Things we want in the next Zelda game

Breath of the Wild was crazy good, but there's always room for improvement.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was our Game of the Year 2017 thanks to its beautiful world, seemingly endless exploration and fearless reworking of past Zelda tropes and conventions. Producer Eiji Aonuma recently mentioned that he’d like to maintain the level of freedom seen in Breath of the Wild when creating future titles. This means the next Zelda game could open up even more possibilities and unique interactions that would allow us to spend another 100+ hours messing around in the lush lands of Hyrule. We’re not expecting anything tangible to be shown for quite some time, but that hasn’t stopped us from coming up with a list of some of the things we want to see in the next Zelda epic.

1. More dungeons

Breath of the Wild introduced bite-sized puzzles that made excellent use of Link’s runes within his trusty Sheikah Slate. We had great fun scouring the vast lands of Hyrule in search of hidden shrines and treasures, but they didn’t sate our taste for grandiose dungeons. Dungeon exploration has always been at the heart of Zelda games and it’s this feature that makes certain titles in the series stand out more than others.

Unfortunately, dungeons took a backseat in Breath of the Wild, with only four major dungeon-like sections making an appearance in the form of Divine Beasts. While the trials of these mechanical behemoths broke the conventions of past labyrinthine trials, we still found ourselves missing the deeper dungeon exploration of past Zelda games.

For example, traversing the dimly lit hallways of Ocarina of Time’s Forest Temple and hearing its eerie theme will always stand out for its complexity and haunting nature. Breath of the Wild is definitely the best Zelda game to date in terms of pure exploration and unique mechanics, but its dungeons fail to deliver the experiences we hold dear from past entries. Hopefully, the next title will deliver more compelling and creepy dungeons that can even rival the series’ best.

2. Improved crafting system

You either love or hate Breath of the Wild’s durability system, but we think it could be improved. Watching your prized Savage Lynel Crusher explode into a thousand blue shards after 35 swings is extremely frustrating, especially when certain weapons are much harder to come by. Of course, there are ways to increase the longevity of a given weapon, but these tactics usually require the player to only dust off their prized swords and clubs for special occasions. Most RPGs allow the player to repair the weapons in their arsenal, so we’d like to be able to craft and polish new and existing items. This feature would also give us more uses for the materials and monster parts we obtain during our quest to save Hyrule.

For many, Breath of the Wild’s durability system added a tactical approach to combat, but for others it was a frustrating mechanic that made it difficult to become invested in the game’s weapons. Ultimately, we think the addition of an improved crafting system would give weapons more depth, while still maintaining the risk of weapon degrading.

Writer

James is a journalist who has written for the likes of PC Gamer, Games Radar, Kotaku, LoL Esports, and many more. If you’d like to get in touch with James you can contact him via email at james.busby@allgamers.com or by following him on Twitter

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