HoYoverse released Genshin Impact in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic nearly three years ago, and it has become a major hit in the gaming industry. This free-to-play anime RPG from China allows players to explore the vast world of Teyvat as a traveler separated from their twin in another world and interact with — as well as play as — a wide variety of characters whose combat moves are based on elements, like earth, wind, fire, water, and electricity.
Although the story is about a traveler (male or female, depending on your choice) working to find their sibling, Genshin Impact becomes more about exploring the seven nations of Teyvat, learning of their cultures and customs, and fighting the monsters that reside in those nations and less about the eventual family reunion. This game has won numerous awards (including Player’s Voice at The Game Awards 2022) and spawned loads of fan art and animations.
But for those who want to take a break from Genshin Impact and play something similar, here are 10 games you can check out.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Breath of the Wild is the one Zelda game that kicked off a generation of open-world games outside the series that were inspired by its gameplay mechanics and/or art style, and Genshin Impact draws plenty of inspiration from it. Link wakes up after a century of slumber with no memory of anything that happened to him, and is tasked with saving Princess Zelda and stopping Calamity Ganon from destroying Hyrule and the world.
Nintendo gave players permission to complete the game’s story in a nonlinear fashion, giving them ample room to explore the vast landscape on the ground and in the air and experiment with various gameplay elements.
Immortals Fenyx Rising
In Ubisoft’s interpretation of Greek mythology, Typhon has escaped from his imprisonment in the underworld and robbed the Olympian gods of their powers and essences, causing Zeus to flee to Prometheus, who he chained to the mountain as punishment, for help to defeat him. Prometheus makes a deal with Zeus that if a mortal can beat Typhon, he will be freed from his imprisonment, thus he tells the story of Fenyx, a mortal who must stop Typhon after escaping the underworld in order to save their brother.
Fenyx gains the powers of the gods as the game progresses, such as Ares’ Wrath, and can upgrade their weapons. The one gameplay element that makes Immortals Fenyx Rising stand out from Genshin Impact is the player’s ability to change Fenyx’s gender (Fenyx is female by default), voice, and appearance. Genshin only allows you to choose characters of different genders. Aside from that, players need to monitor their stamina during combat so that they don’t get exhausted after repeated attacks.
Sonic Frontiers
You might think that Sonic Frontiers is leagues apart from Genshin Impact, but the lovable blue hedgehog’s latest outing couldn’t be any more different. Sonic and his friends get sucked into Cyber Space via a wormhole en route to Starfall Islands, and he manages to escape while they’re stuck in the digital world, hence why they appear to Sonic in pixelated form when he rescues them.
Frontiers is similar to Genshin Impact in that Sonic has the stamina gauge next to him every time he boosts or goes underwater, is able to climb up structures, has a skill tree, and experiences the day-cycle, and has a navigation system that leads him the desired destination. Not to mention that the puzzles and challenges he completes reveal more locations.
Final Fantasy 14
Final Fantasy 14 takes place five years after the events of the original 2010 game, which was a critical and commercial failure for Square Enix. The gods bless the player character to time travel five years into the future in order to escape the destruction of Eorzea caused by the primal dragon Bahamut, and must face the threat of invasion from the Garlean Empire as they are working to rebuild the land.
Unlike Genshin Impact, FF14 is an MMORPG where players interact with each other but still allows them a great deal of open-world exploration. However, the one thing the game has in common with Genshin is that it has a games-as-a-service model that contains gacha items for people to spend real money on if in-game currency doesn’t cover it. FF14 has also received four expansions in the last 10 years: Heavensward (2015), Stormblood (2017), Shadowbringers (2019), and Endwalker (2021).
Persona 5
Developed by Atlus, Persona 5 centers on a high school student under the pseudonym Joker who, after transferring to a new school after being falsely accused of assault and placed on probation, manifests a Persona along with some other students, prompting them to become vigilantes known as the Phantom Thieves of Hearts. They dive into a supernatural realm created by humanity’s subconscious desires called the Metaverse and steal malicious intent from the hearts of adults.
Persona 5 allows players to go into dungeons within the Metaverse called Palaces, formed by the hearts of corrupted adults that represent their distorted perception of a real-world location, to fight them and their shadows (which are their true selves). Outside of that, they get to perform part-time jobs and fulfill requests from NPCs.
Tchia
Tchia is set in a fictional archipelago heavily inspired by the Pacific Island nation of New Caledonia, where the titular 12-year-old heroine goes on a mission to rescue her father after he gets kidnapped by a tyrant and his army of paper warriors. Tchia explores her island home by sea (in her raft), by air (with a glider she builds herself), and by ground. She also gains a unique ability called soul-jumping, which allows her to possess and assume control of animals and inanimate objects in order to perform certain tasks, such as a dog or a coconut, to travel to new areas, solve puzzles, and defend herself against enemies.
The characters speak entirely in French and Drehu, two languages that are dominant in New Caledonia. Soul-jumping is also inspired by New Caledonia’s folklore around shapeshifting.
Honkai Impact 3rd
Honkai Impact 3rd is HoYoverse’s sci-fi version of Genshin Impact that takes place 50,000 years in the future in an alternate version of Earth that has been plagued by catastrophes caused by Honkai, a powerful entity that corrupts humans and endows certain people called Herrschers with god-like powers to cause an apocalypse every time a civilization gets too advanced. Three Global factions were made to combat or take advantage of the Honkai: Schicksal, which deploys Valkyries; Anti-Entropy, which uses human soldiers instead of mechas; and World Serpent, which has been manipulating events since the end of the previous civilization.
Honkai Impact 3rd incorporates multifarious genres, including bullet hell, platforming, shoot ‘em up, and dungeon crawling in conjunction with gacha mechanics that offer new weapons and characters. It also hosts limited-time seasonal events that offer gameplay elements not seen in normal gameplay modes.
Honkai: Star Rail, the sequel to Honkai Impact 3rd which takes place in space, is available now on iOS, Android, and PC via Epic Games Store.
Tales of Arise
The 17th entry in the Tales series, Tales of Arise revolves around a Dahnan slave named Alphen, a slave with no memories of his past, and Shionne, a Renan girl with a curse that makes thorns erupt from her body if anyone touches her, as they form a bond during their journey to end the Renans’ oppression of the Dahnan people.
This game has no multiplayer like its predecessors, but most of its gameplay emphasizes evasion, countering, and other character interactions in combat.
Ni no Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom
Set hundreds of years after the events of Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, Ni no Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom revolves around a young Grimalkin (part-human, part-cat) named Evan Pettiwhisker Tildrum, who gets deposed on his coronation day in a coup following the untimely death of his father. He sets out on a journey to build his own kingdom and unite all the world’s nations.
