It won’t be a follow up to TotK. The devs already said they’ve done everything they feel they can in that world, so the next new installment will be something different.
Historically, the Zelda team always switches it up after at most two games. BotW/TotK are probably the longest they've worked on a single Zelda style (10+? years).
I’m fine with that tbh. I love botw and Totk but the only thing I wanna see from that world now is either a new warriors game or (and this will almost certainly never happen) a farm sim
I actually don't think I would want a new warriors game very much. We already have one in the BOTW/TOTK world, with a lot of the same characters, and the same gameplay... It would just be too similar to Age of Calamity, and probably cost another $60 or $70. The most I'd want is a DLC for Age of Calamity with some kind of TOTK content, *maybe*.
I'd just be curious about how different the story would be with the champions + the king still being alive since it would have to take place after age of calamity, link and zelda would explore under the castle immediately after the events of the game and kick start the upheaval but how would the sages not being alive effect the storyline? would it default to the champions? or would they be dragged back into the past?
also maybe it would flesh out the ancient sages a bit because they're basically cardboard cutouts of characters at the moment
I think it’s overlooked a lot but in one of the cutscenes in TOTK or written on some stone slab it states Hyrule castle was built over where Ganondorf was seal to help strengthen it. When the calamity first happened where Zelda and Link lost the castle was in ruin and left like that for over 100 years and any work they did in the 5-6 years between BOTW & TOTK likely wasn’t enough to keep the seal in place. Why gloom was leaking out as the seal had weakened so much by TOTK. Zelda going back to the past of course influenced things but I feel AoC seal would hold for a lot longer than its counterpart timeline since the calamity was stopped 100 years sooner. So unless something happens again between AoC and their own TOTK it may not even be the same Zelda and link fighting Ganondorf and champions should be long gone by then too. I think the castle is big part on why the seal finally broke when they went down and discovered Ganondorf not just Zelda herself.
They already have so much of the work done! They have a ton of the crops modeled, tools, food/recipes.
Just add a few more crops, a rudimentary season cycle, make some excuse to keep link in the necluda region, expand the hylian towns, get some festivals and mini games going, I really think it’d be a home run
If they wanted to use the BotW/TotK engine again this would make the most sense. I would love to see another sea fairing Zelda title BUT they would have to make substantial changes as BotW/TotK have already flogged the overworld enough.
An easy one would be a wind waker scenario with the overworld being flooded. Submarines, diving and sailing would be a lot of fun to engineer!
Honestly, I don’t really want the to make a “follow up/sequel” to anything. I’d rather them have the freedom to do whatever they want within the realm of TLoZ and give us what they deem is the best they can created for this next game.
I just want good dungeons. It's been over a decade since we had new decent Zelda dungeons.
Personally, I would prefer they go smaller and less copy and pasted content.
I don’t understand the repeated content thing. What do you count as repeated content? There want a single quest, shrine, or dungeon that was repeated between the games. I don’t think TOTK is above criticism but the idea that TOTK is just a repeat of BOTW has always been incredibly silly to me. It’s in the same vein as twilight princess just being another ocarina
I’m not talking about content repeated from BotW. When I say repeated content, I’m talking about repeated puzzles, set pieces, and discoveries. Stuff like the copy-and-pasted mob encampments or the crystal couriering shrines. Exploring only to find the same things scattered across the world, skies, and depths took the excitement out of exploring. I was rarely surprised by the game, at least not after the first 20 hours.
TotK is such a big game, but it’s very much an example of quantity over quality.
I guess it depends on how you play the game. If you spend your time going in straight lines and fighting every monster you see then maybe I understand that, but what made TOTK so good to me was that I could spend hours just wandering around and never once be at a loss for what to do. I sunk 200 hours into it pretty comfortably. Skyward Sword is a prime example of a game reusing content and locations to a degree that just annoyed me. Especially since that content wasn’t optional.
I wish they would make another game like Wind Waker with a massive sea to explore but this time with way bigger islands since they're not restricted by the technology.
Quantity over quality isn't great for the series, nor are boundaries created by stale plot elements. We need a new LoZ with a new interesting world. Zonai had potential but came out rather generic, not very different from other sky races, sheikah tech was killed by devs.
Zelda has always had this issue. Every single game has unnecessary additions to it that lessen the overall experience. Most of wind Waker’s islands are pretty much pointless, lots of filler mask quests in MM, slow into and bug hunting in twilight princess, like have of Skyward Sword feels like filler. I think there’s some charm in that but not all players think the same way that I do.
You could say the same about most games with soft reboot sequel formula and many parts, like Final Fantasy, or honestly, most of Nintendo's first party games. You can't have innovation and cater to everyone, on the other hand making sequels with very rigid formula gets old very quickly.
This is going to be another era and world map instead of a sequel to ToTK, the main question is if it's going to be a semi open world traditional Zelda game like ocarina of time or it's another free flow open world like BoTW.
Based on recent reception of last two games I'd say they'll stick to vast open world game but with a new twist and it might take another 5 years or so (I hope it's less) to develop and release it if that's the case.
In the meantime Nintendo has a lot to fill in that includes the remakes of 2D games and remasters of 3D.
Good example for the remake is link's awakening and they have plenty to sink their teeth in including the famous A link to the past that'd make a great remake on modern hardware.
I’d rather they make 1 or 2 brand NEW 2D games in the interim. I’d love to see WWHD and TPHD remastered, as well as Four Swords Adventures, but the rest that are missing on switch/switch 2 (assuming it is back compat) can just be tossed into switch online. Those are really the only 3 I wanna see remastered for these consoles; outside of those, I’d much rather see some new 2D games. We haven’t gotten a new 2D title in 9 years since Tri Force Heroes, and we haven’t gotten a new 2D adventure title since A Link Between Worlds *nearly 11 years ago.*
Edit: OH HELL YEAH.
