In Tears of the Kingdom, Link gets a whole new suite of abilities granting him mastery over the physical world around him as well as control over time itself. With Recall, Link can stop time, select an object previously in motion, and send it backwards. It’s an essential tool for getting around some of the game’s puzzles, but it’s also an opportunity for players to come up with unconventional solutions to the game’s various challenges, and that includes combat.
So here are 10 cool ways we’ve seen Recall deployed. All but one of these should be fairly straightforward to do on your own, and probably without much practice.
Combining Recall with elemental effects in combat
Tears of the Kingdom has a number of really cool elemental effects triggered by various objects. And here, @botelho720 on Twitter not only uses Recall to send a thrown boulder back to where it came, but they also fire off a an arrow with White Chulu Jelly attached just after to freeze the enemy in place, guaranteeing that they’ll get violently struck by the boulder.
Recharge your Tears of the Kingdom battery
Link’s Zonai battery is pretty important, especially if you use vehicles often. But when it runs out, it takes a little while to recharge. And it seems Recall not only has the power to reverse the movement of large objects, but also electrons, as his battery will recharge if you send a vehicle back the way it came.
Recalling thrown weapons (at just the right time)
This “perfect timing” example of using Recall to bring a thrown weapon back to you will likely demand a few replays. Here, Jhent on Twitter shares an example of Recall literally saving him from a Gloom Bokoblin as they’re seconds away from getting killed with just three-quarters left of a heart to go.
Fixing a failed puzzle in Zelda
This cute example from conundrum shows off how stopping a Recalled object in the middle of its reverse path can recover a failed puzzle. Here, a ball fails to go into its designated hole. But by reversing its course and stopping it when it’s at the right location, conundrum saves themselves the effort of having to reset the entire puzzle. Keep this one in mind next time you encounter a physics Shrine puzzle.
Bypassing gates in TOTK
This example from @Sinistario on Twitter is fairly simple, but it shows off a key function of Recall, which is that it remembers the location of objects after you move them around with Ultrahand, link’s crafting/telekinesis ability. Here, they bypass a Shrine gate by simply dragging a ball up to the air with Ultrahand, then letting it fall, only to hit with Recall. Once it’s at its highest point, they then Ascend up through the sphere and simply hop over the gate.
Destroying a Hinox
Here, ridicholas on TikTok uses an object of an…interesting…shape to do extra damage to a Hinox, all with the clever use of Ultrahand and Recall. By Ultrahanding this makeshift weapon around in circles and then reversing its course, it creates a spiral of death around the Hinox, reducing them to a far lower HP count. And it’s pretty amusing to watch.
Breaking gravity with Link
This one is a little tricky if I’m being honest. We’ve seen multiple usages of a thrown stick and a wooden board used to catapult Link way up into the air. Here’s more or less how it works: Throw the stick over a wooden board. Then, freeze it in the air with Recall. Immediately switch to Ultrahand to fuse that object to the wooden board. Then stand on the board. Recall the stick again and as the stick moves its way back to its previous position, it should throw Link pretty high up in the air.
I’ve been able to get some decent air with this, but have never been able to get it quite as high as others have. This one takes some practice.
Spinning wheels of death with TOTK weapons (and farming)
This one comes by way of Thoreon’s YouTube video on hidden Recall tricks in Tears of the Kingdom. It’s worth watching the whole video here, but my favourite is the first: crafting spikey circles of death you can spin around with Ultrahand, and then watch in delight as it shreds through grass or enemies.
As the video documents, if you just do this with a plain weapon, Link or enemies won’t take any damage. But if you Ultrahand that weapon to another object, it becomes lethal. Combine a bunch of them into a shape like what’s in the video, move it around, and you too can have your very own mobile death machine.
Makeshift runway for Zonai Wings
As you traverse the Sky Islands, you’ll undoubtedly come across various Zonai Wings, some with fans attached, others just sitting around not doing much. Normally, I take to attaching a cart to the bottom of these to get them moving into the air, but as DaveNodon on YouTube demonstrates, using Recall to retrace Ultrahand motions is an easier and cheaper way. Just grab the Zonai Wing with Ultrahand, move it out into the sky. Then, bring it back, hop on, hit Recall, stop it before it goes back to the Island and boom: Magic runway.
A (complicated) elevator to the Sky Islands
This might be a common use of Recall for you, but this example is pretty entertaining to watch. Any object that’s moved recently can be sent back in time — no matter the direction. That makes Recall an easy way to create improvised elevators. Rocks typically fall from Sky Islands, so they’re an easy one. But here, a Recalled cube becomes a rotating platform that Link manages to hang on all the way to the top — and then barely makes it to the upper platform. It’s a neat example of what you can do with Recall even if you’re not totally sure of the outcome.
With so many different ways that you can send objects back in time, these are likely only the beginnings of what players will discover in the years to come. What surprising uses of Recall have you pulled off?
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