Players can freely explore the open world of Ni no Kuni 2, but they have to complete quests in a linear fashion to move the story forward. In battle, players can switch between three other characters at any time. There is some world-building involved, as they have to manage the workforces within the town to provide materials for weapons and armor in the shops.
Xenoblade Chronicles X
Xenoblade Chronicles X is a Wii U-exclusive Xenoblade title that takes places on the planet of Mira, where some of humanity flees to following the destruction of Earth by alien warfare. The player character, who suffers from amnesia after being rescued from their escape pod, becomes a member of BLADE and joins the mission to defend their new world against the Ganglion coalition — and explores their environment walking in their mechs.
Players can customize their character’s gender, voice, build and facial features at any point in the game. Just like Mondstadt serves as the hub world of Genshin Impact, New Los Angeles serves as the hub world for Xenoblade Chronicles X. Completing quests, most of which are divided into story quests, grants players experience points, elevating their stats and class.
Cristina Alexander is a freelance writer for IGN. To paraphrase Calvin Harris, she wears her love for Sonic the Hedgehog on her sleeve like a big deal. Follow her on Twitter @SonicPrincess15.
In June 2022, a new Reddit user named SadFutago joined the Nier Automata subreddit to ask what might seem to outsiders a fairly innocuous question: “How do you open the church?”
Their post was short and sweet, seemingly coming from a confused, not-exactly-internet-savvy gamer who wanted to know how to access a building in Nier: Automata that, they claimed, was closed off for their friend, but open for them. The problem? There was no such church in Nier: Automata, to anyone’s knowledge. Dataminers had never heard of it. It didn’t exist in any guide, or video, or older build known to anyone in the audience. And as more information, and later images and clips came out of this location no one had ever seen before, the Nier subreddits, Discords, and eventually wider gaming communities went into a frenzy trying to solve the mystery of the never-before-seen church.
SadFutago kicked off a beautiful mess of a multi-month storyline that twisted the community, media, and even expert modders into knots. It eventually bled out of the Nier community it started in, reaching major media sites and mainstream gaming communities. Even Nier creator Yoko Taro himself got involved.
The “church saga” as it came to be known turned out to be an elaborate build-up to announce brand new modding tools for Nier: Automata that stand to revolutionize what modders can do with the game’s world and was largely orchestrated on the fly by three individuals who didn’t go into the saga with any elaborate schemes. They were just regular modders who made some cool stuff, and whose fun tease of the community spiraled far beyond what they had ever intended.
We tracked down the trio of creators behind SadFutago to get the true tale behind the Nier church saga. This is the Inside Story of how they tricked the internet into believing there were still meaningful secrets left hidden in one of the most exciting and existential RPGs of the last decade.
Chapter 1: Significance
The Nier: Automata church saga was the work of three individuals, but it began with just one, a modder going by Woeful_Wolf.
“I’m just a gamer who wanted more from the games I played,” Woeful_Wolf explains. “So since I was young, I started tinkering with them and seeing what I can break.”
Woeful began his modding career years ago with Source engine games, such as Half-Life 2, and picked up a lot of his programming knowledge from Gary’s Mod. Prior to Nier: Automata, he had been tinkering around with Skyrim and Fallout, but eventually arrived at the Nier series thanks to his love of JRPGs. He first picked up Nier: Automata in 2019, two years after its initial release. And while he was having a good time, he began to feel bothered by small details in the game that didn’t seem right to him.
“There’s a cosmetic item called the Luna Tear that you can have placed in 2B’s or A2’s hair, and what bothered me about this cosmetic is that it was actually pretty 2D,” he says. “It was just these flat planes, the petals of the leaves, and it was such a minor thing, but I would like more of a 3D flower. So I started looking at the 3D model formats for the flower.”
Before Woeful had even finished a normal playthrough of Nier: Automata, he was already tinkering around with modeling program Blender plugins and addons to improve the issues he had found. With the help of Bayonetta modder Kerilk, he began to create the tools that would eventually form the basis for the church project.
Once he got going, Woeful largely worked alone on the tools, but would sometimes solicit support from friends in the community when he made an interesting discovery. Enter our second church modder: DevolasRevenge.
“The only reason why I got into it was because I just thought about how cool it would be to mod Nier: Automata,” Devolas tells me. “It’s the first game that I modded, and it was only two years ago.”
It’s the first game that I modded, and it was only two years ago.
Devolas’ modding talents were a perfect support for Woeful. He could take advantage of the tools Woeful made, point out pain points and stretch their capabilities. Since the two were already friends, it was a no-brainer to reach out to Devolas when Woeful got a powerful new set of tools working for Nier: Automata.
“I said, ‘Hey, I’ve got map collision and prop placing and things like that working, would you like to test it before I release?’” Woeful explains. “And [Devolas] suggested we don’t release. We have to play a little prank on the community.”
Chapter 2: Amusement Park
But before we get to Woeful and Devola’s prank, we first need to understand exactly what was so revolutionary about what they had made.
If you’re not familiar with modding, things like “map collision” and “prop placing” might just sound like gibberish. But while the actual efforts behind their work were quite complicated, what Woeful and Devola were doing is actually pretty simple in principle. Basically, Woeful had created a set of modding tools that could be used to play around with the game engine of Nier: Automata, and Devola was using those tools to add in all sorts of elements to his copy that would never be present in a regular copy of the game.
Before Woeful Wolf made his discovery, the abilities of modders like Devola were actually pretty limited, because the scripting tools for complex changes simply didn’t exist yet.
“Before 2019, we couldn’t have custom models,” Woeful says. “We could have rudimentary character swaps, which was just swapping the names of two characters and having it load there, but we couldn’t have custom weapons or custom outfits or things in that, and then the next step was we could have custom map geometry. So visually, we could change the map, but we didn’t have collisions yet. So you could add a building or a wall or a statue to the middle of the map somewhere, but the player would just phase right through. Same with enemies, there would be no collision or path finding.”
In short, Nier: Automata modders prior to Woeful had the tools to add custom characters or weapons or outfits to the game, and could even edit the game’s maps to add objects or walls or enemies that wouldn’t be there normally. But if you tried to interact with them, nothing would happen, and the player would simply walk right through whatever was added. Fun to look at, sure, but not exactly immersive.
That’s where Woeful’s new tools came in. His work allowed Devolas to make the church not just look real, but feel real too, full of solid objects you can run into and, you know, actual floors and walls. But to hear Woeful tell it, brilliant as his tools were, they weren’t especially easy for modders like Devolas to use.
Which is where the third member of the church trio ended up accidentally, but fortuitously involved: RaiderB.
“I’m a computer science student from Germany, and I discovered this game Nier: Automata actually only recently about half a year ago,” says RaiderB. “At the beginning of the year I looked at the modding tools and what there is, and yeah. I started experimenting around with a couple of new things yeah that haven’t been really done before.”
