| Can you play alone? | Yes, with two wooden Doppels |
|---|---|
| Start from | The Hall of the Doppels in Hytopia Castle |
| Switch hero | Tap a Doppel Panel on the touch screen |
| Shared | Hearts and the Energy Gauge |
| Fairies | 3 per Level; one is spent if you skip a Stage |
| Doppels’ outfit | Always the Hero’s Tunic |
Yes, Tri Force Heroes can be played completely alone. The game needs three heroes to open a Triforce Gateway, so in single player you take two wooden Doppels with you and control one of the three Links at a time, switching with a tap on the touch screen. You can clear every Level, Drablands Challenge and the Den of Trials this way, but you must stack Totems and solve each puzzle yourself.
Table of Contents
Setting out with Doppels
Doppel Master
The Doppel Master looks after the Hall of the Doppels inside Hytopia Castle. To leave for the Drablands with Doppels, speak to him and he awakens them and binds them to your will. He also explains the basics the first time: the Doppels are sacred dolls that act as vessels for a hero’s soul and you tap one to move your soul into it. The Doppels have to be woken again every time you come back to the Hall, and they cannot leave it. Pick a Level from the map as usual, and you start with three Fairies.
Doppels
Doppels are wooden dolls shaped like the Links, with faces like the Spooky Mask. The blue and red ones always wear the Hero’s Tunic, and only the green hero wears the outfit you pick, so choose wisely. Enemies cannot hurt a Doppel you are not controlling, but one that falls into a pit or quicksand costs you a heart. Because they are solid, you can lift and throw a Doppel to hit enemies, press switches, pop balloons or block a Guruguru Bar.
Switching heroes
The touch screen shows three Doppel Panels, one per Link. Tap a panel to take control of that hero; the hero you left becomes a Doppel and stays where it is. Each panel also shows the item that hero holds, so you can pick the right tool for a spot by switching to the Link who carries it. When the Links are stacked in a Totem you do not have to switch: from the bottom you can make the top one swing its sword or use its item. The Doppel on top of a Totem obeys the Link below it, so the same works with an item.
Totems
Totem
A Totem is a stack of two or three Links. Walk to another Link and press A to pick it up, or run under a Link in the air to catch it. Totems reach high ledges and let you attack enemies on high perches. The Link at the bottom moves the stack and the top Link can be thrown, which is how you cross wide gaps. The game’s director has said that three heroes were chosen because a stack of four would be too tall to display.
Hearts, Fairies and skipping
Shared hearts and Energy Gauge
When you play with Doppels, all three Links share one pool of hearts and one Energy Gauge, which is why a single Doppel falling into a pit hurts the whole party. Playing solo therefore means that one careless fall hurts the whole group. The Cheer Outfit’s bonus affects all Links’ gauges in single player, and Linebeck’s Uniform stops showing chest contents after you switch Doppels.
Fairies
Each Level begins with three Fairies. When the shared hearts run out, a Fairy revives the party and the Stage restarts. If you lose the last one, the Level is failed and you leave without any Materials, so you collect no rewards from that attempt. Fairies you still hold at the end of the Level turn into bonus Rupees at 30 each, so three left means 90. In the Den of Trials you begin with only one.
Skip Stage
Only in single player, a Skip button appears beside the Doppel Panels. Using it spends one Fairy and carries you straight to the next Stage with all obstacles bypassed. It has costs: you lose all the Rupees you have collected so far, the bonus Rupees at the end drop, and the Treasure Chest holding a Material gets replaced by 20 Rupees for each Fairy used.
Single-player tips
Tips
Keep the Doppels away from pits and quicksand when you set them down. Choose items with the whole Level in mind, because each hero picks one item at the start of the Level and keeps it. Use the Totem to reach switches, and throw a Doppel across a gap to press a distant switch. In boss fights switch to the Link whose item the fight needs. Finally, remember that the Hall of the Doppels has its own Completion List, separate from the multiplayer one.
