I've looked through it, and while some elements are a surprise, I don't think it's that spoilery all things considered. If the artbook that leaked was something like the BOTW Creating a Champion book in terms of content then that there would be some extreme spoilers in that.

 

It’s not the art book that comes with the collector’s edition but a smaller pre order bonus one. It has no details on plot elements. Like there isn’t a single image of the zombie looking thing that people are speculating is Ganondorf.

 

It still has things that wasn’t revealed. Especially since this was revealed against Nintendo’s wishes.

 

There are definitely some worldbuilding and lore element spoilers, as well as spoilers for the world map. Both of which I just ran into online totally unintentionally so... yeah be careful if you don't want to even see that much. People's level of tolerance for spoilers will differ of course, but just be aware it's very much out there. And not just the images themselves (which are probably going to be quickly taken down anyway) but the discourse they've generated. That's really where the unintentional spoiling can happen. I don't feel like it damaged my future enjoyment or anything, but it's definitely floating around in certain places now and not always with spoiler tags, so be cautious if you're particularly spoiler avoidant.

 

Seen a few things from it, especially

Spoiler

Some of the new and returning outifts and certain character that we may or may not have seen.

Oh I'd definitely say there is a certain spoiler in that book.

 

Id say there a number of spoilers since, again, a lot of it wasn’t supposed to be revealed yet.

 

Hey, I just had a thought. What if the small green dragons are the updated version of an Acheman? I mean, moblins sure don't look like what they're supposed to in BotW.

 

I almost wonder if they are suppose to be Aeralfos

 

I'm curious what peoples expectations are for this game, in terms of how much it will be different from BOTW. I feel they are walking a bit of a fine line between changing too much and disappointing people who want more of the same, and putting out something that could be criticised as $70 BOTW DLC (a charge I've already seen).

 

Personally, the $70 price tag doesn't factor in for me. They can say this is a one-off pricing all they want and I'm sure it will be for the time being, but the industry (at least for AAA) is headed this way regardless long term, and I'm not bothered by it at all. As for my expectations for the game itself, I base them on what I know of BotW and the team working on TotK.

BotW was all about how we get from point A to point B, and making that decision process and the mechanics and systems used for that the adventure we go on. And we know Nintendo's development process tends to be that of a tinkerer.

With Nintendo, everything else is subordinate to mechanics. Wave Race existed because they were experimenting with water physics and realized they could get a fun game out of that. Splatoon exists because they were playing around with the "diving into the floor" mechanic and they realized fun gameplay could be generated by that, so then they came up with the premise of them being squids and the liquid being ink because... well, they needed some premise to explain it.   BotW was born from them experimenting with emergent gameplay generated by a chemistry, wind, fire, and physics model initially set in a modified original TLoZ toolset.

So when I see the devs also saying that originally this was going to be DLC for BotW, but that they came up with "too many ideas" and had to make it its own game, that's really where my expectations come from. That and knowing that that kind of experimental tinkering leading to gameplay that they then polish up and give fictional justifications for after the fact, is how Nintendo almost always operates. So for me the expectation is:

• The traversal from point A to point B "being the adventure itself" found in BotW simply now also includes even more extensive verticality. Before it was just climbing and even that was a game changer, but now it's going to include other systems and mechanics for vertical traversal, and that's going to be a big focus of the gameplay. Probably also including verticality-based combat. (As some patents suggest.)
• That sense of expanded scope sounds like it will extend down underground as well based on some leaked and translated texts we've seen referring to what
  Spoiler

  may be the Minish or something similar.
  In any event, they seem to be hinting strongly that we'll go underground, above ground, and into the sky in this game. So I'm thinking huge vertical scope, in both directions.
• We already saw from the cooking, recipe, rune, and weapon breaking system in BotW that they're exploring the idea of player customization and emergent gameplay. Everything was far less fixed and much more dynamic than in previous Zelda installments. I expect this to be expanded on even further in TotK through vehicle customization, both on land and, apparently, in the air. I think that too is a reasonable extrapolation and natural progression from what was in BotW from a design philosophy standpoint. (I expect it to end up being controversial among long time Zelda fans too, though.)
• I think this has the potential to be (to the extent Zelda has ever really had any, which you have to place into proportion compared to other more story-driven franchises) the most lore rich Zelda ever. The Director, Fujibayashi, while also technically the Director of BotW, is also the writer of Minish and Skyward Sword, with the latter arguably being the first real attempt at explaining the past and lore and origins of the Zelda "timeline." And with Aonuma seemingly keen on there even being such a timeline given Hyrule Historia, as shoehorned and hackneyed as it might be at times, having a direct sequel to a game Directed by Fujibayashi seems to me like a great opportunity to actually answer some questions. Especially given how "ancient ruins" and "sky" themed TotK appears to be. And
  Spoiler