Raider’s experiments involved, you guessed it, collisions. He eventually got something coded up that eliminated invisible walls in the game, effectively allowing you to go anywhere without restriction. But when he began to let others know he had something in the works, Woeful and Devolas took notice. They reached out to convince him to hold off on releasing his work, but at first, they were coy as to exactly what they had in the works.
“When I joined, I actually didn’t really know what the secret was,” Raider explains. “I only knew that there was a ‘secret’, but not what it was. It was only I think like in May or something that I started asking, ‘When is the secret coming out?’ That I got more and more involved into the actual work of it.”
When I joined, I actually didn’t really know what the secret was. I only knew that there was a ‘secret’.
Raider is humble about his contributions, but to hear Woeful and Devolas tell it, the entire church mod wouldn’t have been possible without his work. His scripting discoveries made the tools easier to use, and eventually went beyond just invisible walls, pulling together the overall immersion of the whole church:
“Before in Automata, no one would ever imagine you’d be able to change NPC dialogue, spawn them in a unique place, and then have completely different actions happening,” Devolas says.
And Woeful adds: “When RaiderB came in with his scripting was something that nobody’s ever seen before or even heard. And now looking at the scripting things that we’ve discovered, it’ll be hard and there’s still a lot of work to do, but I can almost confidently say anything is possible in the game that you see happen in the base game. So we could potentially make custom bosses or even custom quest blinds, hopefully working on new items with completely new functionality, but all of that is still a ways off.”
So Woeful_Wolf, DevolasRevenge, and RaiderB had made something incredible that would revolutionize Nier: Automata modding. And Devolas specifically had an unusual plan to unveil it that was exciting enough to warrant holding off the announcement of all these new tools for at least a little while.
Chapter 3: Copied City
Even from the start, Devolas’ plot quickly began evolving from a small prank to something far, far more elaborate.
“I wanted to start off with a tiny church,” he says. “So I wasn’t even going to make the church myself. I was going to grab a model and just throw it somewhere and then just pretend that it was real as a joke. But then I got a little carried away and we went from this really tiny church design to this huge hallway and there’s a big entrance. And then the iconic door was very secretive. It could’ve just been a new door we added. But the way I wanted it to be was that it would appear as a secret. So I made it integrated into the map so that it’s technically always there even if it isn’t. No one would think though there’s actually a door there.”
Devolas started by just dropping the church into the back of the map, planning to make it look like a hidden, previously undiscovered secret that required glitching into some unused area. It was admittedly a bit of a stretch for people to believe that such an easter egg might have remained undiscovered in a five-year-old game, it certainly wasn’t impossible, especially if it was kept simple enough to look like a forgotten fragment of some kind.
But the church did not stay simple, not one bit.
“And then I added an entire background and then I added the hallway and then I just got so carried away with trying to make it look real and then trying to add all these extra stuff that looks like it’s part of the game. And even when we were making the videos, I was still adding stuff.”
Even when we were making the videos, I was still adding stuff.
While Woeful, Devolas, and Raider are all three ultimately responsible for the church saga, Devolas was the mastermind behind most of the public-facing elements the audience saw. It was Devolas’ idea to create a Reddit user named “SadFutago” and have him innocently tease their project in the guise of a player looking for advice. Devolas named the alias before Raider joined them as an amalgamation of a synonym for “Woeful” and Devola’s status as the Nier character twin of Popola, since – in a translation that would later be memed excessively by the community – “futago” is the Japanese word for “twin.”
SadFutago started his quest innocently enough with a post to the subreddit NieRFanart, asking “Hello how do you open the church?” Without context, his query went relatively ignored, before he took the same question to the subreddit NieRAutomataGame and later the much larger Nier subreddit.
“I wanted the SadFutago character to not really know what Reddit was, so they accidentally posted on a subreddit with 200 people and then eventually … it didn’t get any traction on purpose,” Devolas says. “Even if it did though, that would’ve been cool, but I was expecting it to not get anything. And then eventually I would move to another subreddit or I would move to Discord or something or even Twitter. But yeah, I did that on purpose just so that it would look like they didn’t know what they’re doing and then they just kept trying.”
SadFutago’s posts got more traction each time, with members asking the confused player to post screenshots of what he was talking about, as no one had ever heard of such a thing. So he obliged, posting a screenshot of a bunch of pews in a room no one had ever seen before. That’s when things began to get serious.
Then, as Woeful put it, a bomb dropped: SadFutago posted actual footage. All three modders acknowledged that the footage clip was a massive turning point not because the footage in and of itself was a huge deal, though it was. Up to that point, discussion of the church had been largely limited to the Nier modding community, but actual clips of footage caught the attention of streamer and hacker Lance McDonald. McDonald, who has over 70,000 Twitter followers, tweeted about the strange church, and the tweet exploded. News outlets began writing about it. Curious onlookers flooded the subreddit and the Discord. SadFutago had officially gone viral.
“The moment he tweeted it, we would be all working,” Woeful recalls. “Every hour or so, we’d refresh his tweet and see the view count or the views were going up 10,000, 20,000, 300,000. It just exponentially blew up and we were panicking because now we know we have to get serious, but we don’t have time, but yeah, definitely the moment the first video was posted and Lance McDonald’s tweet was when everything exploded, I think to the wide Nier fan base.”
We’d refresh his tweet and see the view count or the views were going up 10,000, 20,000, 300,000.
Devolas adds: “It was kind of overwhelming because I didn’t think that everyone would come to the modding server. So before that, we had 4,000 and then we have 8,000 now and all the channels were getting filled with all these people I’ve never seen before. And then the voice chats were so full that we had to make four more so that so everyone could go in them.”
Devolas, Woeful, and Raider were terrified that somewhere in these hundreds of thousands of people, someone would get wise to their secret. But somehow, no one did. Part of it seemed to be because so many modders were convinced such a feat was impossible.
“Many people were convinced that it wasn’t part of the game, but basically all theories were that were there were equally as unlikely,” Raider says. “It being part of the game was very unlikely because there were no traces of the files in the game. It being a mod was also basically impossible because there were no tools publicly available that could do anything like that. And almost no one has shown anything remotely to that. And I think the third theory was that it was a marketing stunt, but that was also very unlikely because yeah, the way it was executed in the beginning, the first few posts were not really a good setup for a viral market cutting campaign.”
SadFutago continued to post more footage, showing a path behind a mysterious door in the Copied City, a long drop down a ladder, a twisted hallway with retracting pillars, and finally at the end of it, the mysterious church. With each new video, the account showed more and more footage, sparking more questions and analysis from the subreddit, Discord, and general public. Fanart was made, and memes were created that transcended the subreddit and started bleeding onto general gaming Twitter. Multiple articles were written in most major video game publications. And in the midst of it all, an even greater figure latched onto the church saga that none of the trio expected to ever hear from: Nier creator Yoko Taro himself.
