11 December 2023 , 13:00
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Series producer Eiji Aonuma spoke in a new interview about what players should expect next about where The Legend of Zelda is headed.
Though it can seem strange to forget, players on Nintendo Switch were treated to an all-new The Legend of Zelda game earlier this year. True, Baldur’s Gate 3 may have just won at The Game Awards, but for many people The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is sure to remain their 2023 highlight. Nintendo has kept pretty quiet about where the series is heading next in the wake of Link’s sky-based adventure being released, but producer Eiji Aonuma has finally shed some light.
Speaking to Game Informer in an interview about what’s planned for the next mainline The Legend of Zelda game, Aonuma played down the idea that the sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom would be another direct sequel, just like that game was to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
"We were seeking to build on top of the world we created with Breath of the Wild and really exhaust the possibilities of what we could put into that world,” he revealed. From this, we can gather that the next game in the beloved series won’t be reusing the same map as before, and is likely to be something drastically different. “I don't think that we'll be making a direct sequel to a world such as that that we've created.” To do so again, Aonuma said, would be “a little bit wild”.
A new link back
As someone who very much enjoyed both Legend of Zelda games on Nintendo Switch, I’m incredibly excited by the prospect of having something truly new to play the next time the series returns. And from Aonuma’s interview comments it’s apparent that the team at Nintendo feel very similarly. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed revisiting a familiar version of Hyrule (and gave it five stars in my review) to see how things had changed, but there’s only so many times you can go to the same well.
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If Nintendo were to create a direct sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, it would risk making one of its premier franchises an iteration of an iteration, diluting what was once a great series reinvention of itself to something that’s a mere shadow of its former self. It leads me to question whether we’ll see a smaller adventure for Link before the next mainline instalment comes, something more reminiscent of Twilight Princess or even Ocarina of Time.
It's no coincidence that, with strong rumours suggesting that we could see Nintendo Switch 2 revealed as soon as next year, it’d be wise for the next Legend of Zelda to take advantage of this improved hardware. Sure, it’s likely to be way off seeing as Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom released, but when that next game does arrive it’s heartening to hear it’ll be something truly unexpected and unpredictable again.