Future Zelda games will have an open-world design, says producer Eiji Aonuma

By Garrett Hulfish April 6, 2017

The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild review — Image used with permission by copyright holder

With the release and incredible success of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, many wonder what this means for future titles in the series. The Zelda series is ever-evolving, but key innovations have carried from one title to the next. What will happen to Breath of the Wild‘s reinvented open-world structure? According to Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma, this design will be integral to all future games in the series.

In a recent interview with Famitsu (and translated by IGN), Aonuma spoke up about whether or not the Zelda series would continue using Breath of the Wild‘s “open-air concept.”

“From now on, this will probably be the standard form,” Aonuma said. “However, eventually that in itself could become seen as ‘Zelda as usual’, and we would start to hear opinions this way and that way. This has always been the case, and the result of what we have made is ‘Zelda’.”

At one point in time, dungeon progression was fresh and new, but that became an expected part of the Zelda series. With Ocarina of Time, the series set the standard for 3D action-adventure games. By changing up dungeon progression and the way a 3D environment reacts to the player, Breath of the Wild felt completely new.

However, the core idea behind the latest Zelda entry is not new. In order to create something that feels so fresh, Nintendo looked back at the original game in the series. This was a world where players could freely explore at their own pace. It’s this idea that is pushed even further in Breath of the Wild.

We gave The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 4.5/5 stars saying it is “unlike any Legend of Zelda game you’ve played before.” Where can the series evolve from here?

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6 bite-sized open-world games to play before The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

The player sails to a far off island in Tchia.

It’s a little hard to believe, but we’re finally on the road to Hyrule. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is set to launch on May 12, paying off what felt like a grueling wait following 2017’s genre-defining Breath of the Wild. In just one month, we’ll be exploring the Sky Islands and crafting some truly ridiculous weapons.

The final month before a game’s launch can be the hardest stretch of a long hype cycle, though. That’s especially true if you’re trying to fill it by playing something that’ll get you in the right headspace. Since Breath of the Wild is such a massive open-world game, there’s not enough time to start and finish something like Elden Ring or Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. Luckily, Breath of the Wild’s influence hasn’t just been on enormous AAA titles. Plenty of indie developers over the last few years have created open-world games that draw inspiration from Zelda on a comparatively micro scale. These are games that capture Breath of the Wild’s sense of freedom, but only require a few hours of time to complete.

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The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’s fuse ability reinvents the open-world game

Link fights a Construct with a fused weapon in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom got a new lengthy gameplay video today, and it revealed many of Link's new abilities. He can now fuse objects together to create weapons and vehicles, as well as rewind objects and ascend through ceilings.

While Tears of the Kingdom was first revealed back in June 2019, we didn't even know the game's official name until last September, nor did we see much gameplay before the Nintendo Direct in February. As such, this gameplay showcase was really our first true deep dive into the game and its features. While many of the core mechanics and open-world setup are somewhat reminiscent of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (weapon degradation is returning), some key differences do stand out, namely Link's ability to fuse items.

Gaming

10 minutes of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom gameplay is coming. Here’s how to watch it

Link fights a giant golem in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

After years of trailers that only tease bits and pieces of what we can expect from the next mainline Zelda game, Nintendo has announced a 10-minute deep dive into The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom hosted by Eiji Aonuma. As this gameplay presentation will likely feature the most info we've gotten about Tears of the Kingdom since its 2019 announcement, Nintendo fans will want to tune in. If you haven't heard of this new gameplay video before or are just wondering when and where you should tune into it, we've rounded up all of that info here for you.
When is The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom's gameplay presentation?
This gameplay showcase for Tears of the Kingdom will be released at 7 a.m. PT on March 28. The presentation will last "roughly 10 minutes," according to Nintendo, and it should be available to watch for free afterward.

How to watch
This deep dive into Tears of the Kingdom gameplay will be released on Nintendo's official YouTube channel. We'll embed the video below once it is live. Of course, you can also expect an article highlighting any of the big reveals during the gameplay presentation here on Digital Trends.
What to expect
Nintendo will release 10 minutes of Tears of the Kingdom gameplay in a presentation hosted and narrated by Eiji Aonuma, producer of The Legend of Zelda series. While the game was announced over three-and-a-half years ago and has received several trailers, we still don't quite know how its moment-to-moment gameplay works and just how much it differs from Breath of the Wild.
https://twitter.com/NintendoAmerica/status/1640353190414565378
As such, it seems like the main purpose of this presentation is to give players a clear idea of what to expect from Tears of the Kingdom ahead of its May 12 release on Nintendo Switch. Hopefully, we'll learn more about the floating islands in the sky that players can explore and the vehicles we saw Link controlling in the game's last trailer. Regardless, this gameplay showcase is shaping up to be quite revealing and exciting.
Though the announcement only mentions gameplay, there's always a chance we see some special edition hardware revealed at this too. A special Switch OLED model or Joy-cons designed around the game seem likely and we could see something like that here.