Chapter 4: Weight of the World
In response to someone tweeting directly at him asking for his opinion on the church saga, Taro said interested people could find the answer at his Twitter profile. His Twitter profile reads, “”I can’t answer about any products. Please ask publisher.” As we now know, this was Taro being funny and a bit coy, but at the time his response seemed to tease a marketing campaign of some kind from Nier’s publisher, Square Enix. And it didn’t help that Nier producer Yosuke Saito got in on the fun too, quipping that this sounded like something Taro would do.
The SadFutago trio were simultaneously horrified and thrilled.
“Oh my god. I was shitting my pants,” Devolas says.
“So long ago, just when I released the first ever tools in 2019 to allow people to make custom models for the game,” Woeful recalls. “The first image I ever posted on Twitter was we reported or we modeled the Yoko Taro in Nier: Automata. So we made him a playable character in the game and we tweeted him, and some of the other, Platinum and Square and his friends, but we never got any reaction. It was a bit disappointing, but getting the reaction now with the church project makes up for that, I think.”
The community was torn between three explanations for what was going on: hidden easter egg, unthinkable mod, or marketing stunt – and all seemed equally impossible. Now with thousands of eyes on SadFutago, scrutinizing each new post, the trio knew they had to wrap things up quickly. Woeful tells me that it was about at that time the trio realized the hype was reaching its peak.
“What I’ve noticed with hype trains and things in games and things is you never want it to go on too long because the longer it goes on, it just leads to a bigger disappointment if it is a disappointment in the end because we had no idea what the reaction was going to be when we revealed anything.”
And then, Raider adds, there was the growing fear not just that someone in all these thousands of people might discover the secret, but that someone would beat them at their own game.
“Towards the end people actually started developing some small tools or looking at how doing some basic map editing themselves and were proving that small parts of it could be done,” he says. “Or that was about when it was also a bit of a race against the clock for us to release our tools first, before someone else posted their own tools that weren’t as good as ours, but still usable.”
It was also a bit of a race against the clock for us to release our tools first, before someone else.
Meanwhile, the workload was becoming unmanageable. With so much attention on SadFutago, the pressure was on to post not once a month or once a week, but multiple times a day. Toward the end, the trio were essentially building things as they went, with Devola adding to the church as soon as the other two sent over tools updates and uploading his new creations almost immediately. For three regular people with lives outside of modding, it was becoming unsustainable, fast.
“So in the first SadFutago video, he just goes and opens the door and just enters that area, the camera detaches from the player and goes to the center and tracks them from far behind,” Woeful says. “So I was trying to figure that out and there’s the scripting thing is a real big mess and I had problems like when changing the camera, the character couldn’t move anymore and all these crazy things, but the moment I got it decently working, I sent it to Devolas and maybe, I didn’t think we even added anything after that. He just took the next video and posted that. If you look in that screenshot, sorry, the fountain isn’t there because the fountain, we added the video before the fountain was shown, that’s when we added it, and we released these videos every, I can’t even remember now, it was like two or three or four days. So we only had a few days between each feature.”
Devolas adds: “In the end, whenever I’d make a post on Reddit or on Discord, I’d be actively reading the chat to see what they’re saying. And so everyone’s fast responses and stuff and everyone’s theories would kind of influence what would be the next thing that I’d make. So for instance, someone would point out the flaws of something and that I’d try to secretly improve it so that it would seem more real.”
Everyone’s theories would kind of influence what would be the next thing that I’d make.
But before the trio wrapped things up, there was one final moment that cemented the shape of what would ultimately become the church saga’s grand finale.
Post after post, Devolas had been adding to the church: a chest that only 9S could unlock. A figure of Nier Replicant’s Yonah lying on an altar at the front. A bird bath at the back that, when interacted with, gave similar dialogue to that seen in Replicant referencing the Black Scrawl and the Shadowlord. And a strange black shadow creature at the front of the church that the subreddit took to calling “bloby.”
Each new video progressed the church storyline, until eventually the subreddit was watching clips of SadFutago fighting in an apparently difficult boss battle against bloby. The community began to cheer SadFutago on through Reddit posts and, ultimately, on Discord as well. Between videos, Devola popped into the modding Discord, only to find a massive crowd of people in the voice channel all singing the moving credits theme of Nier: Automata, Weight of the World, together in an effort to encourage SadFutago.
“The community is really amazing just with their creativity with memes and their kindness and support to each other,” Woeful says. “Just a random stranger who’s been keeping a secret from this entire time, who they shouldn’t even be trusting, but still, they all come together in song and support this complete stranger with his battle against something that they’ve never even encountered, but so I just think it’s amazing and heart warming and makes me so… I don’t even know what the words are.”
“A lot of people were trying to … they thought that he was fighting in the moment,” Devolas recalls. “So yeah, so I tried to keep them updated. And I wanted to … everyone really liked to be a part of the idea that they were in the moment of something so crazy happening. So I tried to help out with that.
“That’s also why I did the final Twitch stream because a lot of people on the Reddit comments were in the Discord were saying I was a part of history, no matter what it was. So that’s what the final live stream was.”
Chapter 5: The Sound of the End
SadFutago set up his grand finale on July 28, 2022, at first posting a series of screenshots on the subreddit with strange titles: “z” “e” “3” “4” and finally, “zinnia.” The screenshots appeared to tease a shadowy room SadFutago hadn’t shown before, with shapes reminiscent of the final boss of Drakengard 3. He followed it up with a link to a twitch stream tagged “Ending”. The subreddit went nuts.
Incidentally, Woeful and Raider had absolutely no idea what was going on.
“Literally the day before, so the finale was in the morning for me and the previous day before the finale, I was literally in hospital because I had my wisdom tooth removed and I was out from anesthetics that whole day,” Woeful says. “So I came back and I heard, okay, the finale is happening and I literally knew as much as the fans, but RaiderB as well. For the finale, because RaiderB and I are in a similar time zone, but DevolasRevenge or SadFutago is in a different time zone. So while RaiderB and I were sleeping, Devolas went out, he did those. We had no planning or no idea of anything that what he was going to do that night. The morning, we joked and said, Devolas has gone rogue.”
He had indeed, but in the best way.
“The final video that I streamed on there, I kind of made in an hour,” Devolas says. “So as soon as I rendered it, that’s when I did the live stream. So it was very last moment because I had to go on a trip the next day and I had to sleep. So as soon as I rendered it … and I didn’t do any testing either. I just launched OBS and then I tried to figure out how to play videos on OBS. And then I launched live stream and I played it. And I had no idea that people could talk in the Twitch chat, even if you weren’t streaming. So I didn’t get to read the Twitch chat.”
