The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomlikely won’t be the last open-worldZeldagame, according to the game’s producer. While nothing is confirmed, producer Eiji Aonuma’s recent interview opens the door for more open-worldZeldagames afterThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
Nintendo launchedTears of the Kingdomon May 12. The game continues the story ofBreath of the Wildand sees this iteration of Link finally facing Ganon in his humanoid incarnation. In addition to sharingBreath of the Wild’s setting and characters, it also features many similar gameplay mechanics. However, this hasn’t stoppedThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomfrom introducing several new systems. These include but are not limited to weapon customization and the game’s famous Ultrahand building vehicle construction system.
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Despite representing a new style ofZeldagames,Breath of the WildandTears of the Kingdomhad plenty of franchise veterans working on them. These includeTears of the Kingdomproducer Eiji Aonuma, who directedOcarina of Time,Majora’s Mask,Wind Waker, andTwilight Princess. Recently, Aonuma spoke to Game Informer aboutTears of the Kingdoms' development and the franchise’s future. During the interview, he describes howBreath of the Wildstarted a new generation ofZeldagames, like how 1998’sOcarina of Timetransitioned the series from 2D to 3D.
In response to a question from the interviewer, Aonuma explained howThe Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Timeestablished the formatthat the subsequent games would follow. While later games would expand upon the structure and experiment with new ideas, the fundamentals largely remained the same. However, he feels that this formant had gotten too restrictive and thatBreath of the WildandTears of the Kingdomoffer a new format allowing for greater player freedom. “I think it’s correct to say that it has created a new kind of format for the series to proceed from,” said Aonuma.
His comment is not a confirmation of anotherBreath of the Wildsequel, nor is it an official confirmation that Nintendo will release more open-worldZeldagames. However, it seems likely Aonuma is satisfied with the open-world format and sees it as the future of theLegend of Zeldafranchise. Also, while Aonuma is hardly the franchise’s sole decision-maker, it seems unlikely that he would speak with so much confidence if more open-worldZeldagames weren’t on the table.
Ultimately, the franchise’s future will largely depend on how much faith Nintendo has in open-world games. However, with the positive reception ofBreath of the WildandTears of the Kingdom, a new open-worldZeldagame seems likely.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomis out now for the Nintendo Switch.
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