Nintendo
The classic formula of The Legend of Zelda is that of "games of the past"
The producer of the series reflects on the fact that today’s games give players the freedom to choose their path.
Eiji Aonuma, producer of The Legend of Zelda series, is clear: The classic formula of The Legend of Zelda is a thing of the past. He made this clear in an interview with IGN, where he explained his point of view on the matter.
“Games where you need to follow a specific set of steps or complete tasks in a very set order are kind of the games of the past. Whereas currently the games of today are ones in which that can accept a player’s own decisions and give them the freedom to flexibly proceed through the game, and the game will allow for that. So I’m in complete agreement with that as our design philosophy, but as the producer, I do have to admit making games that way always carries with it additional development costs. And that is something I have to think about.”
Aonoma argues that people tend to want what they don’t have. “I also think that with the freedom players have in the newer games in the series... they still have a certain path, they just have a choice.” He does, however, understand that there is a certain nostalgia in the longing for the return of the Ocarina of Time or The Wind Waker formula.
The producer also said that when they were making Breath of the Wild, they questioned their design ideas, so they rethought the theme of the dungeons. However, they listened to the community and wanted to add more depth to the dungeons in Tears of the Kingdom, the sequel to the Nintendo Switch masterpiece.
Will there be a sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom?
He’s mentioned it several times, but Eiji Aonoma doesn’t seem to be in the mood to make another The Legend of Zelda set in the same open-world Hyrule as Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom:
“That would be a sequel to a sequel, which is getting a little bit wild when you think about it!,” he reflected to Game Informer. “But as I’ve mentioned previously, with Tears of the Kingdom, we were seeking to build on top of the world we created with Breath of the Wild and really exhaust the possibilities of what we could put into that world. I think it is – to use a bit of a term – an apotheosis, or the final form of that version of The Legend of Zelda. In that regard, I don’t think that we’ll be making a direct sequel to a world such as that that we’ve created.”