The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom/Unused Dungeons
This is a sub-page of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
Unused versions of all 6 main dungeons can be found in the files of Tears of the Kingdom, which exist on their own maps.
Contents
Unused Dungeons
 | To do: Add file paths/IDs |
Early versions of the 4 main temples and Hyrule Castle can be found in the files, along with an expanded version of the Spirit Temple meant to act like a separate dungeon. These have various changes from the final areas and take place on separate maps rather than the main overworld.
File Paths
- LargeDungeonWind - Wind Temple
- LargeDungeonFire - Fire Temple
- LargeDungeonWater - Water Temple
- LargeDungeonThunder - Lightning Temple
- LargeDungeonHyruleCastle - Hyrule Castle
- LargeDungeonSoul - Spirit Temple
You can search through these by selecting Temples (Large Dungeon) then the relevant dungeon name in the Object Map.
General Differences
Many of these maps don't have the contents set for treasure chests, and hence will give the player an Opal when they open one of them. This might be different on separate maps, since the Lightning Temple sometimes uses other gemstones as placeholders for items instead.
Enemies in these areas also usually have weaker weapons than in the final versions. For instance, the Constructs in the early Fire Temple use wooden weapons and shields instead of Zonaite ones, while the ones in the Water Temple use rusty weapons.
It is also impossible to Ascend through most surfaces in these unused areas.
Finally, the lighting is very simplistic and doesn't seem to be affected much by things like lava or torches. Because of this, the lower levels of the Fire Temple are extremely dark, and normally dark areas like the Lightning Temple are fully lit up.
Wind Temple
In this version of the Wind Temple, most elements from the final dungeon are in place. However, the cyclone surrounding the ship isn't present, nor are the other smaller ships you can usually see orbiting it.
The area also has a higher temperature than the final one, with only one level of cold resistance being needed to survive rather than the two levels needed for the final game.
Water Temple
If visited after clearing the version in the normal game, the sludge is invisible on this map. It still slows Link down when he walks on it in this state, but cannot be seen or washed off with items like Splash Fruit.
Fire Temple
The scorching climate usually found here doesn't exist in this version of the map. As a result, things like bombs can be used as expected, and wooden weapons won't burn up when equipped.
There's also a different setup for the roof, with glitchy textures on top of the dungeon. These are fixed in the final version, though it's only possible to see said roof by going out of bounds due to the Depths ceiling.
Lightning Temple
If the player visits before activating the final version of the dungeon in the main story, the Gibdo hives and pink orb on the front of the building are missing. This indicates they're not present in the map by default, and are only added once the temple rises up from the sands.
There are also no ore deposits in this version either. The bases where these deposits should be is included, but the actual deposits themselves are absent.
A couple of architectural hazards seem to be absent too, such as the collapsing floor in one of the early rooms.
Hyrule Castle
Unlike the previous four, this one can be used to progress the story. Fake Zelda appears as expected in this map, and the triggers for things like the Phantom Ganon battle are loaded as expected. However, trying to fight the latter softlocks the game due to the map using different coordinates from the final dungeon, so it's only possible to complete the area fully if a glitch is used to escape the battle in the regular version.
Many weapons in the final game are missing, with most being rusty versions (possibly placeholders), and nearly all treasure chests contain opals (the fallback item if a chest has nothing set).
Strangely, the Shrine of Light is still present, but instead of being Serutabomac Shrine as in the final version, it is Isisim Shrine, which is normally found in Death Mountain. Entering the shrine, it acts as normal, and exiting it will use its regular entrance at Death Mountain. Koroks are also present, but some have no animations.
Some changes have also been made to the Monster Forces between versions too. For example, the Hinox is a basic one without the iron greaves the one in the final map has, while the Fire-Breath Lizalfos are unarmed; they have Knight tier equipment in the final version. Also, there are no Horriblins in this version of the castle, with the tunnel they're found in left empty here.
There are also various bugs, and other issues, fixed for the final game. For instance, the water in the moat is cut off in many places, and things like trees pop into existence when Link approaches them, rather than being loaded in seamlessly like in the final map.
Spirit Temple
Meanwhile this dungeon is completely different from the final game, being an actual obstacle course rather than a glorified boss room like the final one is.
The starting area has a floating platform above a large flat piece of ground, with a copy of Mineru's Construct in the centre near a warp pad. This area is connected to a lower level by a set of stairs near some Gloom.
This lower level contains one Soldier Construct, a spiked ball and an iron pole. This appears to be designed as a way to test the player's combat abilities with Mineru's Construct.
From here, another set of stairs goes down to a larger platform filled with Soldier Constructs, plus a single Captain Construct. There are various objects that can be fused to the Construct here too, like more spiked balls and poles.
Dropping off the edge here brings the player to another area, with multiple flame and beam emitters, plus one ice block. This then connects to another platform, with a single Ice Chuchu, plus an Ice-Breath Lizalfos.
No further rooms or areas are accessible here, so there's no boss fight or cutscenes.
There's also no map data either. Trying to view the map will just bring up a darkened version of the Central Hyrule map with no floors listed, and saving in the area will set the location name to Hyrule Field instead. This indicates it was cut very early in development, likely before the final sequence of events was decided for the Fifth Sage quest.
