With the addition of the Ultra Hand and Fuse abilities in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, it might feel like you’re already playing the game with mods enabled. This power lets you pick up, connect, build, and combine nearly every item in Hyrule. We’ve already seen people push the boundaries with what they can create using the default tools, but there will always be some things just out of reach for players. Well, that is until mods are entered into the equation. Because Tears of the Kingdom is a Switch game, mods take a bit more work to not only make but play as well. Unlike PC games, you can’t just download a file, plop it in your game, and go. If you’re willing to put in a little work, there are some amazing mods out there to add another couple dozen hours to your playtime. Here are the best mods in Tears of the Kingdom.
How to mod Tears of the Kingdom
If you are just looking to play mods, not create them, then the process isn’t terribly complex. There is a nice tutorial laid out you can follow here, which also includes a link to the Tears of the Kingdom modding Discord where you can go if you need to ask more specific questions.
Rinkuru v0.5.3/Rinkuru Pronouns and Dialogue
For those a bit out of the loop, Rinkuru is the Japanese name for the female Link we know as Linkle from the Hyrule Warriors games. It has since been adapted to simply be the female version of Link. If you were disappointed that you couldn’t play as a female in Tears of the Kingdom, these two mods effectively add in a female option. Rinkuru v0.5.3 is a complete model swap from Link to Rinkruru, including new outfits and even some weapons. The companion mod, Rinkuru Pronouns and Dialogue, changes all instances of game dialogue from referring to your character as Link, he, sir, and all other male pronouns are swapped to Rinkuru, she, lady, and so on to fully immerse you as the heroine of Hyrule.
Yet Another Better Sages Mod – With Voices
There are plenty of Sages mods out there for Tears of the Kingdom, as the name points out, but this one packs in the most bang for your buck. First, it changes all the Sages from their more ethereal colors to their original designs to look more like actual characters. The addition with Yet Another Better Sages Mod – With Voices is the voices, which takes their original voice lines and adds them in when doing things like activating skills. This is just a cosmetic change, so don’t expect the Sages to do anything new or crazy, but makes it really feel like you’ve got a full party traveling with you.
Navi [BETA]
There are plenty of callbacks to previous Zelda titles in Tears of the Kingdom, and yet nothing for our most beloved fairy Navi. This Navi [BETA] mod is still very early but is working to fully integrate your slightly annoying companion from Ocarina of Time into the current game. As of the current version, Navi is just a static model with no animation, but future updates plan on adding wing flaps as well as the ability for her to circle around Link just like her N64 counterpart. The only requirement for this mod is that Navi only shows up if you have a bow equipped. It doesn’t matter which bow, but is a small hurdle.
Thumbs Up, Hero!
Nintendo gave us the ability to take selfies in Tears of the Kingdom, but a criminally limited number of poses we could put Link in. The Thumbs Up, Hero! mod is about as basic as it gets: you replace the pointing-up pose with Link giving a cool thumbs-up pose with a big smile. What else is there to say? You earned it, hero!
Tulin’s Sniper Rifle (Bow Replacement)
What’s the one thing Tears of the Kingdom is missing? Guns. Okay, so maybe that wasn’t on the top of your mind, and even the creator of Tulin’s Sniper Rifle (Bow Replacement) mod states that they just “thought it was pretty funny.” Despite the name, you can actually turn both Tulin’s Great Eagle Bow and the regular Great Eagle Bow into a gun, though the animations look a bit off. Unlike other, low-effort mods that just throw in a modern gun model into games, this rifle looks remarkably well-designed and appropriate for this version of Hyrule. This won’t change the function or power of the weapon but is still awesome seeing Tulin or Link whip out this magical-looking sniper to fire off shots.
Dark Army Resurrection
Tears of the Kingdom can be hard at the start, and the depths add more challenge into the mid-game, but eventually, you will start to overpower anything the game can throw at you. Since there are no difficulty options for those seeking a tougher experience by default, the Dark Army Resurrection mod can give you that tension back. This mod will introduce a host of stats and changes to increase the difficulty, such as taking twice as much damage while dealing only 25%, new Stal enemy types, requiring keys to open chests, losing keys and Zonite on death, and more. If you think you’re really the hero of Hyrule, give this mod a shot and see how you really stack up.
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