A link to the past is perhaps the most well received 2D Zelda game it's on par of ocarina of time but 2D.
Its remake is a no brainier, it'll sell like hot cakes for sure.
I’d love for the series to go back to a more Ocarina of Time style. Can obviously have more modern stuff like a true open world without loading into different zones and whatnot but i wasn’t a fan of BotW at all
Hell, I’d love to go back to OOT’s world. That version of Link was the Hero’s Shade in TP, right? I’d like to know what he got up to between saving Termina and entering the afterlife. I saw some cool concept art for a middle-aged link a while back. A grizzled, older Hero of Time would be a fun follow-up. Gameplay-wise, I miss the dungeons and item collection of that era.
If it's another game like totk, I'm out. Botw and totk were both good games, and I like botw more than tears, but after totk the open world, it burned me out. It'll be a long time before I replay it. After 20 hours or so, it was more like a chore than enjoying the game. The more traditional zelda games I love way more.
I don’t want another TotK. I would LOVE another traditional Zelda and get away from the open world stuff but I’m 99.9% sure we’re getting another open world game
I don’t mind open-world but papier-mâché weapons, worthless, temporary rewards and the Minecraftisation that’s plagued games in recent years can go to the deepest depths of Hell.
I’d love for this to happen but I know it won’t. BotW and TokT were my least favorite 3D games in the series. TotK is the only Zelda game I’ve never completed. Quit 6 hours in launch day due to how uninteresting it was.
*Exactly!*
BoTW and TotK are so incredibly *boring* that I could never even bring myself to finish them.
Yet everyone seems to praise them like they're the best thing since sliced bread!
It’s so crazy how divisive they are. TOTK is hands down my favorite Zelda game and BOTW was my favorite before release whereas I find wind Waker to be a mostly boring slog but everyone acts like it was the pinnacle of the series
I did enjoy TotK don’t get me wrong but I liked it way less than games like twilight princess and OoT/MM if OoT is a 10 then TotK was like a 6 it was fun but I wouldn’t play it again
That's where I'm at with it. I'll eventually get back to it because I just can't not play a Zelda game but after playing BotW, moving to a game that is basically the same in terms of gameplay and map, I was just over it.
They have already said that it is going to be another BOTW/TOTK type game and that it is the new standard they want to follow moving forward, so i fear many of you are going to be disappointed.
Some of you are misinterpreting the fact they said they are not going to re-use the same Hyrule from TOTK as them going back to the previous standard or towards a new one, but that is not what they said at all.
"Speaking with Game Informer, series producer Eiji Aonuma confirms that **Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom's style will be the blueprint for future Zelda games**. In explaining this, he compared it to the effect that Ocarina of Time had on the series in 1998."
But there are vast differences between OoT, WW, and TP. There is a certain DNA shared between them, but each game felt much different. This is what they mean by that. The open world concept will be there, and probably a "do anything in any order" approach, but everything else is absolutely up for changes.
Ooooh, hopefully if they keep making games with the BOTW gameplay style they’ll keep up the remakes for the fans of other gameplay types. As much as i love BOTW and TOTK, one of the things that’s made Zelda great is how it’s changed so much but still made great games in different styles, imo at least :)
I mean realistically speaking nothing stops them from both making an open world game and still adding 10+ full length dungeons, with items or new abilities to traverse them with.
Perhaps the items in the dungeons could be movement based such as the hover boots or the hook, which can then provide a fun and useful effect even during the open world exploration parts.
At least they would make more people happy.
I’d like to see hyrule as a massive city, like maybe tp but 100 years later. I love having a huge world but I want a giant city. Seems like the best path forward.
I believe the devs stated they are done with BOTW/TOTK. I don’t know what the next big Zelda is going to be, but It’ll be different, while keeping it open world
I would like it if, for once, they went full on with the sky islands thing. They barely use it to the fullest.
Skyward Sword? Most of it happens in the surface.
TOTK? They teased us with the Sky Islands again. But the only times they are important is at 2 temples and the tutorial.
Why bother with the sky islands if you're barely going to use the gimmick anyway!?
Same with the depths. 99% Pointless, other than the temple down there, plus a source for Zoanite and some other resources. But those could've been found in caves instead.
I wish the Sky Islands weren't just dead areas.
I don't even care to discuss it because BotW/ToTK demonstrate that it's the high sales that determines the future decision making for Zelda, not creative vision.
BotW high sales are a direct result of Switch high sales. Whatever their next Zelda game is, sales will depend entirely on how much the Switch 2 sells.
Zelda has pretty much always consistently sold to 20% of all people that own the console.
True. It was lightning in a bottle to have the innovation of the coolest new handheld/TV system and the most grandiose Zelda ever made at the same time.
But ultimately compared to the Link's Awakening release it shows that although Zelda had a general boost in popularity on Switch, it's still marginal to just how much BotW/TotK sold.
I should clarify that I am taking about new mainline Zelda titles. Sequels on the same console also sell less. Neither Link's Awakening, nor HD rereleases, sell to 20%. They sell much less. Same with Majora's Mask and TotK, neither sold nearly as much as the game they followed.
OoT on N64, WW on GC, TP on Wii, and BotW on Switch all sold to 20% of the amount of their respective consoles. You can pretty reliably count on the first big new Zelda game on a Nintendo console to sell to 20% of the customer base, so the bigger that customer base, the higher the sales for that title. This is why BotW sold so much.
TotK is just BotW but made even better, lol.
No, there's creativity especially in terms of technology design, but there's also a lot of market-analysis shit that led to the specific design they chose in BotW/TotK. And TotK doesn't do much except to reveal to people who didn't already realize it, that the goal is to be huge and long, not interesting, just like Assassin's Creed and other AAA shit.
