A new fan-made native PC port of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has surfaced, giving Windows users a way to run the game without relying on a Switch emulator. The project, known as SkyboundTOTK, was created by modder NotRexed and has quickly drawn attention from players interested in native PC performance, graphics options, and experimental display features.
Unlike traditional emulation, SkyboundTOTK uses recompilation. Instead of mimicking Nintendo Switch hardware in real time, recompilation translates the game’s original code into a format that can run more directly on PC hardware. This approach has become increasingly popular among fan developers, especially for unofficial PC versions of major console games.
SkyboundTOTK follows closely behind another fan project, Savage Wind Recomp, which brought The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild to Windows as a native application. That project is still in an early alpha state and has only been tested through the Great Plateau opening section, but together, these releases mark a major moment for Nintendo’s recent Zelda titles in the PC modding scene.
NotRexed first teased the Tears of the Kingdom PC recompilation project in mid-October, sharing early screenshots and performance details. At that stage, the port was only a few days old and reportedly ran between 32 and 59 frames per second on a GeForce RTX 4060 Ti. The developer described the early performance as rough but suggested a public release could arrive within weeks.
The newly released SkyboundTOTK build includes several PC-focused features. AMD FSR 1 upscaling is supported, along with adjustable sharpening to help improve image clarity. There is also an experimental frame interpolation option that generates extra frames between rendered ones to make gameplay appear smoother. However, this does not increase the actual game simulation speed and may introduce input delay or visual artifacts, especially during fast movement or menu navigation.
Players with wider displays may also be interested in the experimental ultrawide mode. This feature adjusts the field of view and HUD positioning for ultrawide monitors, though some setups may experience image stretching. Display options include full-screen and windowed modes, aspect ratio preservation, screen stretching, and the ability to save preferences for future sessions.
SkyboundTOTK also supports keyboard and mouse input for movement, camera control, combat, and other gameplay actions. Mouse capture and sensitivity settings are included, and compatible gamepads can be used as well. A local graphics cache is designed to improve performance in later sessions, although players may still notice stutter when entering new areas or when shaders compile.
The project is not distributed as a simple ready-to-play download. Instead, SkyboundTOTK is available as source code, meaning users must compile it themselves on Windows 10 or Windows 11 with the required development tools. The process can take a significant amount of time and requires at least 45GB of free storage in addition to the game files.
The port also requires a legally obtained and extracted copy of the base 1.0.0 version of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Later updates are not currently supported by the project’s game-specific code. SkyboundTOTK does not include game files, keys, or save data.
The release arrives at a time when Nintendo remains highly protective of its games and platforms. The company has previously taken legal action against Switch emulation projects, including a major 2024 case that resulted in the shutdown of a prominent emulator and a multimillion-dollar settlement.
Meanwhile, separate recompilation work targeting Apple Silicon Macs has reportedly reached up to 90 frames per second during gameplay, surpassing both early Windows builds and the official enhanced version for Nintendo’s newer hardware.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom originally launched for Nintendo Switch on May 12, 2023, and later received an upgraded edition for Nintendo Switch 2 in June 2025. Nintendo has not officially released Tears of the Kingdom or Breath of the Wild on PC, making these fan-made native ports a major point of interest for PC players and game preservation enthusiasts.
