Tears of the Kingdom

Jul 07, 2023

Using the Rewind powers is often underlooked due to the ability to craft devices! When playing Tears of the Kingdom, there are several ways of going about traversing the map and through dungeons. Potent methods of moving above and below the landscape can be as simple as rewinding motion and time! Using this ability, Link can not only save on his battery charges but using the enemy's throwing weapons and traps against them. Use caution when using the rewind ability, taking time to build reflexes in combat with it. Positioning can be another key aspect of getting this ability more effective!

Rewind allows Link to travel via falling rocks up cliffs, surfaces, and even into the sky. As useful as using arrows, rewind has an essential spot in evading explosive barrels thrown by larger opponents. Devices that are ascending upwards can be rewound if falling while new devices are fixed to the surface. Rewind can grant the player a buffer when trying to get to new heights in exploration, important for the journey! As an important tool in Link's toolbox; Rewind will be there to make life in Hyrule easier.

Rewind at its roots is an ability used to reverse the motion of an object capable of being targeted by Link. Holding a set amount of time before it will retain its initial motion. Rewind grants the player the ability to reverse traps and obstacles, making dungeons and general traversal easier. No matter how you go about making it from point A to point B, rewind can get Link far! Luckily, rewind can be used on crafted vehicles and buildings allowing Link to regain ground that was lost from a device running out.

Using rewind on puzzles makes shrines and obstacles easier to traverse

If an object is hurtling towards the player, or you are traveling towards obstacles; rewind allows for an emergency break. Reversing obstacles and devices can allow Link to get an edge in combat; changing the course of trajectory links moving in. One of the most useful applications of Rewind is to send thrown explosives back at crowds of enemies. These explosives are both deadly to early-on players and larger opponents. Rewind's very capable of keeping Link alive no matter the circumstances, turning any trap into an advantage. This power all comes with the basic ability to send heavy objects back to their sender!

In spite of Rewind's usefulness, there are plenty of things that cannot be rewound. The first thing to note is that elemental attacks such as ice wind, fire, and lightning cannot be reversed. Similarly, arrows can't be reversed in their course. This means elemental attacks or items placed onto these arrows can break the rewind ability. These fast-moving objects include boomerangs and throwing spears, being immune to the rewind effect. Since these fast-moving objects are unable to be stopped, it also goes to say reflexes are another important limitation.

Not all players will be the same in their ability to stop objects at first. With practice and timing, there's only one other issue that can be kept in mind. The rewind ability has a limited amount of time before the ability wears off. During this time, the object moves fairly slowly, though it retains its kinetic force. Because of these limitations, rewind makes a great combat ability for someone looking to repel large attacks back. Rewind works best as a method of evasion or defense rather than offense. Inoffensive capacities, rewind is best used as a surprise attack, turning traps against the environment they were built for.

Rewinding traps

Getting into the sky or out of the Gloom is a breeze with Rewind. Tears of the Kingdom doesn't have a lot of heavy objects you can't manipulate. Rewind's ability to reverse trajectory makes all of these methods better. Gliders and hover cycles that run out of juice can be refilled with charges and rewound to reverse the fall. If your horses freak out while traveling with carts and horses, you can use rewind to save them. Rewind can be used to retrieve these objects when the ultra hand fails!

When objects fall from the sky, Rewind can provide great vantage points for riding on the item. Rewinding these objects allows for smooth travel into the sky islands. With these islands being both a great source of loot and paragliding spots, it proves invaluable for traversing Hyrule. No matter how this is used, Rewind allows the player to make their way over mountains. Rewinded rocks also allow for shift surveyance to find towns, stables, and shrines! While there's a limited amount of traversing through rewind, it still acts as a vital break system for any device!

In the depths of the Gloom, Rewind holds a vital means of keeping hearts in dangerous territory. Using rewind on falling rock faces and barrels thrown by enemies that Link can climb on, the player can avoid much of the miasma. Along with this, rewind is essential to use when gliders and hover bikes start falling as any time spent in the gloom is dangerous. Use rewind at absolutely every opportunity since it would protect Link from its deadly touch. Not only these obstacles can be avoided but also entire groups of enemies as rewind send their barrels and traps back at them!

Using rocks to ascend to sky island via rewinding

While on the open seas, coming across monsters and whirlpools can become deadly. For this reason, rewind allows Link to escape these deadly obstacles at a time when stamina is a valuable resource. While making his way through extreme distances overseas, Link requires some form of structure to keep himself alive. Since boats can become very fast and very flimsy due to the limits of construction; there's an importance to use rewind to avoid damage or conflict altogether. Remember that control sticks can only go so far, so using rewind to reverse or stop is essential!

Rewinding devices around Hyrule and shrines can make obstacles especially easy to pass. From the beginning of the game, rewind will serve the purpose of making traversing temples easier. These temples will often have devices that will assist Link in their conventional purpose, but by reversing them they’ll hold an all-new purpose! Elevators, wheels, mining carts, and railway cars can all be rewound, making structures and crafted items double purpose in the hands of Link! It's not often that a game offers the player the ability to move constructs in every direction making the game more explorative than perhaps any Legend of Zelda game before it.

