many hundreds of hours of gameplay time, so part of the joy of this is exploring new regions and listening to the music complementing each area.
Nintendo hasn’t released the official soundtrack yet. It will come about soon enough for anyone wanting to buy the album. BE PATIENT! Until then, there are plenty of tunes abounding on YouTube compiled by fans.
Oh Yes, Some Breath of the Wild Favourites Make a Return
As the game is set in the same universe as the 2017 title (see Revisiting Breath of the Wild) various old pieces return for Tears of the Kingdom.
Hateno Village (above) has always been a favourite of ours.
Some of the game’s music cuts back from the orchestral sweep in favour of folksy moments. The stable music has always been a favourite of ours, representing a safe place for players away from the dangers of the main map.
Again, another total favourite for us. It makes you just want to hang out at the stables and listen to that over and over.
So, yes, this is all Nintendo perfectly balancing the need for the old with the new to create a masterpiece of a gaming (and listening) experience. We thank you very much.
