Nintendo has no plans to continue the era ofZeldaestablished byBreath of the Wild, with longtime series producer Eiji Aonuma describingThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomas the apotheosis of theBOTWformula. Given the famed gaming company’s track record of expanding and experimenting with their major franchises, especiallyZelda, players can likely expectTears of the Kingdom’s follow-up to be radically different, teeing up the next chapter of the series.
Time will only tell how these differences will manifest. It’s likely that the central gameplay pillars ofBOTWandTOTK—open-ended exploration, loosely defined narrative, et cetera—will be altered or replaced with something different, but thenextZeldagame could make other major shiftsas well. After all, the ambitious open-world design ofBreath of the Wilddoesn’t only impact gameplay: the game’s focus on player freedom and creativity above all else has knock-on effects with regard to narrative, tone, and presentation. If the nextZeldamakes gameplay leaps comparable to those ofBreath of the Wild, then similarly significant changes to story and presentation seem likely.
The Next Zelda: How Gameplay Will Inform the Rest of the Experience
Zelda’s Gameplay Isn’t an Island
When examining thedifferences betweenBreath of the Wildand otherZeldagames, it’s common to focus on the series' dramatic gameplay evolution. This makes sense, asBreath of the Wildmakes major strides with open-world and puzzle design, not just within theZeldaseries, but within modern gaming as a whole. The game also lacks many long-livedZeldastaples, including:
But all of these missing or altered elements impact more than just gameplay. For example,Zelda’s classic dungeon designis intricately linked with its narrative pacing and linear progression: the specific, bespoke order in which players experience each area is how the older games deliver their stories and balance tone, with some dungeons being more lighthearted, others being more horror-oriented, and so on.
Doing Away with Tears of the Kingdom’s Gameplay Could Transform Story, Style, and Tone
Again, it’s not clear what Nintendo’s developers have in mind for the nextZeldagame, but if the gameplay rift between it andTears of the Kingdomis akin to the rift between, say,Skyward SwordandBreath of the Wild, then it’s safe to say that a number of other changes will have to be implemented as well.Tears of the Kingdom’s unrestricted gameplay, buttressed by its open-world design and ingenious implementation of the Ultrahand and Fuse abilities, necessitate a more minimalist story.
IfTOTK’s narrative had a firmer structure, incorporating more real-time plot points, cutscenes, and the like, then the gameplay philosophy of endless freedom wouldn’t work as well as it does.
Players wouldn’t be able to simply head off in whatever direction they like—a major conceit ofTOTK’s open-world design—if the story had greater immediacy and urgency. Narrative informs tone and vice versa, soTOTK, likeBOTWbefore it, is imbued with a sense of ethereal, meditative calm. And of course, the fact thatTOTKreprisesBOTW’s gameplayelements means that its story is directly linked to its predecessor, since it may have been difficult to justify the same open-world gameplay with a wholly different narrative premise or setting.
And then there’s the matter of art design. There are several potential reasons behindBOTWandTOTK’s unique art style, but at least one of them is practical: the games' cel-shaded art design allows for easier rendering of the massive, explorable Hyrule. A more linear, tightly focusedZeldagame could adopt a more detailed or realistic graphical style if its developers wanted.BOTW’s art style also helps to immediately differentiate it from the games that came before it. If the nextZeldagame wants to stand out similarly, then major changes to art design, alongside narrative, tone, and even music, could be part of that equation.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
WHERE TO PLAY
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is the sequel to the beloved open-world adventure, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. This installment once again sees Link and Zelda battling to protect Hyrule from falling to Ganondorf. This new adventure takes place in the same land of Hyrule as Breath of the Wild but sees something called the Upheaval, which allows link to travel to Sky Islands, as well as deep into the Depths beneath Hyrule. Players can use special abilities to fuse together weapons, and build items to help them progress through the release.
