Topic: Thoughts for the next Zelda game?

Just wondering what thoughts you have on what the next Zelda game should be like?

Don't hate me but I am not a fan of Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom and all those Hyrule Warriors.

BOTW/TOTK were both epic games in terms of scale and content, but personally I found them really boring and didn't feel like Zelda to me. The constant search for weapons that broke far too easily, and constant running around for hours gathering food, arrows and all the other tedious stuff just got so boring, and it felt 'lonely' running around all the time in vast open empty areas of nothingness.

I want a Zelda game in the traditional style where weapons don't break, you don't have to constantly run around looking for food and cooking and forging, I just want to pick up a weapon and go, and I want enemies to drop hearts and stuff to pick up along the way, and I want dungeons to explore and puzzles to solve.

I just want them to go back to the traditional formula and I really hope they do.

Please no more BOTW style Zelda games.

Between Tears of the Kingdom, Echoes of Wisdom, and Age of Imprisonment we've gotten a good mix of different Zelda styles in the last 3 years.

I'm guessing 2026 will have either a port or remake of a traditional Zelda game.

In terms of brand new mainline games? Echoes of Wisdom was very traditional in some ways though obviously not the combat. I would love a brand new fully traditional Zelda game but with both Link and Zelda playable - 2D or 3D, take your pick.

For the next Zelda game, I suspect Nintendo will try to blend together the styles of traditional and modern era Zelda.

It would have an open world (ideally, one not set in Hyrule) and emphasize exploring the world as a way to get stronger. There should be plenty to do throughout the open world.

The story, however would be less open than BOTW/TOTK to improve the narrative, while still preserving some amount of player choice. I think they used Echoes of Wisdom as a sort of test run for this, with how the story is linear before guiding the player into a selection of 3 places to go, then returning to linearity after all 3 options are completed, and then repeating once more. This would allow the new Zelda game to have a more coherent story while not abandoning player freedom.

I also presume dungeons will see a return to form with classic dungeons, as BOTW and TOTK disappointed many in that regard.

Finally, I hope we get better, more action driven combat in the next Zelda, as BOTW made combat feel rather sluggish and rigid.

Overall, I expect the next Zelda game to exhibit a design that balances the new and old styles of Zelda.

Zelda + Minecraft + Animal Crossing = Portal Knights / Dragon Quest Builders

I will buy DAY ONE for Dragon Quest Builders style of Zelda games with Toon Link as the main character and he can get customized with different hair style, skin tone, outfits, even his house.

I have no certainty as to what form the next Zelda will take, but I am certain that folks are gonna have Chernobyl-level meltdowns when they find out that it isn't like OoT/LttP.

If a game is set in Hyrule, I want a huge central hub where Hyrule is bustling, a city with the castle in the center of it all. And I want an open world Zelda where there is a focus on a return of dungeons and items. I don’t mind that weapons are breakable, but I would like the Master Sword to be unbreakable…with other weapons that can be stronger. I love TOTK/BOTW and would welcome a return with a few changes that bring back a more classic feel. But whatever they make, I cannot wait. Ultimately I don’t think what I want will be anywhere close to as good as what Nintendo makes.

Go back to its roots with the top down game play like A Link to the Past. I wouldn't mind a Zelda game like Skyrim but for god sakes someone give the smiths of Hyrule lessons on how to build better weapons. I dont need nor want weapons breaking after every hit. I can understand having a durability meter or number something like Diablo or even WoW but breaking after every hit is just poor construction.

If we are talking about ports or remakes, then I'd love to see A Link Between Worlds come to Switch/Switch 2. Its just wrong that that game is locked to a dead console. I am sure there are alot of people who have never played this game or like me want to play it again but dont have access to a 3DS. Its time to bring it over.

I think people get way too hung up on weapon durability when criticizing Breath/Tears. Yes, I can get why not everyone cares for it and yeah, it can get annoying in a few ways. But it's not something we gotta bring up every time. There's nothing saying that every future Zelda is going to have that so why make such a fuss about it is what I'm asking.

I hope a completely new open world with more unpredictable elements and new combat/weapon mechanics. I DON'T want the old style Zelda back they milked it to death. Also I want to get lost in an immersive world, not crawl dungeons with puzzles from the 90's that's just boring!

