The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom breaks gaming records

Image source, Nintendo

Image caption, Link's latest adventure in Hyrule is breaking Nintendo sales records

Nintendo's new Zelda game, Tears of the Kingdom, has broken records for game sales.

The company has announced it has sold more than 10 million copies in just three days - and has already become the fastest-selling Zelda game.

However, it isn't yet the best-selling Zelda game - Breath of the Wild, to which it is a sequel - has sold more copies.

Tears of the Kingdom is currently the biggest boxed game of 2023, beating Hogwarts Legacy and FIFA 2023. This means it has sold lots of physical copies - but we don't know how many digital copies have been sold yet.

What is the story of Tears of the Kingdom?

Image source, Nintendo

The game is a sequel to 2017's Breath of the Wild, released with the launch of the Nintendo Switch.

In Tears of the Kingdom you play as Link after ancient powers have caused havoc across the land of Hyrule.

Link has to defeat the demon king, rescue Princess Zelda and save Hyrule.

As the player you complete puzzles, craft weapons and battle dangerous and mysterious enemies to restore peace in Hyrule.

You get to explore the huge world at your own pace, meeting new characters and discovering new skills along the way.

Tears of the Kingdom: Reviews so far

Image source, ED JONES

Image caption, The game has sold lots of physical copies

According to Metacritic, which is a popular website that takes different reviews and combines them into one score, the game was scoring 96 out of 100 three days after the release.

Another review site - OpenCritic - said that 100% of its critics recommended the game.

Zelda fans had been waiting a long time for it to come out - it had been six years since Breath of the Wild. In the 2022 Game Awards it won the category for Most Anticipated Game.

Why is Zelda important in gaming history?

Image source, Getty Images

Image caption, People queued up for hours in shops like this in Tokyo to get their hands on a physical copy of the game

The original Legend of Zelda was released back in 1986, designed by Shigeru Miyamoto, who created the Donkey Kong and Mario Brothers series.

It was a big moment in console gaming history - the first time you could press save during a game and return to it later.

Image source, Chesnot

There have been lots of different spin-offs of the game played across lots of different Nintendo consoles.

Breath of the Wild, the game set before Tears of the Kingdom, came out with the new Nintendo Switch console.