The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is an expansive open-world action-adventure game with hundreds of hours of content to explore. As you journey across the lands of Hyrule and beyond, it’s important to regularly save your progress so you don’t lose hard-earned items, quest progress, or have to repeat difficult sections.
Table of Contents
Manual Saving
Tears of the Kingdom allows players to manually save their game anytime outside of a few exceptions like boss battles. Here are the steps to manually save:
- Press the “+” button on your controller to open the menu
- Press “R” to tab over to the System page
- Select the “Save” option and choose your save slot
The game has one dedicated manual save slot that will overwrite your previous manual save. Make sure to save often before entering critical points or to bookmark areas you may want to revisit.
Auto Saving
In addition to manual saving, Tears of the Kingdom features an auto-save system that regularly saves your progress during gameplay. This happens when:
- Entering new areas of the map
- Unlocking towers, shrines, or fast travel points
- Completing certain milestones and quests
- Gathering collectibles like Korok seeds
You’ll know the game is auto-saving when you see the “Saving…” message display briefly. Auto-saves provide a safety net in case you forget or are unable to manually save for a while.
Managing Save Files
To manage your save files and switch between manual and auto-saves, follow the same steps for manual saving to access the save menu. You can load previous auto-saves here which are timestamped, letting you return to earlier points if needed. Make sure to delete old saves you no longer need to conserve space.
If sharing your Switch system, each user profile will need to use separate save files. Players cannot share a single game file.
Save Limitations
While saving is available at most times, there are certain points at which you cannot save:
- During boss battles and certain critical story moments
- While in combat or being pursued by enemies
- While free falling or climbing on certain surfaces
If you manually exit the game without saving during these sections, you will have to replay from your last save which could lose a significant amount of progress. Plan manual saves before these events.
Tips for Effective Saving
Follow these tips to make the most of Tears of the Kingdom’s saving system:
- Manually save often – Don’t rely solely on auto-saving to record your progress. Manual saves reduce the risk of losing items and quest progress if you die or exit improperly.
- Save before critical moments – Make sure to save before entering boss battles, starting difficult shrines, or entering dangerous areas. This way a death won’t set you too far back.
- Bookmark important locations – Save at locations you may want to revisit like villages, weapon shops, stables, and towers to make fast traveling easier.
- Delete old saves – Go through and delete outdated manual and auto-saves you no longer need to free up precious Switch storage space.
- One save per user profile – If sharing your Switch, each person should use a separate user profile and save file. Game progress does not carry across profiles.
What Gets Saved
When you save your game either manually or via auto-save, most of your progress gets recorded, including:
- Link’s current location in the world
- Completed main quests and side quests
- Unlocked towers, shrines, villages and fast travel points
- Collected items, weapons, bows, shields and armor
- Rune abilities, heart containers and stamina upgrades
- Korok seeds, treasure chests and collectibles found
- Horse taming, customization and bonding
- Mini-map data and stamps
However, some elements do not save, such as specific enemy camp configurations which can reset. Make sure to manually save before spending time customizing enemy camp layouts.
Save Data Storage
All save data for Tears of the Kingdom is stored locally on your Nintendo Switch system memory or microSD card if you are using one. Save data does not transfer across Switch systems or get stored in the cloud. This means you’ll need to regularly back up your save files if you want to transfer them to another Switch or avoid losing them if your system is damaged or lost.
Nintendo Switch Online members can use the Save Data Cloud backup option to securely store Tears of the Kingdom save files online, allowing you to download them to a new system if needed.
Corrupted or Deleted Saves
In rare cases game save files can become corrupted or accidentally deleted. Some things that can cause save issues:
- Powering off your Switch unexpectedly without exiting the game properly
- Using third party devices or hacking your Switch system firmware
- Running out of system storage space
- Deleting the save data manually without backing it up
If your save files become corrupted, first try power cycling your Switch system completely by turning it off and on. Then load your saves and see if that fixes the issue. If the save data is completely lost or overwritten, your only option is to start the game over from the beginning. That’s why manual backups are so important!
Conclusion
Saving frequently as you adventure across Hyrule is critical to preserving your progress and minimizing frustration in Tears of the Kingdom. Utilize both manual and auto-saving, delete old saves you don’t need, and consider backing up your data online. Follow best practices when exiting the game to prevent save corruption issues. If you save intelligently, you can comfortably explore every corner of the world knowing your efforts won’t be erased if disaster strikes.
So don’t forget to save early and often as you dive into this massive new Zelda adventure!