@N00BiSH Well, untill they change it it is something that needs to be brought up otherwise they wont change it. And the writing on the wall is that it will be in future Zelda games because its been in the past two with no indication from Nintendo that it will change.

As I said I am not against weapon or armor degradation, but not after every battle
When the majority of you backpack is filled with weapons because after every hit they break you got a serious problem.

See, this is a line of thinking I disagree with entirely. It's working under the assumption that the next Zelda game is going to be just BotW3, which I personally believe is very unlikely.

I mean ... it wasn't 3D, but Echoes of Wisdom was already the next mainline Zelda after TotK. It definitely took some ideas from TotK, but it didn't have weapon/item breakage.

That said, this is a wishlist thread so saying what aspects of previous zeldas you want and don't want is reasonable.

I would like:

• Heart containers
• dungeons
• Areas which are unlocked from special equipment items you eventually earn
• Unbreakable items
• keys
• playable Zelda

Indifferent about:

• stamina bar

Don't want:

• horses unless they are less janky feeling to control

Something else I would like to see in the next big Zelda game is a villain who isn't just evil and darkness incarnate like Ganon or Ganondorf. A villain with more complex motivations than simply wanting to rule/destroy the world for the heck of it would make for a far more interesting narrative. It could also help the fight design if the villain had unique abilities rather than just typical darkness attacks.

They've shown they can annul lore details when necessary, so they can ignore Demise's curse in order to create a fresh and innovative antagonist.

@N00BiSH I wouldn't say BotW3 you need a second one for there to be a third. But once Nintendo gets an idea in their head its hard for them to change. For example look how many 3D main line Zelda games we have had since the series went to 3D compared to top down Zeldas. They way they put so much emphasis on their idea of weapon durability it will be in the next game for sure. I can hope that they will go for more like a durability rating like Skyrim instead of weapons made out of glass but again its not going to happen. Nintendo does stuff different because they feel they need to no matter if its a good idea or a bad idea.

Which is something that I don't believe is going to happen anytime soon. BotW's creation stemmed from a lot of things, among them being EPD3 feeling trapped by the suffocatingly linear format of Zeldas past. If they want the the freedom to adapt and move the series forward then they're probably not going to make games of the exact same ilk as BotW. Otherwise the whole risk would be for naught.

Such a gross overstatement. Yes, the game does encourage improvisation through weapon durability. That does not however mean that the game lives or dies on the mechanic. It's really not that big of a deal and there's nothing that says every game is going to have weapon durability. Until I'm proven wrong, I'm going to say that you're worrying over nothing.

I would like a smaller Zelda not necessarily traditional style but not as big as BOTW. I want a new Zelda to feel like the Great Plateau and The Great Sky Island not really like the open world portions of their respective games. These portions felt hand crafted and everything felt like it was in the right place based on where you were so far. With being able to go anywhere in BOTW the hand crafted feel was less apparent. I want a very dense smaller map with meaningful stuff to explore everywhere. Also I think RPG elements in a Zelda game would be spectacular but they would need to do it just right maybe not typical XP level up but more progression than better breakable weapons. Also nothing like The Depths, that was pretty much empty with minimal stuff to explore.

On the weapon durability front, Tears of the Kingdom threw us a bone or two in the shape of fuse, which greatly increases it, and rock octoroks, which can be used to repair a damaged weapon. So, you have got an alternative to just using weapons until they break, which is all that you can do in Breath of the Wild, and that's rather handy when the quality of your weapons starts to plateau.

Also, Tears of the Kingdom ends on a lengthy linear dungeon, that's far more difficult to short cut than Hyrule Castle, so such considerations clearly aren't alien to the team. They just value flexibility above all else when it comes to the mid game, and that's reflected in the designs of the temples and divine beasts.

@N00BiSH Who's worried. I'm not. Just means I dont play a Zelda game till that is refined or removed entirely, hardly anything to worry about. Maybe stop worrying about others opinions.

@Tasuki the fact that you keep bringing it up like it's a problem says otherwise but sure whatever. I don't need the headache.

I just want good sidequests. This is the same series as Majora's Mask and Skyward Sword, we can do better than this.