  Ganondorf's apparent return - not Ganon, but Ganondorft the man
  kind of automatically demands and begs for explanation via lore. In some form or another at least. Especially as a direct sequel to a game where Ganon loomed so large and was apparently vanquished. If nothing else, some answer to "How is this happening?" will almost certainly be offered IMO. Which is more lore than we usually get already.
• I do expect the legacy of the game as having begun life as DLC for BotW to impose some limitations on it though, and I do hope people go in expecting and understanding that. It will be largely the same map, even if it has radically different landmarks, expanded areas, entirely new areas, and the aforementioned greatly expanded verticality both in the up and down (underground... and underwater? Remains to be seen) directions. It will have many of the same enemies. It won't have the same initial wow factor or sense of mystery in terms of general map layout. The mystery and sense of discovery will likely be in the verticality and new areas. The normal Hyrule zone will probably be familiar, even if refreshed. Though returning to those areas and seeing what's changed will be fun for existing players too I imagine. That will probably be part of the fun.

I think it will justify its cost just by being "BotW again, but with a lot more on top of that, and some deeper and more involved player systems and mechanics." With some surprise twists and gameplay we probably don't know about yet too. I expect we'll learn more in a Direct before release. Will be truly surprised if there isn't one.

By the way, Aonuma just said this:

 

Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom Gameplay Trailer Drops Tomorrow, 28th March 2023

You guys excited for tomorrow?

 

Myself personally?

Definitely, really hoping they show us the importance of some of the new mechanics that appear to be happening like weapon and vehicle customization. As well as go over how Tears of the Kingdom visually/physically differentiates from BotW's environment and locations.

 

I’m excited to see where this goes…even though I don’t own a Switch…haha…

 

I'm definitely excited for it.

 

I'll decide if I'm excited or not after the footage. If it's just "giant open world again, but with more crafting and goofy looking vehicles" then I'm going to be underwhelmed. Give me bigger dungeons, more interesting bosses, and tools/abilities spread across the game rather than all in the first hour, and then I'll be interested.

 

I'm definitely excited. It being ten minutes is intriguing, too. I'm not yet sure whether it makes an actual "Direct" more or less likely, since ten minutes is enough time to introduce key new gameplay mechanics and the overarching premise, without a truly deep dive. To avoid spoilers maybe this is all we get? But I doubt that since we're still more than a month away and I can't imagine this being it for that long.

 

Focuses on some new abilities, weapon customization and vehicle customization for problem solving.

Also two structures at the beginning and end seem to indicate a possible construction mechanic for creating more structures that may have additional benefits.

 

Spoiler: My thoughts

Well, aside from new abilities, they didn't show anything I care about. But even the abilities coverage was largely focused on crafting really goofy looking things. Color me unimpressed, personally.

Tunneling through (seemingly) any ceiling, including in caves, to the ground above it sounds good, though I wonder how applicable it will be. It's necessarily going to be limited by the geography, and I'd bet inside dungeons it won't be as universally applicable (like climbing was in shrines and Divine Beasts in BotW).

I feel like rewinding things will be one of those really niche abilities. It will be useful for getting to the sky, some puzzles, and maybe reflecting projectiles back at enemies (if that's possible), but I think it will fall by the wayside over the game's playtime.

Aside from the arrow effects, the only thing of the crafting I liked was that it (seemed to) increase weapon durability, but I wish it didn't make things look stupid in the process. Not a fan of the Banjo Kazooie Nuts and Bolts vehicles at all.

 

It seems for those that don't like customization, many are already passing on this game because of its focus, weapon durabilty returning and surprise, it takes place in the same map.

Honestly I am all for it. Its a choose your own adventure in every concept.

 

Didn't feel like BOTW at all to me - it should have rained at least three times during those 10 minutes LOL.

Anyway I'm pretty excited. Looks like they didn't fundamentally change too much; I just hope there are some real dungeons this time.