The video played out over Twitch at an hour that was wildly late for much of the Western world, but still attracted an audience of thousands. The first two minutes played out much as previous videos had, following 9S through the strange door, into the church, in a fight against bloby, and through a series of dialogue choices at the bird bath. But then, 9S was transported into an enormous, dim room decorated with the aforementioned Drakengard forms hanging from the ceiling. Upon examining a Lunar Tear in the middle, he was sent back to the Copied City for a battle with a trio of bosses representing the trio behind the whole scheme.
The final minutes were a series of title cards thanking the community, apologizing profusely for the misdirects and the “anticlimactic” ending, and most importantly: the announcement of the tools and their imminent release for the wider community to use at last.
“I think the community had a lot of different emotions when the reveal came because different people had different expectations,” Raider says. “Some were excited, some people were disappointed, but I think many people … yeah. I think they were happy about the outcome either way. And yeah, I think that many people have really enjoyed the fun along the way. And that was also what mattered to most people.”
While the church saga’s story has concluded, the trio isn’t ready to move on just yet. Woeful and Raider have released their scripting tools, and Devolas has published his church mod so that even people who don’t necessarily build their own mods can play around in the world he built. Since that release, Woeful and Raider have been working to make their map and scripting work more accessible and understandable to a wider audience. With their tools, Raider says, modders will now be able to add completely new features to Nier: Automata’s maps, new quests, new areas, and so much more.
We live in a time when online communities, social media, detailed guides, and datamines have all but ensured that true video game secrets don’t exist anymore. Any easter egg, hidden room, funny glitch, or deliberate tease is immediately discovered, analyzed, and devoured by its respective game community within weeks, days, or even hours of a game’s release. Everything has an explainer attached, and any question you have has an answer just a quick Google search away.
But games really are silly little things. Woeful_Wolf, DevolasRevenge, and RaiderB started their work with the intent of playing an innocent prank on a small corner of a single community. But they inadvertently accomplished something far greater: they managed to briefly create a true video game mystery. They united thousands of strangers in a thrilling spree of detective work, culminating in a cheering crowd singing to a single, mysterious player as he explored a new frontier before their eyes. And in the true spirit of Nier: Automata, some of those cheering, singing people have been inspired to start building mods of their own – perhaps one of them will someday build the next big video game mystery.
Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.
With The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom finally out, everyone is finally coming to terms with just how absolutely massive this game really is. We’ve been hard at working preparing a thorough Tears of the Kingdom Walkthrough based on hundreds of hours of gameplay, which includes the important shrines puzzle guides.
The total number of shrines in Tears of the Kingdom is 152 shrines, all hidden across its massive map. We’ve not only catalogued all of them, but we’ve got a handy rundown right here of the most sought-after shrines with their locations and a brief overview of the shrine solutions.
Mayachin Shrine (A Fixed Device) is in Central Hyrule, and is easy to spot just north of the Hyrule Field Skyview Tower in the Exchange Ruins. You can walk right up to it.
Once there, you’ll need to create a mechanism to hit a ball with a baseball bat and into a target, using ground spikes, the rotating switch on the ground, Ultrahand, and careful timing. This can take several tries, and an even more complex setup is needed to get the treasure chest. watch the shrine video walkthrough below.
Mayaumekis Shrine (Downward Force) is in the Hebra region, up in the sky. You’ll find it naturally as you progress through the Tulin of Rito Village questline.
Once inside, hit a switch with an arrow through the bars. Bounce off the ships’ sails to cross the gap until you reach a door blocked with bars. Take out your bow midair to slow time and shoot the switch through the bars, opening the final door. Our guide to Mayaumekis Shrine has even more details on how to solve this puzzle. If you prefer the video version, see below:
Susuyai Shrine (A Spinning Device) is in Central Hyrule, southwest of Lookout Landing and the lookout landing Skyview Tower. You can walk right up to it.
Once inside, dodge the cars, then grab one on your way out with Ultrahand and use it to drive up the rotating floor. Then use the car to run into the device on the other side and keep the door open for you while you head through. In the final room, you can use Ultrahand to build a platform that will allow you to cross the gap using the hanging platform and a wheel attached to the front of the device, touching the track. Activate it to move forward and complete the Shrine. We’ve also got the video walkthrough of the shrine below.
Orochium Shrine (Courage to Fall) is hiding out in the icy Hebra Mountains north of the Snowfield Stable.
Inside is a bit of a maze, but your goal is to get a ball from the center of the maze into the hole at the start. Circle around to the left and use Ascend to get inside, work your way around the maze, then open the double doors with Ultrahand and let yourself get hit by a lazer to fall through the trapdoor. Avoid this final set of lazers and Ascend through the ceiling to collect a key, and Ascend again to get the ball. You’ll then take the ball up the elevators at the back of the maze, attach it to a glider with Ultrahand, and sail down to slot it into the target.
Ishodag Shrine (A Windy Device) is located in Central Hyrule, atop a rocky hill west of Hyrule Castle Town Ruins. Ascend to the Shrine through a stone overhang on the north side of the hill. Inside, you’ll be using carefully-placed fans first to float upward, then to cross a body of water, and finally to propel an elevator that lets you ascend to the final platform.
Ren-iz Shrine (Jump the Gaps) is also based in Central Hyrule, in a sub-zone called Crenel Hills. It’s hidden inside a massive carved out tree.
Once you’re inside, use Ultrahand to adjust the metal plate to drop the ball into the basket – you may need to give it a few attempts. The second puzzle involves both a long metal plate and a short square one – you can prop the long plate up on the switch and use the short one at an angle to make a ramp, and let the ball fly.
Soryotanog Shrine (Buried Light) is located in the Gerudo Desert. You can get there by flying in from the Gerudo Canyon Skyview Tower or from a nearby Sky Island. Or you can do things the hard way and climb the walls of Gerudo Town, fending off enemies as you go.
Once inside, use the fans to dig up the necessary items for completion – first a small key, then a reflector and a hidden passage, then a gear, and finally a beam of light and a reflector.
Morok Shrine (A Bouncy Device) is waiting on a low-flying Sky Island in the Lanaryu Region, which makes it a bit tough to access. You can climb to it via its dangling root system, or use Recall on a fallen chunk of Sky Island to rise high enough to access it.
Once inside, you’ll be getting the hang of using spring contraptions first to move yourself around the shrine, and then to move a ball into a target by launching it off the springs.
If you’re tired of Shrine exploration, there’s plenty more to do, and we have it all catalogued in our full guides to Tears of the Kingdom.