Combating against bosses and incredibly large creatures can be incredibly difficult early on. Link is granted the ability to use Rewind when he reaches the main map, being one of the last tutorial abilities received. Through these interactions, often a large enemy will throw objects like crates, barrels, and tree logs. Here, when the enemy throws large objects, Link can send them back via the rewind ability. Setting these objects back up on the thing that threw it gives Link protection from ranged attacks. Rewind has lots of hefty combat potential when fighting anything that attempts to close the distance with explosive barrels.

Even against smaller combatants the simple rocks and fruit thrown at Link can be returned to the bokoblins. There's a fair amount of versatility when dealing with enemies in Tears of the Kingdom, and using Rewind can increase the player's portfolio! Remember, practice makes perfect; so continue forward with the power to deflect projectiles, and make new heights in your travels! When combined with abilities like ultra hand Link holds all new potentials. Crafted items in a rewind can provide devastating damage to enemies with the benefits of pushback. If used effectively you can end opponents in the water, lava, or the gloom, killing them quickly!

Despite the immediate uses of Rewind, there are several smaller, more fun ways of taking advantage of the ability. These abilities serve little in the way of immediately assisting Link but make for interesting tricks. From traveling on barrels to reversing rockets with an attached explosive, there's plenty of slapstick fun for everyone. No matter how serious a player is looking to be, Tears of the Kingdom allows for Link to make some of the most comical entries. When using a mix of creativity, and the rewind ability, there's no end to the number of things that can be accomplished.

Barrel Riding accomplishes the point of bringing Link from a distance to an opponent. When Barrel Riding can be done in two ways with two variations of objects. For the first part; using simple objects like rocks, barrels, and crates to move in close to use powerful weapons. In the second case, there will be explosive or more volatile surfaces that require more skill and timing to avoid dying on. Link will have to stop a log, crate, or barrel close to himself, immediately latching on. Climbing onto the top, in both cases Link will start to shield guarding with the ready action to jump and shield surf. Close to impact, Link must shield surf onto the object which power slams both objects into the opponent.

Rewind Rides

In cases with explosive barrels or volatile objects grants the ability for Link to fly into the air and paraglide close, or power attack from above. Alternatively, this trick allows Link to use stamina in bow shots from this high position. Barrel Riding takes time to master, being a hard trick that you should always save before practicing. Hinoxes and bosses in enemy camps make great practice targets as they throw crates and logs often. This works especially well on slow opponents, and grants Link a level of cover while traveling.

One of the most hilarious methods of messing with opponents who like to throw things is by returning them with an elemental effect or explosive. Simple rocks rewound and quickly attached with a fire fruit, shock fruit, or bomb provide elemental damage. In these cases, devices and explosive barrels can make a simple rock or log into a crowd-clearing device. Adding heavier objects also provides more damage in the simplest cases, useful for early-game opponents. Once again, from this point, any number of small projectiles become the potential to destroy the enemy with extreme force. Missiles and beam emitters can cut through enemies in such a manner that suddenly a simple rock becomes a sentry turret of death.

With the ability to craft large amounts of structures, sky Elevators become one of the many easily exploited constructions with Rewind. By putting rockets or fans on top of locations where enemies are unpassable, rewind allows Link to stay in the air for a near-infinite amount of time. Going higher and higher depending on the number of devices in Link's inventory, the user can easily evade danger. Eventually resorting to paragliding away to a faraway location when they reach their desired height. With auto build this can take a second, but a crafty builder with enough objects has no upper limits!

Rewinding projectiles thrown at Link

When trying to deal a massive amount of damage to an opponent in a single volley, Rewind makes bombardments super easy. Throwing barrels into the air and rewinding them while being chased creates a cluster bomb in waiting, creating explosive devastation as they slowly come downward. In these moments, pursuers are in the immediate blast radius of the opponent while Link attempts to escape. In a sense, this creates a temporary booby trap that not only deals with large hordes but works perfectly for uphill attacks. Ultra handing a bunch of barrels outward and then rewinding them as they fall. One warning to give with this ability is to do so when the object is falling, lest you catch the barrels into yourself instead!

Looking for more from Tears of the Kingdom?

Tears of the Kingdom allows players to truly master the environment around them. With so many powers purely based on the physics of the engine, it's clear they hope to test the upper limits of the hardware! Rewinding time is just another one of these features showcasing that this game can track the motion of the ragdoll physics and reverse them. It's an important step in gaming that not only can you manipulate the world around you, but reverse and take advantage of it in every linear sense! For that reason, Reind has limitless possibilities along with the rest of its unique cast of abilities. Just remember, with infinite possibilities comes infinite solutions to the problems of Hyrule!

Avid author and video gamer, specializing in topics ranging from strategy and 4x games to crafting and first person shooters!

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