Daily Debate: Would You Enjoy a Souls-Like Zelda Game?

Playing the recently released Elden Ring, I began to think of how a Souls-like Zelda title could work.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild certainly borrows elements from the Souls genre, most notably powerful enemies and weapons placed throughout the environment. Though Breath of the Wild is an open world—or open air, according to Nintendo—and Dark Souls is not, they share elements of exploration. What separates Breath of the Wild from Souls-like games more than its world, though, is its difficulty, where the monsters across Hyrule will scale with the player’s progression, as opposed to being an assortment of varied difficulties placed throughout the world from the start.

Breath of the Wild‘s Master Mode difficulty does this to some extent, but it’s still heavily reliant on scaling enemies with the player. Given the Zelda franchise’s place as a series of games meant to be approachable to all skill levels, an outright Souls-style level of difficulty would be out of place. That said, I would love to see elements of Souls-like difficulty implemented in future titles, with stronger enemies—mobs and bosses alike—placed throughout the world that remain difficult from the start and do not scale with the player. That way, should a player slay such an enemy in the early game, they may have a grandiose feeling of power. Likewise, when a player returns to defeat an enemy after hours of leveling, they may feel a greater sense of accomplishment than if the enemy had simply scaled to match the player’s power. What’s more, a stronger and wider variety of enemies could open many new paths to world building. Were the upcoming sequel to Breath of the Wild to implement such features, that would be a great boon in its gameplay.

Would you like to see Souls-like Zelda? Or would it be better to simply borrow some elements from the Souls genre? Should such elements find their way into the sequel to Breath of the Wild? Let us know in the comments below!

John Piland

John has been a Zelda fan for over 10 years now and is proud to say the series has had a major impact on his life (and wallet). After years of going to Zelda Dungeon for guides or the latest news on the series, John achieved their dream when they joined the writing team in 2019; John can hardly believe how long it’s been. A librarian, he loves meticulously arranging his library of Zelda games and collectibles. After what felt like an eternity of waiting for Tears of the Kingdom, John looks forward to the future of the Zelda franchise with enthusiasm, whether that’s the upcoming movie, a new spin-off/remake, or the next big game.