If you are playing Tears of the Kingdom, (we hope you are), you’ll absolutely need this interactive map of Hyrule! The in-game map is helpful, (here’s how to reveal it by finding all of the Skyview Towers), but if you want to set a destination, like those Towers – or Shrines, Great Fairies, or Korok Seeds– and just knock them out, we’ve got the locations for everything in the interactive “TOTK” map. The map of Central Hyrule holds more surprises than you’d think. We’ve found them all.
Tears of the Kingdom Map (Central Hyrule)
On the Tears of the Kingdom Interactive Map page, you can:
Filter by map marker
Check off your progress as you go
Store your checklist data online
Once you are on the helpful Tears of the Kingdom Interactive Map page, you can filter by map marker type easily (eg. Koroks, Fairies, Shrines, Caves), but even better, you can check off your progress as you go to make sure you’ve gotten them all. We actually save that data for you, so when you come back, your precious Seeds stash is tracked and ready to pick up where you left off. In fact, we store your checked-off Shrines, Fairies, and Koroks in the cloud so if you switch to your phone from your laptop, we have you covered.
And by the by, about those Shrines, we have many, many guides to the Shrine puzzles themselves including the step-by-step instructions for reaching them.
Find Important Weapon and Armor Locations
In addition to finding key locations and Korok seeds, the interactive Tears of the Kingdom map can help you find the best weapons and armor in the game. You can also filter by materials or enemies to find their locations on the map.
Tears of the Kingdom Map-based Spoilers
Note that the Tears of the Kingdom Hyrule map has three layers:
The Sky
The Surface
The Depths
The Sky, The Surface, and the Depths maps are stacked in our Tears of the Kingdom Interactive Map, so you can scroll up on the map to see the Sky, down to see the Depths. In the Depths, Light Roots are also mapped (and note that they correspond to the locations of the Shrines above, which is a nice hint for exploring the Depths).
Tears of the Kingdom Walkthrough
For help with everything Tears of the Kingdom, hop into our massive Tears of the Kingdom Walkthrough to set about making your way through Hyrule.
More Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Guides
Samuel Claiborn is IGN’s Managing Editor. He has worked at IGN for over 13 years and has contributed to hundreds of game strategy guides and videos, reviews, and other fun things IGN publishes over the years.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is full of little details and easter eggs that make exploring the world an utter delight. And one specific feature that carried over from Breath of the Wild is the way so many different characters react to Link behaving in unusual ways. More specifically, to Link being naked.
Okay, so Link technically can’t ever be totally naked. He’s got a pretty snazzy looking pair of shorts he wears no matter what. But if he avoids a shirt and pants combo, loads of characters will comment on his appearance with remarks ranging from amused to confused to scandalized. Here are just a handful we found:
Even the robotic Zonai Constructs don’t understand why Link is acting this way.
A lot of people seem to really want Purah’s attention, and I don’t think this is the best way to get it.
Poor Paya. She’s already awkward enough around Link – why do we have to make things even harder for her?
Some characters don’t respond at all to Link’s nakedness. Others will make casual passing remarks as Link walks by, like Robbie’s snarky observation here.
Beedle would help if he could, but, alas.
These traveling Gerudo were hoping to find men on their journey, and have been practicing how to engage in normal interactions with them after years of never meeting one. Link manages to ruin all their training without speaking a single word.
Impa, like Purah, doesn’t think much of Link’s life choices if you approach her dressed this way.
Traysi from the Lucky Clover Gazette isn’t one to judge.
These are just a few of the interactions.
These are far from the only interactions Link has with various Hyrule citizens when he wanders around in a state of undress. And, in fact, characters will react to other strange behavior too. Using Ultrahand, fighting monsters, or swinging weapons around will illicit reactions from almost all NPCs. Certain Sheikah characters get really upset if you show up dressed as a Yiga. And many people don’t like it if you try to talk to them while standing atop tables:
You can also get big reactions from Stable Masters by bringing something that isn’t actually a horse and trying to register it:
There are surely numerous other small interactions scattered across Hyrule that can be found depending on what Link is wearing or doing given the massive level of detail present in this game. We’ll keep sharing them as we dig them up.
For help with everything else Tears of the Kingdom, take a look at our Tears of the Kingdom Walkthrough and Guide about making your way through Hyrule. In fact, you can start here:
Sony is taking PS5 exclusivity for its first-party titles very seriously. PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan says the company is sticking to its guns with its current strategy of not launching PC versions of its games on day one.
In a recent interview with Famitsu, Ryan dismissed the idea of releasing PC versions of PS5-exclusive games, such as God of War: Ragnarok, on the same day they launch on PS5 proper, saying that porting them over to PC two to three years after the fact has been working out well for Sony.
“We also fully understand the importance of PS5 exclusive titles. As I mentioned earlier, PlayStation Studios’ main responsibility is to make games for the latest PlayStation hardware that players will enjoy. We are increasing the number of PS5 exclusive games, and staggering the release of the PC versions,” Ryan said in a quote translated by IGN Japan.
He added, “I often have the opportunity to ask game fans for their opinions, and when I ask them how they feel about the time lag, they often say they feel the release of a PC version two or three years after the release of the PlayStation version is acceptable.”
Sony’s PC port track record is uneven
Sony ported Horizon Zero Dawn over to PC in 2020, three years after it released on the PS4, making it the first PlayStation to make the cross over to the platform. The company was previously against PC releases, preferring to stick to consoles.
In 2021, Ryan said Sony planned to port more of its games to PC, starting with Days Gone, because its “ease of making [them] available to non-console owners has grown.
I often have the opportunity to ask game fans for their opinions… they often say they feel the release of a PC version two or three years after the release of the PlayStation version is acceptable.
Xbox head Phil Spencer has criticized PlayStation for its staggered PC release schedule, pointing out that consumers are forced to pay an exorbitant amount for the PS5 or PS4 in order to play the games designed exclusive for those consoles and then pay up for the PC versions years later. Meanwhile, Xbox is the only platform that releases games on console, PC, and cloud simultaneously, especially on Game Pass.
However, porting first-party titles to PC is not without its challenges. When The Last of Us Part 1 released on PC via Steam back in March, it had performance issues and crashes that were so severe for many players that Naughty Dog apologized to them and promised to patch it up with an update.
Still, PlayStation has found plenty of success with its PC ports, with more likely on the way in the near future as Sony prepares to release Spider-Man 2 and other exclusives later this year.
Cristina Alexander is a freelance writer for IGN. To paraphrase Calvin Harris, she wears her love for Sonic the Hedgehog on her sleeve like a big deal. Follow her on Twitter @SonicPrincess15.
In The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, truly ambitious collectors managed to find 900 Korok seeds hidden all across Hyrule. In Tears of the Kingdom, there are even more: 1000. And unfortunately, the reward for finding them all is just as disgusting as it was in the previous game.
