After its exciting prologue, the introductory section of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom plays out a lot like the one in Breath of the Wild. Just like last time, players are thrown into a small section of a huge open world, where they'll get a chance to learn about the game's basic mechanics by completing a series of tutorial shrines.
Before they can start visiting shrines though, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom players will first need to make a trip to the iconic Temple of Time, which will trigger a main story quest called The Closed Door. They'll need to complete this mission before they can leave the Great Sky Island and start exploring the expansive Kingdom of Hyrule that awaits down beneath them.
Temple of Time Location
The Temple of Time is located to the north of the Great Sky Island region. From their starting position in the Room of Awakening, players will simply need to head due north, dealing with any Soldier Constructs that they happen to come across as they do so. Due to the vast size of the temple, it's very easy to see, even from a distance, so players shouldn't have too much trouble reaching it. Once they do so, they'll need to climb up the broken steps at the front of the temple and then interact with the glowing green glyph on the large stone doors.
How to Complete The Closed Door
After players have tried and failed to gain entrance to the Temple of Time, King Rauru will show up and reveal that Link's hand needs to be powered up before it can open the door. To achieve this, players will need to complete three of the shrines found on the Great Sky Island. They'll have to tackle the Ukouh Shrine first in order to unlock the Ultrahand ability, but after that, players are free to visit the other two shrines in whichever order they like. That said, most will probably prefer to take on the Gutanbac Shrine last.
- Ukouh Shrine Walkthrough (coordinates 0273, -0914, 1460)
- In-isa Shrine Walkthrough (coordinates 0025, -1503, 1408)
- Gutanbac Shrine Walkthrough (coordinates 0708, -1385, 1584)
The Fourth Shrine
Once they've completed the first three shrines, players should return to the Temple of Time and interact with the door once again. This time, Link will be able to open it, allowing him to head inside and examine the large stone object to be reunited with a spectral form of Princess Zelda. She teaches him the Rewind ability and then vanishes, after which, players should use Rewind on the cogs at the back of the room to climb up to the area above them. Attempting to open the door here will cause King Rauru to turn up again and tell Link that there's actually a fourth shrine on the Great Sky Island.
Rauru also teaches players about the fast-travel mechanic, which they should use to return to the Room of Awakening from earlier on in the game. Once there, they'll want to use the Ascend ability that they learned in the Gutanbac Shrine to get on top of the stone structure near the turning cogs and then use Rewind to reverse the direction of the nearest cog so that they can climb across to the other side and the entrance to the Nachoya Shrine.
- Nachoyah Shrine Walkthrough (coordinates 0390, -1662, 2298)
The Closed Door
After they've finished with the Nachoya Shrine, players should head outside and use the Ultrahand ability to lift one of the stone gliders onto the metal rails on the ground. They'll then be able to hop onto the glider and ride it through the air; jumping off as they are approaching the Temple of Time. There, they should climb up the cogs again and pray to the Goddess Statue to replenish one of Link's hearts, which will grant him the strength needed to open up the nearby door.
On the other side of this door, there'll be another cutscene with Rauru in which he says his farewells. Players can then follow the broken path ahead of them, using the Ascend ability to continue onward (and upward) whenever needed. Eventually, they'll come to a mysterious glowing light on a stone pedestal, and interacting with it will cause the broken Master Sword to pass over to Princess Zelda. When players regain control of Link, they'll have completed The Closed Door, and the game's next main story quest, To the Kingdom of Hyrule, will officially begin.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is available for the Nintendo Switch.