Critical Role are playing a Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom RPG one-shot next week

Critical Role will embark on an adventure into The Legend of Zelda’s land of Hyrule in an RPG one-shot inspired by Tears of the Kingdom next week.

The one-off episode of the immensely popular D&D actual play series comes as part of a sponsorship from Zelda maker Nintendo of America, and will air at 7pm Pacific time on May 30th via Critical Role’s Twitch and YouTube channels.

While the one-shot will be heavily inspired by The Legend of Zelda, Critical Role assured fans that the episode would steer clear of any story spoilers relating to Tears of the Kingdom. The plot and all of the characters have been created by the group for the RPG adventure.

Released for the Nintendo Switch just 10 days ago, Tears of the Kingdom is the latest instalment in the long-running video game series and a direct follow-up to 2017’s widely acclaimed entry Breath of the Wild. (It’s also already the fastest-selling Zelda of all time, having shifted over 10 million copies in that short time.)

The link between Critical Role and Zelda runs a little deeper, too, as DM Matthew Mercer voices series villain Ganondorf in Tears of the Kingdom. Mercer is a longtime fan of the franchise, having previously co-created fan series There Will Be Brawl - in which he also portrayed a live-action Ganondorf, complete with costume and prosthetics - in 2009.

Mercer will be joined by familiar Critical Role faces Liam O’Brien and Marisha Ray, alongside fellow voice actors and RPG actual-players in Robbie Daymond, Omar Najam and Emily Axford.

It isn’t the first time that Critical Role has ventured outside the world of Exandria - the original setting of its Vox Machina, Mighty Nein and Hells Bells campaigns - to explore a video game world. Last year, Mercer led a party including Critical Role’s Ray and Sam Riegel, plus guests Krystina Arielle, Brennan Lee Mulligan and Alexander Ward, into Elden Ring’s Lands Between in a sponsored one-shot to promote the open-world fantasy hit.