The new Fuse mechanic shown off in the latest gameplay demonstration for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom opens the door for tons of creative freedom when it comes to tackling challenges across Hyrule. From crafting weapon, to building new modes of transportation, it's obvious The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is upping the ante from its predecessor in terms of mechanics players will get to sink their teeth into. However, with this emphasis on crafting, the game shouldn't miss the chance to bring back a mechanic from one of the series' Game Boy Advance entries.
Kinstones in The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap were a fun collectible that allowed players to combine their half of a stone with that of an NPC in order to unlock certain secrets and treasures. This was a great way to get players to interact with other characters while also serving the game's lore of trying to reconnect the Minish with the people of Hyrule. While it's unlikely that Tears of the Kingdom will feature the Minish as a race of characters found in the game, it could build upon the concept of Kinstones to further develop its Fuse mechanic.
How Kinstones Could Influence Tears of the Kingdom
Now that The Legend of Zelda series is going all-in on crafting with Tears of the Kingdom's Fuse ability, it would be a great to see the game draw upon past iterations of crafting mechanics featured in the series. In addition to something like the ability to craft Bomb Arrows from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, having a mechanic that involves crafting an item with an NPC similar to The Minish Cap's Kinstones would be a welcome evolution of the Fuse ability that has already been shown.
While Kinstones could make a return in Tears of the Kingdom, it seems unlikely given their significance to the lore of the Minish. However, that doesn't mean a similar collectible couldn't exist and allow for a crafting mechanic that requires an NPC to complete. The way fusing two Kinstones in The Minish Cap unlocks a hidden treasure somewhere in the world would be perfect for Tears of Kingdom's expansive open world, so it makes a lot of sense to include this type of feature in the upcoming title.
Even if it doesn't involve the fusing of two items like Kinstones, Tears of the Kingdom could still include a mechanic that allows the player to trade items with NPCs for iterative rewards. This type of system could reward players for interacting with NPCs and give access to potentially useful materials for Fusing or other unlockable rewards. It could even incorporate an elaborate trading sequence like in Link's Awakening where players must trade specific items with specific characters around the map in the correct order to unlock the final reward. A quest like this could be the culmination of what's possible when Fusing items to find the very specific thing an NPC wants.
Kinstones helped solidify The Minish Cap's theme of bringing people together, and with the vast open world of Tears of the Kingdom, a similar mechanic could help support that theme once again. Nintendo has the perfect opportunity to make this game a love letter to past Zelda titles by incorporating aspects of those games within its host of new systems and abilities. Given how much crafting will seemingly play a role in Tears of the Kingdom, it only makes sense to allow NPCs to share in the same crafting as the player.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom releases on May 12, 2023 for Nintendo Switch.
