Zelda: A Link to the Future (Nintendo/Metro)
With the Switch 2 on the horizon, Nintendo has a major problem on its hands in terms of how it surpasses Zelda: Breath Of The Wild.
The release of The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild in 2017 changed the Zelda series forever. While some purists weren’t fond of its radical open world overhaul, Nintendo was more than justified in its decision thanks to the game’s widespread critical success and massively increased sales.
The unparalleled sense of freedom Breath Of The Wild offered – in how players could explore the world, progress its story, and solve puzzles – led to it being widely acclaimed as the best video game ever made, although admittedly that’s not the first time anyone has said that about a Zelda title.
Nintendo even managed to capture lightning in a bottle twice, with the 2023 sequel Tears Of The Kingdom expanding the map further and adding impressively realistic physics-based gameplay, turning Hyrule into the ultimate sandbox playground.
Much like with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, the problem with the last two Zelda games is that Nintendo has done too good of a job, setting an impossibly high bar for the eventual next game on Nintendo Switch 2.
With Nintendo’s plans for its next console, and the Zelda series as a whole, still nebulous, we need to discuss where Nintendo can go next and what we do know so far of Zelda’s future.
What has Nintendo said about the next Legend Of Zelda game?
In a 2023 interview, series producer Eiji Aonuma and Tears Of The Kingdom director Hidemaro Fujibayashi confirmed that the inevitable follow-up would still feature an open world setting.
This doesn’t rule out more 2D games, as demonstrated by this year’s Echoes Of Wisdom, but it’s safe to say any new 3D game would continue the formula established by Breath Of The Wild and not the older one pioneered by Ocarina Of Time.
Aonuma has expressed confusion over why fans would want to go back to the old 3D formula but he’s also made it clear that there’ll be no more sequels to Breath Of The Wild. So while future games will be open world they won’t necessarily resemble the Switch’s games in any other way.
Even without official statements from staff, it’s obvious Nintendo will stick with the current formula, or something close to it, just by looking at the sales figures. For as prestigious as the Zelda series is, the games never used to reach anywhere near the same level of financial success as the Super Mario and Pokémon games.
What is the best-selling Zelda game?
For the longest time, the best-selling Zelda game was 2006’s Twilight Princess (ironically, one of the least regarded entries by most fans) which had sold 8.85 million copies by 2015. While still a success, compare that to New Super Mario Bros. and Pokémon Diamond/Pearl, that came out the same year, which sold 30.8 million and 17.67 million, respectively.
Breath Of The Wild came along and utterly destroyed Twilight Princess’ record, with a current total of 32.29 million. This not only makes it one of the best-selling Switch games but, in a stunning role reversal, it’s done better than the Switch entries for Mario and Pokémon (not including Mario Kart 8 Deluxe).
Nintendo might seem to make illogical decisions at times but they know when they’ve hit pay dirt and, as Aonuma has clearly stated, there’s now no going back to the old ways, except via spin-offs and remasters.
Will there be a sequel to Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom?
Aonuma seems adamant about moving onto a new Hyrule, and it would make sense when you remember why he ruled out any DLC for Tears Of The Kingdom, when he said: ‘I feel like I’ve done everything I can to create games in that world.’
Although the games themselves never draw attention to the fact, the various Zelda game are set in a complex series of separate timelines and you only rarely play as the same Link in any of them – it’s often a different character and often one from a separate, parallel universe.
Aonuma has said his team could return to the Breath Of The Wild version of Hyrule if they came up with new ideas for it, but it sounds like he’s eager to make something else entirely. ‘Whether it’s a sequel or a new work, I think it will be a completely new way to play,’ he said.
Surprisingly, when asked if Tears Of The Kingdom’s success was a ‘hurdle’ for planning the next game, Aonuma sounded unconcerned and even encouraged fans to ‘keep [their] expectations high.’
That suggests he already has something clear in mind for a Tears Of The Kingdom successor, but what that might be is very hard to guess.
When will the next Legend Of Zelda be out?
One thing Nintendo can’t change is how long it takes to make a modern triple-A game and even though Tears Of The Kingdom used Breath Of The Wild as a foundation it still took six years to develop. That should be taken as an absolute minimum for the next game, which would make it no earlier than 2029 and quite possibly several years more than that.
Some may assume Nintendo will simply offer broadly the same game, with the same mechanics, but with better graphics and a bigger map. That’s not usually how they do things though and certainly doesn’t seem to be what Aonuma is hinting at.