Warning: Light spoilers for Hestu’s quest and Korok collection follow. Read on at your own risk!
While there are a total of 1000 Korok Seeds in Tears of the Kingdom, you actually don’t need to help 1000 Koroks. You only need to find a total of 800 hidden Koroks for 800 of the seeds, and the remaining 200 are gained from helping 100 pairs of Koroks reunite in the quests where you help them reach their friends. These quests give you two Korok Seeds apiece, for a grand total of 1000. So depending on how you look at it, Korok Seed collection is somewhat easier or harder than it was in Breath of the Wild.
Unfortunately, the reward for getting all 1000 isn’t amazing. In Breath of the Wild, players received an item called “Hestu’s Gift” that, frankly, looks like a large pile of golden poo that (per the description) “smells pretty bad.”
In Tears of the Kingdom, you get…the exact same thing. Yup. For collecting 1000 small piles of Korok poo, you get one big poo to comemorate the occasion. Thanks, Hestu.
Completing the quest does mean you’ve upgraded your inventory fully though, and you can also speak to Hestu to watch him dance at any time. So, small victories.
For help with everything else Tears of the Kingdom, take a look at our Tears of the Kingdom Walkthrough and Guide about making your way through Hyrule. In fact, you can start here:
In what he described as an “emotional week”, director Aaron Keller opened up about the decision to cancel Overwatch 2’s planned PvE Hero mode, saying that the team “struggled to find its footing” amid what he called high expectations for the mode.
“Things rarely go as planned in game development. We struggled to find our footing with the Hero Mission experience early on. Scope grew,” Keller wrote in a new blog post. “We were trying to do too many things at once and we lost focus. The team built some really great things, including hero talents, new enemy units and early versions of missions, but we were never able to bring together all of the elements needed to ship a polished, cohesive experience.”
According to Keller, the PvE Hero mode was an “exciting but gargantuan vision” that kept pulling resources away from the live game. Finally, Keller says, the development team realized it had to walk away.
“This has been hard for us, but as the director on this project, I have to do my best to make decisions that put the game and the community first, even when those decisions are disappointing. In this case, I had trouble pivoting away from a vision that just wasn’t working. And for that I would like to apologize to our players and to our team. I’m sorry,” Keller wrote.
The shocking decision to cancel Hero Mode
The decision to cancel Overwatch 2’s Hero mode shocked its community when it was announced earlier this week, leaving some to wonder why Blizzard had opted to make a sequel in the first place. Overwatch 2 has gone through many iterations since its original announcement, finally settling on a refined version of the first game featuring expanded co-op and narrative missions.
Reflecting on Overwatch 2’s journey to this point, Keller called Hero mode an attempt to make good on Blizzard’s original vision for Project Titan — the “MMO FPS” that eventually became 2016’s Overwatch. Blizzard’s plan was to introduce a PvE mode featuring new hero abilities, co-op attacks, and a level progression system, with the intention being to release it as seasonal content in 2023.
“It was built into the DNA of the team early on, and some of us considered that final game a true realization of the original vision of Project Titan,” Keller wrote.
I had trouble pivoting away from a vision that just wasn’t working
Instead, Overwatch 2 will be focusing on more straightforward story missions, which will feature “fast-paced, co-op gameplay, as well as story, cinematics, and cutscenes.” Keller claims that the mode will “take place on huge maps with new enemies and new cinematics,” with a planned release set for Season 6.
“The work done here is amazing, leaps and bounds above what we’ve built for PvE previously in our game, and I can’t wait for our players to get their hands on them. We’ll be sharing more details there in the coming weeks,” Keller wrote.
In addition to the planned story missions, Blizzard shared an extensive roadmap running through Season 7 and beyond, including multiple new heroes, events, and more.
For now, Overwatch 2’s development team — and its community — is trying to move on, Keller wrote. “Overwatch was born from the ashes of Project Titan. It was a moment of metamorphosis for the team and the project… and something beautiful came out of it. This is another moment of change. And the future of Overwatch will be born out of it.”
For more, check out our review of Overwatch 2, which we praised for breahing “new life into what was once the sharpest multiplayer shooter around.”
Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.
The next installment in the delightfully ultra-violent fighting game series is called Mortal Kombat 1. It’s slated for release on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC on September 19, 2023. It features “reimagined versions” of the characters from previous installments, a new fighting system, new game modes, and more. It’s available to preorder now in three different versions, including a Kollector’s Edition, which is Kombat-speak for collector’s edition. Read on for the details about what comes in each edition, along with pricing, preorder bonus info, and more.
The Kollector’s Edition costs $249.99 and comes with the game, as well as the following extras:
Early access starting Sept. 14
Early access to DLC characters
Kombat Pack (6 new playable Characters, 5 new Kameo characters, and Jean-Claude Van Damme skin for Johnny Cage)
Liu Kang sculpture
Exclusive steel case
Limited edition COARSE art prints
Exclusive limited-edition Liu Kang in-game color variant
2700 Dragon Krystals (in-game currency)
Mortal Kombat 1 (Standard Edition)
Not yet available
The standard edition of the game retails for $69.99 and comes with the game itself, as well as the preorder bonus (see below for details). It is somewhat notable that the PC and Switch versions also cost $69.99, as other big game releases on those platforms have often kept the $59.99 price point.
Mortal Kombat 1 Premium Edition
Not yet available
The premium edition costs $109.99 and includes the game itself, the preorder bonus (see below), plus the following items:
Early access starting Sept. 14
Early access to DLC characters
Kombat Pack (6 new playable Characters, 5 new Kameo characters, and Jean-Claude Van Damme skin for Johnny Cage)
1250 Dragon Krystals (in-game currency)
Mortal Kombat 1 Preorder Bonuses
Preorder any version of the game, and you’ll get access to the playable character Shang Tsung.
Preorder the game on PS5 or Xbox Series X|S, and you’ll get access to the beta, which will happen sometime in August 2023.
What Is Mortal Kombat 1?
Mortal Kombat 1 will feature “reimagined” versions of many fighters from previous entries in the series, including Liu Kang, Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Raiden, Kung Lao, Kitana, Mileena, Shang Tsung, Johnny Cage, and many others.
The game will also feature Kameo Fighters, which are partner characters to assist you during matches. They’re chosen separately from the main roster of fighters.
The PS5 and Xbox Series X|S versions of the game are being developed by NetherRealm Studios. QLOC is handling the Steam and Epic Games Store versions, and Shiver Entertainment and Saber Interactive are responsible for the Nintendo Switch version.