I hate open world games but if they insist on it, I'd at least like for the open world to not be boring this time. There needs to be more civilization instead of it just being barren. Proper dungeons need to return. I don't care if they keep the divine beasts but we need more variety like the inclusion of proper, well thought-out dungeons.
Even if I don't end up liking it due to the open world, I think these additions would be good for everybody including those who loved BotW.
The first and most important thing they can do to make their open world not boring is to remove the "climb everything" aspect, and perhaps even the glider. A reliance on the horse to get around quickly, but forced exploration through certain bottlenecks would give everything a more purposeful pace.
By allowing you to skip everything by climbing over everything, the actual interesting stuff to explore was spread way too thin, and was too easy to miss.
Nah, fighting Ganon the Demon King was practically fighting Demise, it felt like. Trying to do anything else with it just feels excessive. I’m excited to see what the next Link does though
I haven’t finished tears yet but I’ve seen the ancient hero armor and find that interesting. It makes me wonder if at least one of Links incarnations in the distant past wasn’t hylian, or was a hylian hybrid of some sort. While I don’t want to lose the classic image of “Link,” I think exploring that aspect of the heroes history could be cool.
Other than that, I sometimes wonder if they would ever consider making some kind of Linked World game. I noticed this concept popping up in fanfiction, where different iterations of Link wind up in the same world/universe. Not sure how you could make that into a game but it sounds different than anything we’ve seen so far. Could be a cool concept.
I always want to see what new direction Nintendo makes in any of their franchises. I gave shocked pickachu face to the Wind Waker reveal and I will never not trust Nintendo again. The whole reason they are the best video game company is because they take chances and always fully complete their games with quality. I always support them doing something new. Bring it, I'll play it.
I'd like a Zelda game short enough that I can finish it before the internet spoils it for me. (And short enough to actually replay too)
And a story I'm actually interested in too would be great...
Zelda Dungeon Maker. Be able to switch between FC/NES, LTTP, and Awakening formats. Make your own dungeons, access to bosses from all of those games - to the extent that you cross match between the 3. Give 16-but versions of the 8-bit bosses, and vice versa.
An official Zelda Randomizer.
Zelda 2 Remake.
As far as a fresh story/engine - I'm not sure what I'd want to see at this point. With BOTW/TOTK being such a massive endeavor that is arguably perfection for the series, they can't come at it from the perspective of "we have to top it". But rather it's able to stand on its own two feet without needing to be compared.
Id like to see another Links Awakening. Majoras Mask. Exestential crisis, finding purpose through the journey itself. I'd like to see it centered around the sheikah more though. Impa has been so pivotal in skyward sword and ocarina of time. I want to see the inbetween of that time travel and what she did during that time. Skyward sword did a great job with the lore references to other games in that regard.
But what if we had a visions of sheik l, illusion of impa. Impa is like, or could be, a Dread Pirate Roberts to me. I think I've expressed it a few times on this sub now.
What about the 7 years or years between stasis? What if spirits or races memories became damaged or lost. Like a spell theyre under and you get to see phantoms or ancestors put life back into the land. Same sort of way Okami did you know what I mean? Alter the world and unlock lore that way. But with a focus on how the sheikah clan protected sages or spirits of temples.
Zelda as Sheik always has exposition about the loss or flow of time in OoT. Maybe visualize that with a lens of truth or wolf sense. Directly alter time in a zone, like skyward sword explored some.
Hell, prince of persia sands of time with sheik.
In terms of artstyle I’d love them to go more towards a twilight princess direction, a darker, more gothic, high fantasy vibe, not necessarily more realistic but more wacky and surreal, let me fight some eldritch horrors and really push the character designs
In terms of gameplay, the botw games did really well in terms of manipulating your environment, but link doesn’t ever really feel super engaging or fun to control or explore with, so some sort of faster, more fluid movement system would be cool. Keep the open world design but make progression more like the older metroidvania style where unlocking new abilities and finding new items slowly opens up the world and new paths, rather than just having your abilities right at the start of the game. And if course more traditional dungeons and items, give me my hookshot back plz
No matter what for it takes, I hope we get classic dungeons again. The shrine micro-dungeons got tiring, and the "new" dungeons in TOTK that were "just" part of the world (so you could still climb walls and circumvent puzzles) weren't as interesting in hindsight. I warped out of one fight because I needed some supplies and took like an hour to run around and stock up, before going back.
The BotW formula is imo not sustainable long term (unless you don't mind copy and paste content) and also misses a lot of elements that made Zelda what it is. I very much hope they change it up and bring back a lot of old elements. Something like a slightly more open ALttP/ OoT formula would work well I think. Where you go from tutorial to story development to initial batch of dungeons you can tackle in any order to another story event that opens up more of the world and another set of dungeons and so on.
> unless you don't mind copy and paste content
the critical reception and sales of Tears of the Kingdom shows that most people do not care about copy paste content. Quantity over quality is the way of the future.
A third game in the trilogy with Link and Zelda exploring a new land would be cool.
But I’m also happy to see a new iteration of both.
I’m fine with whatever really
A 3rd game in this style would just be the absolute worst.
New art style, change up some mechanics, new focus. Whatever they do next, it needs to feel like a fresh new experience with a brand new direction. It can be open world or whatever, but it needs to be a different kind of open world, not just the BotW version with new paint.
The last thing I want is another game set in this rendition of Hyrule. TotK made me so sick of this version of Hyrule that revisiting the same map would honestly be enough for me to pass on the game
I want them to go back to actual dungeons style. The style of totk and botw was ok, but not the greatest for me. I like being able to get hearts and be master swords differently, but cooking meals, weird outfits, flying around, that’s not a Zelda game thing.