If there is a clue as to what they could be doing next, perhaps it can be gleaned by looking at those weaker aspects of Breath Of The Wild, which Nintendo might feel are worth extra attention in a new game.
Zelda’s combat changed little between Breath Of The Wild and Tears Of The Kingdom and was beginning to seem a little simplistic by the end, so one obvious idea might be to focus more on action – with a more robust and complex combat system, perhaps one that adds magic as well as just weapons.
Or maybe it could flesh out Link’s inventory and give him permanent items and tools, such as old favourites like the hookshot. There may be no going back to Ocarina Of Time but Nintendo is not beyond throwing fans a bone and it’s easy to imagine the next game might see more traditional use of items and more integral dungeons – given the ones in Tears Of The Kingdom still weren’t quite up to par.
Nintendo clearly heard fan demand for a playable Zelda, so they’ll also know that many were originally speculating she might be playable in Tears Of The Kingdom, perhaps even via a co-op mode. That never happened but it wouldn’t have been the first, or even the second, time Zelda featured co-op multiplayer.
Imagine multiple Links running around Hyrule banding together to beat tough enemies (Bandai Namco)
We know Nintendo’s been experimenting with online multiplayer lately, running a private test for something involving a shared world. What if it did something similar for Zelda, creating a version of Hyrule populated by players who could help one another à la Elden Ring?
We could speculate till the cuccos come home, but perhaps the reason why Aonuma seems unintimidated by the future is because he, and by extension Nintendo, aren’t necessarily interested in surpassing Tears Of The Kingdom.
Nintendo’s priority has always been gameplay over anything else; it’s why it took so long for Zelda to be playable. So, while the next 3D Zelda probably won’t be as much of a dramatic gameplay reset as Breath Of The Wild was, we also shouldn’t expect it to hit the exact same beats.
But with such a project many years away from coming out, and with the Switch 2 expected to launch in 2025, Nintendo’s going to want something Zelda related for at least the console’s first year on the market, if not its launch period.
So, what can the company do in the meantime? The answer to that question is thankfully far easier to guess: more remakes and/or remasters.
What is the next Zelda remaster going to be?
Considering Nintendo typically tries to have a new Zelda game out every year or two, and 2025 is far too soon for the new mainline entry, it’s not unreasonable to assume it’ll have a remaster or remake ready for the Switch 2.
After all, it’s plugged its release schedule before with Wii U remasters of Twilight Princess and The Wind Waker, plus Skyward Sword for Switch, as fans waited for brand new entries.
While no such projects have been so far annouced, rumours of Twilight Princess and The Wind Waker coming to Switch have persisted since at least 2021.
The Switch’s 2025 line-up is nothing but remasters at the moment, so we could easily see those two games being added to the schedule. Either to pad things out till the Switch 2’s release or to promote its backwards compatibility feature. Especially since Nintendo is known for sitting on completed games until it has an opening for them.
Remasters, though, wouldn’t be quite as exciting as a full-fledged remake. One dream project for fans is a full remake of Ocarina Of Time, which many still consider the best entry in the series.
If Nintendo handed something like that off to Grezzo (its go-to developer for Zelda remakes) or another external studio (Capcom’s remake team, anyone?) to get it ready for Switch 2, that would certainly help push the new hardware and they could’ve already been working on that for years in secret.
If not that, there’s been plenty of rumours of a Breath Of The Wild remaster for the Switch 2 launch, to show off its new technical abilities. But that may have resulted from confusion over a supposed technical demo that Nintendo has been showing developers – and not something they actually intend to release to the public.
There’s also the possibility of Nintendo offering a non-traditional spin-off. Another Hyrule Warriors? A sequel to Link’s Crossbow Training? A management sim where you play as Beedle and sell bugs to customers?
Whatever the case, Nintendo has several avenues to pursue for the future of the Zelda series. The fruits of Aonuma and his team’s labour won’t be seen for some time, but there’s plenty Nintendo can do to keep interest in Zelda high until then.
Not to mention there’s a live action movie on the way. Admittedly, there’s no hint at when that’ll release either but if it’s anywhere near as successful as The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Nintendo can safely rely on that to prop up sales of currently available Zelda titles.
For now, it seems we shouldn’t be pondering whether Nintendo can surpass Breath Of The Wild and Tears Of The Kingdom, but rather what the next Zelda can do differently while adhering to the formula that made millions of people fall in love with the series in the first place.
The answer isn’t necessarily to go even bigger (Nintendo)
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