Dear Nintendo, I know you’re still riding high off the success of the Switch 2, but I need to talk to you about Zelda. I know the next piece of Zelda content we’ll get is likely the film adaptation, but I want to look ahead to whatever new Zelda game you no doubt have cooking, even if it’s still in the concept stage. In fact, I hope that’s the case because this is the perfect opportunity to make a Zelda game unlike any that has come before.
Forget the Zelda timeline or legacy; it’s time to be bold and really swing for the fences with what it means to be a Zelda game on the Switch 2.
Break away from BotW
By the time we get a new 3D Zelda game, we will have been living in the Breath of the Wild version of Hyrule for at least a decade. That’s by far the longest we’ve spent with the same versions of Link, Zelda, Ganon, and Hyrule. Sure, we got sky islands, the underground, and new tools to play with, but I’m starving for a fresh world to explore.
I will always remember my first steps into Hyrule Field in Ocarina and the feeling of freedom of sailing the seas of Wind Waker. That sense of venturing into the unknown made it feel like a real adventure. Even in the case of Majora’s Mask, which reused almost all the character models from Ocarina, that didn’t hamper the experience because the world itself was fresh. I was just as engrossed in traversing the world for the spectacle of it as I was in going on the main quest. The tradition of presenting a fresh world, albeit with familiar elements, in each entry is a major part of Zelda’s identity and appeal.
Breath of the Wild is arguably the pinnacle of that, but the same trick can’t work quite as well twice in a row.
I’m not opposed to the next Zelda being open world again, so long as that world is one I’ve never been to before. Sure, I expect to see a new Hyrule Castle and some form of Zora and Gorons, but I want Nintendo to get weird with those pieces again. So much praise is heaped on Zelda for a number of reasons, but I feel like the diversity in the worlds is often overlooked and undervalued.
A new world also gives players a new history to uncover. I’m tossing that timeline out the window and assuming Nintendo is too. A new world needs new cultures and races, not just a new forest, mountain, and lake area to breathe life into it.
The world is the base upon which everything else is built. We’ve had our fill of BoTW‘s world, now give me a reason to get excited to grab my sword and take off into the great unknown one more time.
A new hero
It is a given that a new Hyrule demands a new hero. As much diversity as we’ve had in the lands we’ve explored, our avatar has remained strangely static.
Aside from being a kid or an adult, Link has always been more or less the same stoic protagonist. I understand that’s to make him an easier vessel for me as the player to inhabit, but that doesn’t mean he has to be a completely blank slate. Little quirks in how he stands or interacts with others can help make him feel like a real person without overriding our own projected personalities. Or let us make more meaningful decisions. That doesn’t necessarily mean dialogue options, though I wouldn’t be opposed to seeing how Nintendo handled that, but having the world react to the way we want to present our Link. I think back to how stealing in Link’s Awakening got my file renamed THIEF and would love to see more emergent ideas like that.
Or, why do we need to be Link at all? Zelda got her first time to shine in Echoes of Wisdom, but why not let her take the lead in the next 3D entry? That game, as cool as it was, did feel a bit more like a proof of concept. A completely new personality and skillset would breathe new life into the franchise, even if it stuck to the traditional formula.
I’m not sure Nintendo would go so far as to give us a completely new hero, but there are still ways to make a new Link feel, well, new. But I’m still on team Zelda.
Experiment, but within reason
I have gone back and forth on whether or not I even want the next Zelda to use the Switch 2’s mouse controls. On one hand, I have flashbacks to Skyward Sword, which completely relies on motion controls, but I also know Nintendo loves experimenting with new ways to play. In the end, it was Metroid Prime 4 that helped me land on the side of pro experimentation, as long as it is within reason.
The coolest part about the mouse controls is how adaptable they are. I imagine the next Zelda being a 90% traditionally controlled game, with the option to use certain items or features with the mouse controls on the fly by simply laying the Joy-Con down. Being able to instantly transition between the two control methods is the secret sauce for me. I would love to be able to do it in Tears of the Kingdom while building, and I can see it being equally as handy for whatever new puzzles and mechanics are cooked up in the new title.
Just don’t make me use the mouse to swing my sword.
I think Nintendo understands that games like Zelda, Mario, and Pokémon can’t be exclusive to features like this on the Switch 2. I want there to be that option, so long as it is actually an option and not a requirement.
For the sake of accessibility, that’s really the only limiters I would want Nintendo to put on itself in gearing up for the next Zelda. After a decade of BotW and whatever impact the film has, this new entry might be the most important game in the franchise since BotW itself. That might sound like an excuse to play it safe, but I see it as a golden opportunity for Nintendo to swing for the fences.