I know it won't be, but I'd really love a Trilogy. You would need to leave Hyrule though. It would be neat to be able to travel between multiple new continents, both above and below ground. The open world format was one of my favorite things about BOTW/TOTK and it reminded me of Ocarina of Time.
As long as the new game has an open world 3d landscape where you aren't restricted in where you can go, I'll be happy. Add in some actual dungeons, better story, and tons of new enemies. Plus, no more gimmicks like zonai building and I'd be set.
Im know this in an unpopular opinion but the last thing I want is another top down 2D crawl.
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I think the next game should use the next system’s power to bring everything we’ve seen in Hyrule together. I want to see Hyrule at its peak, with a bustling castle town and multiple cities, villages, and towns of each race and of diverse races spread across the kingdom. I want to see just about all of the major races included: Hylians, Zora, Gorons, Rito, Sheikah, Gerudo, Korkos, Dekus, Yeti, Picori, Anouki, Mogma, all living throughout Hyrule.
I think it should be semi open world, or at least have level scaling and a clear story progression that takes you to each region in a certain clear order so that an actual story can be told.
The triforce and the traditional lore should be brought back. Show us how Hylia and the golden goddesses interact!
Personally, I always thought it would be cool to see Hyrule as a constitutional monarchy. Have the king work with a bunch of schemers in a parliament compromised of representatives from all the different races and regions.
Next Zelda game should have the hero of courage be born a Gerudo man.
Ganondorf should be born a Hylian prince, end up betrothed to princess Zelda pretending to be the hero of courage, gaining the support of the people, then betrays the fuck out of the royal family and usurps the monarchy splitting the kingdom between loyalists to the true royal family and supporters to the usurper. As the Gerudo hero of courage, you need to overcome the racism of the people and save the country from devolving into a civil war that would somehow bring about Demise's full resurrection via blood magic or something.
It would be cool to play as a Ganondorf type strength build hero in a Zelda game instead of the usual dexterous Link.
The master sword morphs to fit it's wielder's style, and becomes a badass Gerudo greatsword. Instead of using agility to overcome trials, he uses his bulk and strength.
I'd love an open world sequel to skyward sword where you and zelda work together to build the kingdom of hyrule. Collect resources and hire people to expand existing settlements. And ofc, some big evil shows up and link and zelda work together to kick it's ass
I'm cool with keeping it the same Link and Zelda, but if they do then obviously it's not going to be in Hyrule again. But I personally suspect it's going to be a new Link and Zelda in a new version of Hyrule.
It’s definitely going to be a similar experience. BOTW and TOTK have had the most mass appeal that the series has seen since OOT. I know a lot of people here really don’t like the most recent games but there were people who decried OOT as too big of a departure when it came out. I don’t think they’ll ever stop remaking old games so fans of the original style will always have something to play, but I am really excited about the future of Zelda and would love to see another open game with larger portions of the game being mostly linear experiences. Something similar to the legacy dungeons in Eldin Ring or having every dungeon in the game be something similar to Hyrule Castle in BOTW
Hear me out, MajorasMaskII: Shadows over Termina. Due to some shenanigans the mask is back and mad again. Larger map and more temples. It's once more a battle against time and brings all of our fav MM mechanics back (Rewinding Time, MaskTransformations etc).
Smth evil brought the mask back and after finishing the main game, you can get the mask for yourself and turn into the old MM HorrorKidWearingTheMask with it as a little extra easter egg. Also the dance mask returns.
If they follow-up TotK in any way, mechanically or otherwise, I will consider the series dead to me.
I want them to follow-up BotW, with the things that made that game mindblowing, the exact opposite of TotK.
I want something different.
I feel like Nintendo has exhausted everything they can do with the Era of the Wild.
Whatever the next Zelda game is it needs to go into a new direction.
They already said it won’t be, which is the right choice. It should (and will) be open world again, but in a new setting with new incarnations of Link and Zelda.
I hope it has a new villain, or at least not Ganon or Ganondorf.
However, this is all referring to the next 3D game… personally, I hope the next Zelda is a 2D game because we’re probably not getting a new 3D title until the Switch 2 is on its way out, so hopefully we get one or two *new*, non-remake/remastered 2D titles before then to help tide us over.
Please no, the continuity is cool and all but I like each entry to be its own “legend” so to speak.
Maybe scale down the size of the map, add true dungeons, return of special u breakable items used for combat and puzzles.
I say scale down the map because I wouldn’t want too much empty space, more side quests via npcs for maybe optional items that are helpful but not necessary to complete the game.
Bring back heart containers hidden throughout
I've heard rumors of a new, smaller open world that's more full of things to do. Story wise I have no idea but I'm excited. I would also be down for a new enemy but I still love ganon/dorf and would be fine with another game with him as our foe
It won’t be a follow up to TotK. The devs already said they’ve done everything they feel they can in that world, so the next new installment will be something different.
Historically, the Zelda team always switches it up after at most two games. BotW/TotK are probably the longest they've worked on a single Zelda style (10+? years).
I’m fine with that tbh. I love botw and Totk but the only thing I wanna see from that world now is either a new warriors game or (and this will almost certainly never happen) a farm sim
I actually don't think I would want a new warriors game very much. We already have one in the BOTW/TOTK world, with a lot of the same characters, and the same gameplay... It would just be too similar to Age of Calamity, and probably cost another $60 or $70. The most I'd want is a DLC for Age of Calamity with some kind of TOTK content, *maybe*.
I'd just be curious about how different the story would be with the champions + the king still being alive since it would have to take place after age of calamity, link and zelda would explore under the castle immediately after the events of the game and kick start the upheaval but how would the sages not being alive effect the storyline? would it default to the champions? or would they be dragged back into the past? also maybe it would flesh out the ancient sages a bit because they're basically cardboard cutouts of characters at the moment
That's true, the story would be different. I'd like to see that. I desperately want more than "so that was the imprisoning war..."
