Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom – Hidden Gerudo Desert Shrine Guide

Not every Shrine in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is easy to find. Some of them, like the Chichim Shrine in the are hidden from sight, making them difficult to find. This shrine, along with its “Ancient Prison Ruins” puzzle, is buried beneath the sand, making it harder to stumble across. Here’s how to find this Shrine and complete it.

How to reach the Chichim Shrine in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

To reach the Shrine, you must fall into a sand pit in the Gerudo Desert. There are multiple of these sand pits, but the one you are looking for is located just beneath the words Palu Wasteland on the map, indicated by a small circle. This is just inside the massive sandstorm in the Gerudo Desert, so you will lose map function when close to it. To avoid getting lost, try giving yourself a straight path to it from outside the storm.

Once you find the pit, jump in to find yourself in the Ancient Prison Ruins. In here, you will need to use Ultrahand to operate switches, as well as fight off Gibdos. Gibdos aren’t particularly tough, but you will need a weapon with some type of element–fire, ice, electricity–in order to really do damage to them.

After opening the first door, follow the main corridor until you find a statue of a lady holding a sword. Head in the direction she is pointing until you reach another switch.

This switch will open an area to the right, where you can head down a level. Head through this area until you reach some blocks leading back up to the main level of the prison and climb up. There will be a switch on the far side of two blocks that fall once you step on them. Quickly jump across and use the switch to open a gate leading back to the statue.

Turn around and jump into the hole where the blocks fell to continue. You will immediately see another statute pointing forward, head in that direction. You will reach a metal grate blocking your path forward, here you need to use Ascend to head back up. You will now need to use Ultrahand to remove two blocks from the floor in front of you, revealing a final switch, which opens the way to the Shrine itself.

Head inside to the Shrine and interact with it. The Ancient Prison Ruins were considered the Shrine, so you can now collect the optional chest and the blessing from the Shrine.

We have many more guides in our Tears of the Kingdom guides hub, including a map of all Shrine locations and many more individual Shrine puzzle guides.