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The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was fearless in reworking or cutting established Zelda elements, which is part of the reason it was such a big success. Now that we're coming up on half a year since its release date, fans are starting to speculate where Zelda should go from here. Reddit had a bunch of ideas - here are some of the most interesting from this thread.
Note: These comments have been lightly edited for formatting and readability.
Better dungeons
Developers explain how Zelda: Breath of the Wild is shaping the future of games
"Although BotW was groundbreaking in many ways for the Zelda franchise, I felt as though it lacked a sense of succession and accomplishment. I hope that the next Zelda game is in the same style and format as BotW, but also offers traditional dungeons and puzzles to unlock tools/weapons vital to the games' progression. Also make the dungeons unique to their environment! The champion 'dungeons' all felt a little too similar. BotW is a great platform on which to build the next Zelda game while combining elements from past games that made the franchise so legendary." - potlucke
But Jepacor pointed out that item-locked progression and Breath of the Wild's open-world formula might not work.
"The way I see it it would be nice if the next game also didn't have necessary items, but each dungeon would be centered around an item that, while not necessary to complete the game, would be a good help. For instance, a hookshot to climb more easily." - Jepacor
More enemy variety
"Personally i would prefer all the area's enemies have a fixed difficulty, and some areas have tougher enemies than average, you can get beat up in one area cuz you wander into a tough area then come back when you are better prepared. as long as the world has its own logic on where you can expect tough enemies to be it would work, like in morrowind a daedric shrine = tough enemies inside and around it. and you can tell you have a found a daedric shrine from a reasonable distance. oh and tough enemies should mean distinct enemy types, not just buffed versions of things you fought before" - Knorssman
More crafting, less weapon breaking
"Real inventory storage at your home. Real crafting, upgrading, and repairing. The weapon breaking shit needs to go. Weapons don't shatter into a million pieces after 100 hits. I'd like to see weapons degrade as you use them and either need replacement or repair as they become essentially useless. I'd like to be able to actually feel invested in weapons and armor." - cancerousiguana
I couldn't disagree with this idea more (I think it runs counter to what makes Breath of the Wild uniquely brilliant next to so many other open-world games) but I'm also one of those weirdos who actually likes the durability system. Sooooo, agree to disagree.
A link between Majora's Mask and Twilight Princess
"Honestly, I kinda don't want to see Toon Link return until at least the game after the next game. He's already been used for so much, Wind Waker, Phantom Hourglass, Spirit Tracks, and I'm kinda sick of it. I sorta want to see an older Hero of Time, maybe see how he lost an eye and got that sick armor that he wears as the Hero's Shade." - xxx_mlgnoscope_xxx
"Actually, that would be a really good idea. A sequel to both Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, detailing how he lost that eye, and how he died. Man, imagine a Zelda game where link dies in the end... that would be pretty dark. I like it." - ZeldaFreakNA
A (relatively) speedy development cycle
"I want it to come out less than 5 years from now. I mean, I get putting out a really good product, but 3-4 years is a pretty solid timeline, I think." - mazzicc
Or maybe just more Breath of the Wild
"BotW is a monumental achievement in game design, but it also shows how game design is varying shades of grey, not black and white. Making gameplay changes may make parts of the game much more engaging, but you lose some things along the way. I honestly just want more BotW and I think if Nintendo just builds another Zelda game on the BotW engine, it'll be an incredibly good game whatever they decide to do." - Blaz3
Go back to where it all began with our The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild review.
