Where does the Zelda series go after Breath of the Wild?

Breath of the Wild took the Zelda series to a different yet extremely successful direction, so the real question is what Nintendo plans to do for the next installment.

It’s been almost a month since The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild released. For the past few weeks, we’ve had plenty of time to really dive into the game and experience it. The world is full of mystery and rewarding encounters. It’s also a great experience when it comes to the compelling story and the intense combat. Breath of the Wild has taken the Zelda series somewhere it hasn’t been yet. The question is, where does it go next?

Let’s start with some history with the first game in the series, The Legend of Zelda. We say that Breath of the Wild marks a new standard for the Zelda series. However, another way to look at it is a return to form for the series. In the original Zelda game for the NES, players had complete freedom to choose where they went next in the vast land of Hyrule.

In similar fashion, players have the same option in Breath of the Wild. It’s entirely possible to go straight to Hyrule castle from the beginning of the game and destroy Ganon. In both games, this is completely up to the player. That being said, your chances of success aren’t very high. That’s what makes these games so clever and helps set them apart from other games in the industry.

Where other open world games drag you along a story and force you to accomplish certain tasks in order to advance, Breath of the Wild doesn’t. The game isn’t holding your hand for the majority of the time and it gives you two options: accomplish this and that to discover things and properly equip yourself, or take your chances and go straight for the kill. This is something we haven’t seen in almost 30 years of various Zelda games throughout the years.

With games like Ocarina of Time, Twilight Princess, The Wind Waker, and Skyward Sword, the series took more of a linear approach. The developers never really wanted to go this route but were forced to because of the technological limitations at the time. This doesn’t mean that these games aren’t fantastic. In our eyes, these games accurately delivered the true Zelda experience and became what we call the “Zelda formula.”

This formula still delivers great combat, a beautiful world to explore and some of the best storytelling in gaming history. What’s left out from these games is the complete freedom to choose how you want to approach it. It’s impossible to simply pick a destination and travel there. Obviously, there are certain things you can complete first before moving on to the next task, but there are instances where one thing cannot be solved without the other. It’s also how the story advances in the game. You can’t simply piece the story together as you go on since it’s told by a sequence of events that happen in order. This isn’t a flaw by any means, it’s just another approach to game design.

Breath of the Wild abandons this formula and introduces something unique. You don’t have to complete all the dungeons and you don’t even have to learn about the story. It really is up to you.

The biggest question is how does Nintendo top this? We said the same thing about A Link to the Past and then the Big N blew our minds with Ocarina of Time. After beating it, we said the same thing about that game, and for years, they’ve continued to deliver. However, most subsequent games in the series were similar to it and stuck to the same formula. Breath of the Wild is the first game to deviate from that style of play.

What’s cool is that still feels very much like Zelda. The combat, the story and the aesthetics all remind us of the Zelda we’ve grown to play and adore. But it’s what’s new in this game that truly has the biggest presence and leaves a lasting impression — which is great except it leaves one wondering where the developers have left to go.

If we had any input on what’s next, we would want them to expand on the open world concept while bringing back some of the old gameplay elements we love. We believed it’s entirely possible to create a huge world where everything is accessible to the player. However, we also want an emphasis on everything else.

We aren’t saying the story nor the gameplay is a step back, but we do miss some of that classic formula. For example, traditional dungeons. The dungeons in Breath of the Wild (Shrines and Divine Beasts) are extremely fun, but they’re definitely different. We miss traveling to new locations and encountering a huge dungeon full of puzzles and unforgiving enemies. Obtaining a dungeon-specific item also gave us something to anticipate. Maybe a way of combining both would be interesting.

One feature we loved about the Divine Beasts was actually disabling or subduing them before making our way inside. If they can return to this for future games, we’re all for it. The Shrines are also extremely fun. What makes them so cool is that they’re optional. There are over 100 Shrines in the game, and in reality, you don’t have to complete any of them. The best part is that they are there for you if you ever want to test yourself. If we can somehow have Shrines, Divine Beasts and traditional dungeons all in one game, that would be very interesting.

Finally, a big factor is the story. As we said, the story is completely optional as well, but it wouldn’t be any fun if we skipped through all of it. In past Zelda games, the story progressed as you played the game, not based on the decisions you made on where you decided to go next.

An emphasis on the world and freedom wasn’t a bad direction to take, but it’s entirely possible to have both an emphasis on both the world and the story. Again, the story is spectacular in Breath of the Wild and it’s really worth completing everything to learn more about it. It does have one purpose, though, and that’s all about defeating Calamity Ganon. We want the characters to be developed and involved more and we want more back stories to be explored instead of getting straight to the point. That’s what made every other Zelda game memorable.

Next: New Fire Emblem Echoes trailer arrives

Breath of the Wild is an achievement for the Zelda series and the gaming industry as a whole. It’s currently unknown as to what plans are for the next installments, but we do know that they can only move forward from here. A return to the other style of Zelda games is highly unlikely, but incorporating that classic Zelda formula with the new formula is entirely possible. If they can somehow find a balance, they may top Breath of the Wild.