Daily Debate: Would The Next Zelda Game Benefit From Horror Genre Influences?

Now that October is in full swing, it’s only natural that the mind turns to spooky themes. With horror movies, games, and shows coming out in droves it begs the question, could the Zelda series benefit from taking a few notes from the horror genre? Obviously The Legend of Zelda is both presented and marketed as family friendly, so having a bunch of gore or blatant murder is probably not a good idea, but the series is also no stranger to including darker themes. Dungeons such as the Forest Temple (Ocarina of Time), Shadow Temple (Ocarina of Time), a fair chunk of Majora’s Mask, Twilight Princess’ entire concept of the Twili and the Dark Interlopers all exhibit some form of creepiness or horror.

With this being said, what if Nintendo were to include more of such things? Perhaps a creeping corruption from Ganondorf has begun corrupting villagers of Hyrule Town. Slowly, insidiously, it begins to cause them to have malicious thoughts. The thoughts then turn to violence. Now Link must investigate the corruption and figure out how to stop it from spreading before Ganondorf can use it to take over. Perhaps evil monsters are more your flavor? Investigating the dark and abandoned tombs have been done before, but what if they weren’t just tombs, but portals into what might exist as an afterlife in Hyrule? Exploration of this spiritual realm could both be an opportunity for adventure as well as a way to expand upon why Gibdos, Poes, Redeads, and Stalfos are created or exist.

What do you think? Could the Zelda series use a little tender lovin’ care from the horror genre? Let us know in the comments below!

Taylor Wells is an Original Content Writer at Zelda Informer. Want to ridicule his terrible, fleeting fascination with the undead or share in his love of all things Zelda? Feel free to hit him up on Twitter, Twitch, or in the comments below!