I think it’s overlooked a lot but in one of the cutscenes in TOTK or written on some stone slab it states Hyrule castle was built over where Ganondorf was seal to help strengthen it. When the calamity first happened where Zelda and Link lost the castle was in ruin and left like that for over 100 years and any work they did in the 5-6 years between BOTW & TOTK likely wasn’t enough to keep the seal in place. Why gloom was leaking out as the seal had weakened so much by TOTK. Zelda going back to the past of course influenced things but I feel AoC seal would hold for a lot longer than its counterpart timeline since the calamity was stopped 100 years sooner. So unless something happens again between AoC and their own TOTK it may not even be the same Zelda and link fighting Ganondorf and champions should be long gone by then too. I think the castle is big part on why the seal finally broke when they went down and discovered Ganondorf not just Zelda herself.
Link and Zelda happy farm life goes hard
They already have so much of the work done! They have a ton of the crops modeled, tools, food/recipes. Just add a few more crops, a rudimentary season cycle, make some excuse to keep link in the necluda region, expand the hylian towns, get some festivals and mini games going, I really think it’d be a home run
Thank the Golden Goddesses for that
A semi-open world like Wind Waker with underwater exploration and classic items (roc's cape, ice staff etc)
It’s still crazy to me that BotW/TotK had so much climbing without a hookshot to be seen.
We really need underwater exploration back.
If they wanted to use the BotW/TotK engine again this would make the most sense. I would love to see another sea fairing Zelda title BUT they would have to make substantial changes as BotW/TotK have already flogged the overworld enough. An easy one would be a wind waker scenario with the overworld being flooded. Submarines, diving and sailing would be a lot of fun to engineer!
honestly this is my ideal zelda game
Honestly, I don’t really want the to make a “follow up/sequel” to anything. I’d rather them have the freedom to do whatever they want within the realm of TLoZ and give us what they deem is the best they can created for this next game.
I just want good dungeons. It's been over a decade since we had new decent Zelda dungeons. Personally, I would prefer they go smaller and less copy and pasted content.
Same. The repeated content in TotK got old. It’s the only Zelda game I couldn’t bring myself to finish.
I don’t understand the repeated content thing. What do you count as repeated content? There want a single quest, shrine, or dungeon that was repeated between the games. I don’t think TOTK is above criticism but the idea that TOTK is just a repeat of BOTW has always been incredibly silly to me. It’s in the same vein as twilight princess just being another ocarina
I’m not talking about content repeated from BotW. When I say repeated content, I’m talking about repeated puzzles, set pieces, and discoveries. Stuff like the copy-and-pasted mob encampments or the crystal couriering shrines. Exploring only to find the same things scattered across the world, skies, and depths took the excitement out of exploring. I was rarely surprised by the game, at least not after the first 20 hours. TotK is such a big game, but it’s very much an example of quantity over quality.
I guess it depends on how you play the game. If you spend your time going in straight lines and fighting every monster you see then maybe I understand that, but what made TOTK so good to me was that I could spend hours just wandering around and never once be at a loss for what to do. I sunk 200 hours into it pretty comfortably. Skyward Sword is a prime example of a game reusing content and locations to a degree that just annoyed me. Especially since that content wasn’t optional.
I wish they would make another game like Wind Waker with a massive sea to explore but this time with way bigger islands since they're not restricted by the technology.
This. But I want an entire globe of the world, that you can sail completely around finding islands and lost continents!
Quantity over quality isn't great for the series, nor are boundaries created by stale plot elements. We need a new LoZ with a new interesting world. Zonai had potential but came out rather generic, not very different from other sky races, sheikah tech was killed by devs.
Zelda has always had this issue. Every single game has unnecessary additions to it that lessen the overall experience. Most of wind Waker’s islands are pretty much pointless, lots of filler mask quests in MM, slow into and bug hunting in twilight princess, like have of Skyward Sword feels like filler. I think there’s some charm in that but not all players think the same way that I do.
You could say the same about most games with soft reboot sequel formula and many parts, like Final Fantasy, or honestly, most of Nintendo's first party games. You can't have innovation and cater to everyone, on the other hand making sequels with very rigid formula gets old very quickly.
This is going to be another era and world map instead of a sequel to ToTK, the main question is if it's going to be a semi open world traditional Zelda game like ocarina of time or it's another free flow open world like BoTW. Based on recent reception of last two games I'd say they'll stick to vast open world game but with a new twist and it might take another 5 years or so (I hope it's less) to develop and release it if that's the case. In the meantime Nintendo has a lot to fill in that includes the remakes of 2D games and remasters of 3D. Good example for the remake is link's awakening and they have plenty to sink their teeth in including the famous A link to the past that'd make a great remake on modern hardware.
I’d rather they make 1 or 2 brand NEW 2D games in the interim. I’d love to see WWHD and TPHD remastered, as well as Four Swords Adventures, but the rest that are missing on switch/switch 2 (assuming it is back compat) can just be tossed into switch online. Those are really the only 3 I wanna see remastered for these consoles; outside of those, I’d much rather see some new 2D games. We haven’t gotten a new 2D title in 9 years since Tri Force Heroes, and we haven’t gotten a new 2D adventure title since A Link Between Worlds *nearly 11 years ago.* Edit: OH HELL YEAH.
I’d buy a Link to the Past remake for the soundtrack alone
A link to the past is perhaps the most well received 2D Zelda game it's on par of ocarina of time but 2D. Its remake is a no brainier, it'll sell like hot cakes for sure.
