Daily Debate: What New Features Could Justify Another Game Set in Breath of the Wild’s Hyrule?

In a recent interview with Famitsu, The Legend of Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma ruled out the possibility of Tears of the Kingdom DLC, saying, “There are no plans to release additional content this time, but that’s because I feel like we’ve done everything we can to create fun in that world.” He did however leave the door open for more games in Breath of the Wild‘s Hyrule, adding, “The reason I decided to make [Tears of the Kingdom] a sequel to the previous work was because I thought there was value in experiencing a new game in that Hyrule place [sic]. If that’s the case, if a new reason arises, we might return to the same world again. Whether it’s a sequel or a new work, I think it’s going to be a completely new game, so I hope you’re looking forward to it.”

Like many of you, I felt a certain degree of fatigue with the map in Tears of the Kingdom, so I’m less than thrilled to hear that the door is open to set another game here. This isn’t to say I didn’t enjoy Tears of the Kingdom — quite the contrary — but exploration lost its luster since I had already explored this world inside and out in previous games. To revisit that same map again would be stretching my tolerance, even if they were to add exciting new gameplay elements.

That being said, what could Nintendo do to justify another game set in the same world as Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom, and Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity?

Age of Calamity was the first game to revisit Breath of the Wild‘s Hyrule. Being an entry in the Hyrule Warriors spin-off series, this gave us a chance to visit a pre-Calamity Hyrule with an entirely different gameplay style. Pre-Calamity towns and settlements made the map feel fresh, even when we revisited noteworthy locations from Breath of the Wild. All of these new elements amounted to a distinct game that didn’t feel like a rehash.

Tears of the Kingdom presented a massive new gameplay element with Ultrahand, which completely changed how we interreacted with the world. We also saw the inclusion of Sky Islands and the Depths, which expanded the map from Breath of the Wild in a meaningful way. These two elements combined did more than enough to justify Tears of the Kingdom‘s existence, though with all of Breath of the Wild‘s core gameplay mechanics intact, it very much felt like a sequel to Breath of the Wild — and I suspect that its legacy may fail to distinguish it from Breath of the Wild, much like how the Oracle games are intrinsically connected.

With all of that in mind, a new game in this world would, in my opinion, feel like a retread of worn-out ideas if Breath of the Wild‘s design philosophy and core mechanics were left unchanged, even with the introduction of new abilities. The excitement of exploration would be gone, and the possibilities within that world would be limited by the lore it had already established. Making this world feel fresh and new would take an Age of Calamity-level gameplay shift and an entirely new genre.

Genres that I think could justify a return to Breath of the Wild‘s Hyrule are:

  1. Real-Time Strategy (Warcraft, Age of Empires)
  2. Tactical Role-Playing (Fire Emblem, Triangle Strategy)
  3. Turn-Based RPG (Final Fantasy, Ocotopath Traveler)

I’ll leave the decision on whether these are fair recommendations or not up to you. Regardless, to justify pulling players back into the same version of Hyrule for a fourth time, Nintendo will need to apply a massive gameplay shift.

So, what do you think? Do you think Nintendo could pull off another game in Breath of the Wild‘s Hyrule? What would you like to see from the next Zelda game? What other genres would you like the Zelda series to explore? Let us know in the comments.

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