As I referenced elsewhere, Nintendo teased Tears of the Kingdom way back in 2019, via means of a brief trailer that suggested a darker theme than Breath of the Wild. As time went by, fans were hungry for news, but Nintendo kept the project under wraps. The covid-19 pandemic delayed the game, and Nintendo themselves delayed it a few times, in order to ensure it was as polished as it could be. As an avid Zelda fan, this was both frustrating and encouraging. Nintendo had knocked it out of the park with Breath of the Wild, and that game had also been delayed, more than once.
Comparisons with Breath of the Wild were inevitable. The scale of the Switch’s launch title was unlike previous Zelda games. It dwarfed its immediate predecessor (Skyward Sword), and took the franchise back to its original open-world roots. Tears of the Kingdom has a big legacy to live up to.