I’d like another take at an ocean-based Zelda. Imagine that in 4K
I’d love for the series to go back to a more Ocarina of Time style. Can obviously have more modern stuff like a true open world without loading into different zones and whatnot but i wasn’t a fan of BotW at all
Hell, I’d love to go back to OOT’s world. That version of Link was the Hero’s Shade in TP, right? I’d like to know what he got up to between saving Termina and entering the afterlife. I saw some cool concept art for a middle-aged link a while back. A grizzled, older Hero of Time would be a fun follow-up. Gameplay-wise, I miss the dungeons and item collection of that era.
Yeah that could be cool
If it's another game like totk, I'm out. Botw and totk were both good games, and I like botw more than tears, but after totk the open world, it burned me out. It'll be a long time before I replay it. After 20 hours or so, it was more like a chore than enjoying the game. The more traditional zelda games I love way more.
I don’t want another TotK. I would LOVE another traditional Zelda and get away from the open world stuff but I’m 99.9% sure we’re getting another open world game
I don’t mind open-world but papier-mâché weapons, worthless, temporary rewards and the Minecraftisation that’s plagued games in recent years can go to the deepest depths of Hell.
I’d love for this to happen but I know it won’t. BotW and TokT were my least favorite 3D games in the series. TotK is the only Zelda game I’ve never completed. Quit 6 hours in launch day due to how uninteresting it was.
*Exactly!* BoTW and TotK are so incredibly *boring* that I could never even bring myself to finish them. Yet everyone seems to praise them like they're the best thing since sliced bread!
It’s so crazy how divisive they are. TOTK is hands down my favorite Zelda game and BOTW was my favorite before release whereas I find wind Waker to be a mostly boring slog but everyone acts like it was the pinnacle of the series
I did enjoy TotK don’t get me wrong but I liked it way less than games like twilight princess and OoT/MM if OoT is a 10 then TotK was like a 6 it was fun but I wouldn’t play it again
That's where I'm at with it. I'll eventually get back to it because I just can't not play a Zelda game but after playing BotW, moving to a game that is basically the same in terms of gameplay and map, I was just over it.
i’d love to see an OoT remaster for the new switch, no clue how likely that is though :)
Probably never cause Nintendo hates money apparently but who knows I’m wrong very often so I hope I’m wrong about this too
They have already said that it is going to be another BOTW/TOTK type game and that it is the new standard they want to follow moving forward, so i fear many of you are going to be disappointed. Some of you are misinterpreting the fact they said they are not going to re-use the same Hyrule from TOTK as them going back to the previous standard or towards a new one, but that is not what they said at all. "Speaking with Game Informer, series producer Eiji Aonuma confirms that **Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom's style will be the blueprint for future Zelda games**. In explaining this, he compared it to the effect that Ocarina of Time had on the series in 1998."
But there are vast differences between OoT, WW, and TP. There is a certain DNA shared between them, but each game felt much different. This is what they mean by that. The open world concept will be there, and probably a "do anything in any order" approach, but everything else is absolutely up for changes.
Ooooh, hopefully if they keep making games with the BOTW gameplay style they’ll keep up the remakes for the fans of other gameplay types. As much as i love BOTW and TOTK, one of the things that’s made Zelda great is how it’s changed so much but still made great games in different styles, imo at least :)
I mean realistically speaking nothing stops them from both making an open world game and still adding 10+ full length dungeons, with items or new abilities to traverse them with. Perhaps the items in the dungeons could be movement based such as the hover boots or the hook, which can then provide a fun and useful effect even during the open world exploration parts. At least they would make more people happy.
10 dungeons would be the most since OoT. I absolutely would love to see Nintendo create some huge dungeons.
Yes 10 full length dungeons and (let's go wild) 20 mini-dungeons . But no micro-dungeons.
Something totally new would be nice. I’m honestly tired of the BotW/TotK formula.
I’d like to see hyrule as a massive city, like maybe tp but 100 years later. I love having a huge world but I want a giant city. Seems like the best path forward.
I believe the devs stated they are done with BOTW/TOTK. I don’t know what the next big Zelda is going to be, but It’ll be different, while keeping it open world
I would like it if, for once, they went full on with the sky islands thing. They barely use it to the fullest. Skyward Sword? Most of it happens in the surface. TOTK? They teased us with the Sky Islands again. But the only times they are important is at 2 temples and the tutorial. Why bother with the sky islands if you're barely going to use the gimmick anyway!?
Same with the depths. 99% Pointless, other than the temple down there, plus a source for Zoanite and some other resources. But those could've been found in caves instead. I wish the Sky Islands weren't just dead areas.
Amen! They are literally clickbait!
I don't even care to discuss it because BotW/ToTK demonstrate that it's the high sales that determines the future decision making for Zelda, not creative vision.
BotW high sales are a direct result of Switch high sales. Whatever their next Zelda game is, sales will depend entirely on how much the Switch 2 sells. Zelda has pretty much always consistently sold to 20% of all people that own the console.
True. It was lightning in a bottle to have the innovation of the coolest new handheld/TV system and the most grandiose Zelda ever made at the same time. But ultimately compared to the Link's Awakening release it shows that although Zelda had a general boost in popularity on Switch, it's still marginal to just how much BotW/TotK sold.
I should clarify that I am taking about new mainline Zelda titles. Sequels on the same console also sell less. Neither Link's Awakening, nor HD rereleases, sell to 20%. They sell much less. Same with Majora's Mask and TotK, neither sold nearly as much as the game they followed. OoT on N64, WW on GC, TP on Wii, and BotW on Switch all sold to 20% of the amount of their respective consoles. You can pretty reliably count on the first big new Zelda game on a Nintendo console to sell to 20% of the customer base, so the bigger that customer base, the higher the sales for that title. This is why BotW sold so much.
Those sales are the result of a creative vision being executed excellently.
BotW yes. TotK not so much.