Other Preorder Guides
Chris Reed is a commerce editor and deals expert for IGN. He also runs IGN’s board game and LEGO coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @_chrislreed or on Mastodon @chrislreed.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom lets you scan your entire collection of Amiibo once per day for a selection of rewards. Ranging from food and raw materials to weapons, paraglider fabrics, and even armor sets, there are lots of handy items up for grabs. However, there’s a pool of valuable drops specifically available from Zelda-themed Amiibo.
As it stands, there are currently 26 Zelda Amiibo. These include recent Zelda releases like Breath of the Wild and the Skyward Sword remaster as well as the Zelda 30th Anniversary, and Super Smash Bros. series. Unlike Amiibo from other collections (which only drop a handful of loose supplies) Zelda Amiibo dish out their daily dose of goodies alongside a chest containing a rarer item. Unfortunately, there’s no guarantee you’ll pull the best prize immediately, but if you keep scanning each day, you’ll eventually collect everything on offer.
We’ve got a full breakdown of every possible Amiibo unlockable, but if you’re curious what the best Zelda Amiibo drops are, we’ve scanned all of them:
Tears of the Kingdom Link Amiibo
The latest figurine to join Nintendo’s roster of Zelda Amiibo rewards players with the Champion’s Leathers Paraglider Skin. This blue fabric pairs perfectly with the Champion’s Leathers armor found in the game.
Skyward Sword Zelda and Loftwing Amiibo
If you have the Zelda and Loftwing Amiibo handy, you can scan it to retrieve the Goddess Paraglider Fabric, which adds a touch of pink and blue to your sky-bound adventures.
Breath of the Wild Amiibo
Breath of the Wild Champions Amiibo
Each of Breath of the Wild’s four champions offer a paraglider fabric as well as a Divine Helm that references the Divine Beasts from the game;
Mipha drops the Zora Champion Paraglider Fabric and Vah Ruta Divine Helm.
Daruk rewards the Goron Champion Paraglider Fabric and Vah Rudania Divine Helm.
Revali provides the Rito Champion Paraglider Fabric and Vah Medoh Divine Helm.
Urbosa gives you the Gerudo Champion Paraglider Fabric and Vah Naboris Divine Helm.
Breath of the Wild Link Rider Amiibo
Scanning Breath of the Wild’s Link Rider Amiibo can score you the Hylian-Hood Fabric. You can use this scrap of cloth to customize your paraglider.
Breath of the Wild Link Archer Amiibo
Breath of the Wild’s Archer Link Amiibo has a couple of standout drops, including the Tunic of Memories Paraglider Fabric and the Ancient Blade weapon.
Breath of the Wild Zelda Amiibo
Breath of the Wild’s Zelda brings a touch of class with the Hyrule Princess Paraglider Fabric, which is the best unlockable we’ve discovered in her Amiibo chests.
Breath of the Wild Guardian Amiibo
Breath of the Wild’s Guardian has one of the coolest enemy designs and if you’re a fan of this long-legged monstrosity’s overall look, you’ll be pleased to know that you can equip the Ancient Sheikah Paraglider Fabric that it drops. You can also pull an Ancient Blade from its chests.
Breath of the Wild Bokoblin Amiibo
Bokoblins can be found lurking all over Hyrule. So what better way to land on one of their camps than with a paraglider fabric that looks just like them? Scan this little brute if you’d like the Bokoblin Paraglider Fabric.
The Legend of Zelda 30th Anniversary Amiibo
Twilight Princess Link / Super Smash Bros. Link Amiibo/ Twilight Princess Wolf Link
The Twilight Princess Link and Super Smash Bros. Link Amiibo each drop a similar pool of items, so if you only have one of the two, don’t sweat it. Diligent scanning will eventually see you add the entire Twilight Armor set to your inventory, including the cap, tunic, and trousers. You can also land yourself Link’s trusty steed, Epona, who has some of the best stats for a horse in the game. Both figurines, alongside the Twilight Princess Wolf Link Amiibo, also drop the Mirror of Twilight Paraglider Fabric.
Ocarina of Time Link / Super Smash Bros. Young Link Amiibo
Both the Ocarina of Time Link and Young Link Amiibo pack the three parts that complete the Time Armor set, but each item does drops separately. Their chests may also contain the adorable Lon Lon Ranch Paraglider Fabric or the Biggoron Sword.
Majora’s Mask Link Amiibo
If you’re on the hunt for the Majora’s Mask Paraglider Fabric or the Fierce Deity Armor, continue scanning your Majora’s Mask Link Amiibo to collect the full set. It’s also possible to get this armor by trekking around Hyrule and finding them organically.
Skyward Sword Link Amiibo
Skyward Sword’s Link Amiibo unlockables include the aptly named Sky Armor set, which also includes the White Sword of the Sky. Its Sword-Spirit Paraglider Fabric is also yet another stylish cloth that can be fittingly equipped for long descents from the Sky Islands.
Link’s Awakening Link Amiibo
It’s possible to poach the Egg Paraglider Fabric from the Link’s Awakening Amiibo, which features an egg-cellent design, fit for soaring the skies. These chests also hold the Awakening Armor, which contains what may be the cutest mask in the game.
The Legend of Zelda 8-Bit Link Amiibo
This Amiibo drops the Pixel Paraglider Fabric to match its NES-era aesthetic. Multiple scans will also let you claim the Tears of the Kingdom Hero Armor.
Wind Waker Link / Super Smash Bros. Toon Link Amiibo
Wind Waker Link and Smash Bros.’ Toon Link both eventually reward the King of Red Lions Paraglider Fabric as well as each part of the Wind Armor set. In keeping with the game’s nautical theme, their chests may also feature the Sea Breeze Boomerang and Shield.
Wind Waker Zelda Amiibo
If you’re looking for every paraglider fabric, the Wind Waker Zelda Amiibo is an easy way to add the Bygone Royal Paraglider Fabric to your collection. Similar to Wind Waker Link, scanning Zelda also increases your chances of bagging yourself a Sea Breeze Shield.
Super Smash Bros. Amiibo
Super Smash Bros. Zelda Amiibo
While many of the Zelda Amiibo drop weapons, some offer more powerful treasures and in this case, that’s the Dusk Bow. It has a base attack power of 30, turning any sharp-shooting player into a deadly archer. Zelda’s chests also conceal the Princess of Twilight Paraglider Fabric.
Super Smash Bros. Sheik Amiibo
The Sheik Amiibo rewards both the Sheik Paraglider Fabric and Sheik’s Mask. As with the other Amiibo, it will take multiple scans to score both.
Smash Brothers Ganondorf Amiibo
The Legend of Zelda’s big bad, Ganondorf, drops the Demon King Paraglider Fabric and sometimes rewards players with the Dusk Claymore.
After scanning your Amiibo each day there’s lots more to do, and we have it all catalogued in our Tears of the Kingdom guides:
