Summary
The Legend of Zeldais at a crossroads. With Nintendo confirming thatthe nextZeldagame will be moving onfrom the framework established byBreath of the Wildand expanded byTears of the Kingdom, where exactly the franchise will go is anyone’s guess. But as perhaps the most revered and long-running gaming franchise of all time, fans can at least expect a good deal of ambition from the next title.
Ambition, in many ways, is a word that definesThe Legend of Zelda. This was true during the 1990s, when it was helping to lead the industry into the era of 3D adventure games withOcarina of Time, but it was just as true in 2017 when, to everyone’s surprise, it shed many of its most central mechanics and traditions inBreath of the Wild. Indeed,BOTWrepresents a major leap forZelda, moving away from themed dungeons, item-based puzzles, and a linear narrative structure. The game has since proved to be revolutionary, inspiring countless developers and changing how gaming audiences view open-world adventures, but now it’s in the rearview, and Nintendo will need to land on a new direction for the franchise.
Why Honing In On Combat Could Be the Right Move for Zelda
Combat Has Always Taken a Back Seat In Zelda Games
Link is a bona fide warrior, expertly leveraging a number of different offensive tools over the course of theZeldaseries, facing off against menacing foes in single combat, and saving the day in typical heroic fashion. He is even defined explicitly as a knight inBreath of the Wild, a clear signal of his skills as a combatant. This translates to gameplay in a fairly predictable way: players, as Link, fight numerous enemies during their various adventures, and virtually everyZeldagame culminates in a bombastic boss fight.
But despite all this, combat almost never feels like the most important part of theZeldaequation. EvenBreath of the WildandTears of the Kingdom, which are often cited amongtheZeldagames with the best combat, don’t offer much in the way of depth, complexity, or challenge: combat is serviceable but uninventive, and mechanics like perfect dodge and perfect parry can easily trivialize combat. This doesn’t necessarily hurt the games, as puzzle-solving and exploration are often the focus of gameplay, but the franchise can shake things up by sharpening combat in the next entry.
A Combat-Focused Zelda Would Be a Breath of Fresh Air
Breath of the Wildreinvented theZeldaseries: though it wasn’t the first open-worldZelda(that honor would have to go toWind Waker), it was the first game in the series to be built around limitless exploration to such a significant extent, to the point where it’s the central mechanic of the game, taking precedence over things like puzzles and narrative.The nextZeldagame could be another reinvention, with Nintendo leaning into the series' versatility. A strong combat emphasis would be one way to do this.
Even if the nextZeldafocuses on combat, it would still have to retain the key elements that define the franchise, like puzzles, the Triforce, et cetera.
IfBreath of the WildandTears of the Kingdomare exploration games first and foremost, then maybe the next entry in the series could be an action game above all. The gameplay loop could be designed around deep and expressive combat, maybe evensharpening some ofZelda’s light RPG elementsfor a more flexible combat sandbox. The series has already established a diverse range of weapons and magical abilities, so it would be interesting to see Nintendo draw on them with a more explicit combat focus.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
WHERE TO PLAY
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is the sequel to the beloved open-world adventure, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. This installment once again sees Link and Zelda battling to protect Hyrule from falling to Ganondorf. This new adventure takes place in the same land of Hyrule as Breath of the Wild but sees something called the Upheaval, which allows link to travel to Sky Islands, as well as deep into the Depths beneath Hyrule. Players can use special abilities to fuse together weapons, and build items to help them progress through the release.