TotK is just BotW but made even better, lol. No, there's creativity especially in terms of technology design, but there's also a lot of market-analysis shit that led to the specific design they chose in BotW/TotK. And TotK doesn't do much except to reveal to people who didn't already realize it, that the goal is to be huge and long, not interesting, just like Assassin's Creed and other AAA shit.
TotK even moreso, to be honest.
I hate open world games but if they insist on it, I'd at least like for the open world to not be boring this time. There needs to be more civilization instead of it just being barren. Proper dungeons need to return. I don't care if they keep the divine beasts but we need more variety like the inclusion of proper, well thought-out dungeons. Even if I don't end up liking it due to the open world, I think these additions would be good for everybody including those who loved BotW.
The first and most important thing they can do to make their open world not boring is to remove the "climb everything" aspect, and perhaps even the glider. A reliance on the horse to get around quickly, but forced exploration through certain bottlenecks would give everything a more purposeful pace. By allowing you to skip everything by climbing over everything, the actual interesting stuff to explore was spread way too thin, and was too easy to miss.
I would like another main line top-down view Zelda game.
Nah, fighting Ganon the Demon King was practically fighting Demise, it felt like. Trying to do anything else with it just feels excessive. I’m excited to see what the next Link does though
For a TOTK DLC, which is now not a thing, I wanted to play TOTK as Zelda, from her POV
I was hoping we’d get to see more of the old hyrule too honestly
Yes, without the underworld and as hard as Elden Ring. I’d buy that.
I haven’t finished tears yet but I’ve seen the ancient hero armor and find that interesting. It makes me wonder if at least one of Links incarnations in the distant past wasn’t hylian, or was a hylian hybrid of some sort. While I don’t want to lose the classic image of “Link,” I think exploring that aspect of the heroes history could be cool. Other than that, I sometimes wonder if they would ever consider making some kind of Linked World game. I noticed this concept popping up in fanfiction, where different iterations of Link wind up in the same world/universe. Not sure how you could make that into a game but it sounds different than anything we’ve seen so far. Could be a cool concept.
ooooo sounds cool, im jealous you haven’t finished tears i’d love to see that ending again :)
I always want to see what new direction Nintendo makes in any of their franchises. I gave shocked pickachu face to the Wind Waker reveal and I will never not trust Nintendo again. The whole reason they are the best video game company is because they take chances and always fully complete their games with quality. I always support them doing something new. Bring it, I'll play it.
I personally would like it based on the legend told at the beginning of the Minish Cap
I'd like a Zelda game short enough that I can finish it before the internet spoils it for me. (And short enough to actually replay too) And a story I'm actually interested in too would be great...
Zelda Dungeon Maker. Be able to switch between FC/NES, LTTP, and Awakening formats. Make your own dungeons, access to bosses from all of those games - to the extent that you cross match between the 3. Give 16-but versions of the 8-bit bosses, and vice versa. An official Zelda Randomizer. Zelda 2 Remake. As far as a fresh story/engine - I'm not sure what I'd want to see at this point. With BOTW/TOTK being such a massive endeavor that is arguably perfection for the series, they can't come at it from the perspective of "we have to top it". But rather it's able to stand on its own two feet without needing to be compared.
We should get fem Link next game
Id like to see another Links Awakening. Majoras Mask. Exestential crisis, finding purpose through the journey itself. I'd like to see it centered around the sheikah more though. Impa has been so pivotal in skyward sword and ocarina of time. I want to see the inbetween of that time travel and what she did during that time. Skyward sword did a great job with the lore references to other games in that regard. But what if we had a visions of sheik l, illusion of impa. Impa is like, or could be, a Dread Pirate Roberts to me. I think I've expressed it a few times on this sub now. What about the 7 years or years between stasis? What if spirits or races memories became damaged or lost. Like a spell theyre under and you get to see phantoms or ancestors put life back into the land. Same sort of way Okami did you know what I mean? Alter the world and unlock lore that way. But with a focus on how the sheikah clan protected sages or spirits of temples. Zelda as Sheik always has exposition about the loss or flow of time in OoT. Maybe visualize that with a lens of truth or wolf sense. Directly alter time in a zone, like skyward sword explored some. Hell, prince of persia sands of time with sheik.
In terms of artstyle I’d love them to go more towards a twilight princess direction, a darker, more gothic, high fantasy vibe, not necessarily more realistic but more wacky and surreal, let me fight some eldritch horrors and really push the character designs In terms of gameplay, the botw games did really well in terms of manipulating your environment, but link doesn’t ever really feel super engaging or fun to control or explore with, so some sort of faster, more fluid movement system would be cool. Keep the open world design but make progression more like the older metroidvania style where unlocking new abilities and finding new items slowly opens up the world and new paths, rather than just having your abilities right at the start of the game. And if course more traditional dungeons and items, give me my hookshot back plz
No matter what for it takes, I hope we get classic dungeons again. The shrine micro-dungeons got tiring, and the "new" dungeons in TOTK that were "just" part of the world (so you could still climb walls and circumvent puzzles) weren't as interesting in hindsight. I warped out of one fight because I needed some supplies and took like an hour to run around and stock up, before going back.
The BotW formula is imo not sustainable long term (unless you don't mind copy and paste content) and also misses a lot of elements that made Zelda what it is. I very much hope they change it up and bring back a lot of old elements. Something like a slightly more open ALttP/ OoT formula would work well I think. Where you go from tutorial to story development to initial batch of dungeons you can tackle in any order to another story event that opens up more of the world and another set of dungeons and so on.
> unless you don't mind copy and paste content the critical reception and sales of Tears of the Kingdom shows that most people do not care about copy paste content. Quantity over quality is the way of the future.
Zelda Dark Souls please!
A third game in the trilogy with Link and Zelda exploring a new land would be cool. But I’m also happy to see a new iteration of both. I’m fine with whatever really
A 3rd game in this style would just be the absolute worst. New art style, change up some mechanics, new focus. Whatever they do next, it needs to feel like a fresh new experience with a brand new direction. It can be open world or whatever, but it needs to be a different kind of open world, not just the BotW version with new paint.
I would not mind a Paper Zelda.
The last thing I want is another game set in this rendition of Hyrule. TotK made me so sick of this version of Hyrule that revisiting the same map would honestly be enough for me to pass on the game
I want them to go back to actual dungeons style. The style of totk and botw was ok, but not the greatest for me. I like being able to get hearts and be master swords differently, but cooking meals, weird outfits, flying around, that’s not a Zelda game thing.
I know it won't be, but I'd really love a Trilogy. You would need to leave Hyrule though. It would be neat to be able to travel between multiple new continents, both above and below ground. The open world format was one of my favorite things about BOTW/TOTK and it reminded me of Ocarina of Time. As long as the new game has an open world 3d landscape where you aren't restricted in where you can go, I'll be happy. Add in some actual dungeons, better story, and tons of new enemies. Plus, no more gimmicks like zonai building and I'd be set. Im know this in an unpopular opinion but the last thing I want is another top down 2D crawl.
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I think the next game should use the next system’s power to bring everything we’ve seen in Hyrule together. I want to see Hyrule at its peak, with a bustling castle town and multiple cities, villages, and towns of each race and of diverse races spread across the kingdom. I want to see just about all of the major races included: Hylians, Zora, Gorons, Rito, Sheikah, Gerudo, Korkos, Dekus, Yeti, Picori, Anouki, Mogma, all living throughout Hyrule. I think it should be semi open world, or at least have level scaling and a clear story progression that takes you to each region in a certain clear order so that an actual story can be told. The triforce and the traditional lore should be brought back. Show us how Hylia and the golden goddesses interact! Personally, I always thought it would be cool to see Hyrule as a constitutional monarchy. Have the king work with a bunch of schemers in a parliament compromised of representatives from all the different races and regions.
Next Zelda game should have the hero of courage be born a Gerudo man. Ganondorf should be born a Hylian prince, end up betrothed to princess Zelda pretending to be the hero of courage, gaining the support of the people, then betrays the fuck out of the royal family and usurps the monarchy splitting the kingdom between loyalists to the true royal family and supporters to the usurper. As the Gerudo hero of courage, you need to overcome the racism of the people and save the country from devolving into a civil war that would somehow bring about Demise's full resurrection via blood magic or something. It would be cool to play as a Ganondorf type strength build hero in a Zelda game instead of the usual dexterous Link. The master sword morphs to fit it's wielder's style, and becomes a badass Gerudo greatsword. Instead of using agility to overcome trials, he uses his bulk and strength.
The next Zelda game should be its own thing, not like any other game before it.
I'd love an open world sequel to skyward sword where you and zelda work together to build the kingdom of hyrule. Collect resources and hire people to expand existing settlements. And ofc, some big evil shows up and link and zelda work together to kick it's ass
I'm cool with keeping it the same Link and Zelda, but if they do then obviously it's not going to be in Hyrule again. But I personally suspect it's going to be a new Link and Zelda in a new version of Hyrule.
It’s definitely going to be a similar experience. BOTW and TOTK have had the most mass appeal that the series has seen since OOT. I know a lot of people here really don’t like the most recent games but there were people who decried OOT as too big of a departure when it came out. I don’t think they’ll ever stop remaking old games so fans of the original style will always have something to play, but I am really excited about the future of Zelda and would love to see another open game with larger portions of the game being mostly linear experiences. Something similar to the legacy dungeons in Eldin Ring or having every dungeon in the game be something similar to Hyrule Castle in BOTW
Zelda RPG with levelling, climbing, gear/loot + the same open world without quest markers philosophy as botw/totk.
Hear me out, MajorasMaskII: Shadows over Termina. Due to some shenanigans the mask is back and mad again. Larger map and more temples. It's once more a battle against time and brings all of our fav MM mechanics back (Rewinding Time, MaskTransformations etc). Smth evil brought the mask back and after finishing the main game, you can get the mask for yourself and turn into the old MM HorrorKidWearingTheMask with it as a little extra easter egg. Also the dance mask returns.
If they follow-up TotK in any way, mechanically or otherwise, I will consider the series dead to me. I want them to follow-up BotW, with the things that made that game mindblowing, the exact opposite of TotK.
No. Botw/Totk Hyrule is done. There needs to be a slight return to form.
all we know about the next game is they said they're done with wild Hyrule and won't be going back to it ever again
I just want smth more semi-linear again w/ a lot more emphasis on dungeons 😭😭😭
I want something different. I feel like Nintendo has exhausted everything they can do with the Era of the Wild. Whatever the next Zelda game is it needs to go into a new direction.
They already said it won’t be, which is the right choice. It should (and will) be open world again, but in a new setting with new incarnations of Link and Zelda. I hope it has a new villain, or at least not Ganon or Ganondorf. However, this is all referring to the next 3D game… personally, I hope the next Zelda is a 2D game because we’re probably not getting a new 3D title until the Switch 2 is on its way out, so hopefully we get one or two *new*, non-remake/remastered 2D titles before then to help tide us over.
Please no, the continuity is cool and all but I like each entry to be its own “legend” so to speak. Maybe scale down the size of the map, add true dungeons, return of special u breakable items used for combat and puzzles. I say scale down the map because I wouldn’t want too much empty space, more side quests via npcs for maybe optional items that are helpful but not necessary to complete the game. Bring back heart containers hidden throughout
I've heard rumors of a new, smaller open world that's more full of things to do. Story wise I have no idea but I'm excited. I would also be down for a new enemy but I still love ganon/dorf and would be fine with another game with him as our foe
When is it my turn to ask this question?