10 Things the Next Legend of Zelda Game Needs to Bring Back

The Legend of Zelda franchise has captivated gamers for over three decades with its rich lore, innovative gameplay, and iconic characters. What makes the series stand out compared to others is how each game reinvents itself with new mechanics, new stories, and new elements while maintaining similar themes. The latest titles, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, have been hailed as amazing games, but are they Legend of Zelda games? While both have added numerous features that have been praised, several mechanics were removed that were iconic to the series.

Going forward, Nintendo needs to make big changes to the formula seen in Zelda games. Fortunately, there is already plenty of inspiration for these changes: past Legend of Zelda entries. With so many titles and so many different features, Nintendo can look to its past to improve the series’ future. Here are ten things we want Nintendo to add to the next Legend of Zelda.

Equipment That Feels Like an Upgrade

The disposable nature of weapons in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom is one of their biggest criticisms and a significant departure from what made older Zelda games so rewarding. While many fans appreciated the variety of weapons, many defaulted to using basic weapons as they didn’t want to break the cool and powerful weapons they discovered. Future games should keep the weapon diversity, but discard the degradation of them, or at the least make them repairable.

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Previous games focused on the Master Sword and Hylian Shield, but players had to earn these. Each weapon found in games like The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was an improvement and felt meaningful. Progressing until finally unlocking the Master Sword was a rewarding quest, and players felt more powerful than ever. Comparing that to the Master Sword with a cooldown in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom is a joke. The Master Sword is one of the strongest weapons in all of Zelda, but putting it on a timer reduces its significance to the series. The Legend of Zelda is about creating a more meaningful journey of gradual empowerment, and the end-game Master Sword should reflect this.

Item Progression That Feels Satisfying

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom removed items in favor of Shiekah Tablet and King Rauru’s Right Arm abilities and took away a core aspect of the series. These abilities are earned right at the beginning of the game, which gives players freedom and creativity to solve puzzles however they wish. However, almost every game requires the player to progress through dungeons or acquire these items as they explore. Not only did it invoke a sense of accomplishment, but it showed Link’s growth and improvement throughout his journey.

Iconic items like the Hookshot need to make a return in the next Legend of Zelda. Nintendo has numerous options to use when bringing back classic items, but it can also expand with new ones, even taking inspiration from the Tablet and Arm abilities. Implementing dedicated items would allow Nintendo to create more distinct puzzles with unique solutions. Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom featured puzzles that could be solved in various ways simply by exploiting the physics system, which can be fine, but do not capture the essence of previous games and the series’ majority.

A Bit More Linearity

While the open world of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom was incredible, it felt a bit out of place for the series. The Legend of Zelda has always been about progression, and linearity is a big part of that. A traditional linear experience allows for Nintendo to tell incredible stories previous games have featured. While BotW and TotK had interesting stories, players could completely skip them because of their open-world nature. Being able to go anywhere and do anything meant experiencing the story out of order, or even missing it altogether, when this should be one of the main aspects of the game.

Another aspect of the open-world that hindered the games was venturing into areas before being ready. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom specifically featured areas with high-level enemies that could kill Link with a single blow. Similarly, players could discover inhospitable regions and have no way to progress, enforcing an artificial linearity and detracting from the open-world. Giving players a path, and a linear purpose, enhances the feeling of progression and makes moments more memorable and impactful.

Traditional Dungeons and Puzzles

Aside from weapon degradation, the lack of traditional dungeons and puzzles is the biggest weakness of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. While Tears of the Kingdom tried to remedy this fault from its predecessor, its take on dungeons fails to compare to that of previous entries. Fans want complex, interconnected dungeons with unique themes and puzzles. Past games had lava-filled dungeons, eerie ghost dungeons, underwater dungeons, and more. Both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom’s interpretation of dungeons all felt similar to one another rather than unique like the dungeons the Zelda series is known for.

Not only would bringing back traditional dungeons be a welcome return, but it would also allow Nintendo to be more creative with items and enemies. Most dungeons in past games featured a unique item required to solve the dungeon. These dungeons also had enemies and bosses not encountered anywhere else. By enforcing a specific theme, Nintendo would be forced to think outside of the box to fill dungeons with enemies that weren’t just reskinned versions of other enemies.

More Enemy Variety

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was criticized for its lack of enemy variety, and while Tears of the Kingdom fixed this somewhat, the next entry needs to do more. So many enemies in these Nintendo Switch Zelda games featured reskinned versions of enemies. Previous titles had unique enemies inhabiting dungeons like the Wallmaster, Skulltulas, and Dekus. Even dungeons in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom featured similar enemies found in the overworld.

This also extends to bosses. Breath of the Wild was notoriously bad for this, with Blight Ganons being slightly different variants of one another. Wildly different boss fights have always been a part of The Legend of Zelda, and it just makes these challenges so much more satisfying. Nintendo could even make region-specific enemies like the Molduga and have them only appear in certain areas. Bringing back enemy variants and making more unique bosses would bring the series back to its roots, and give more diversity in combat.

Bigger Towns with Meaningful NPCs

One of the most disappointing aspects of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was the lack of impactful cities. After the events of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, many expected rebuilding to happen. While there was some, Tears of the Kingdom failed to improve upon the feeling of loneliness and isolation of Breath of the Wild. Iconic locations, such as Lon Lon Ranch, were destroyed and left to rot in the sequel. Additionally, even the towns present in these games didn’t feel alive, as there were so few meaningful NPCs.

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Most cities in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom served little more than a place to hit the shops and stock up. Some offered additional quests and services but ultimately didn’t give enough reasons to explore or return to them. The next Legend of Zelda needs to make towns feel more robust and lived in. This would go a long way toward making players invested in these cities and want to visit.

A Unique Art Style

This isn’t a criticism of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, as both games had a beautiful aesthetic. However, it was repeated, and with so much of the world being the same in both games, the appeal has worn out. Looking at past titles, almost every game has featured a new art style, with some exceptions like The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask. One of the main appeals of the series is seeing what new style Nintendo comes up with for a mainline The Legend of Zelda game.

Nearly all games in the series feature a unique art style, with The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess showing just how far the range can be from a bold cartoony look to a dark and gritty approach. The next game for The Legend of Zelda needs to find its own visual identity. Even The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom repeated the style of the remade The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening. A new aesthetic would shake things up and be a return to the series’ identity.

A Memorable Soundtrack

The Legend of Zelda has always had an iconic and incredible soundtrack. However, both The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom have done away with this. It was an intentional choice to focus on quieter more ambient sounds instead of sweeping orchestral tracks. While the logic behind Nintendo’s decision makes sense, doing so removed the sense of grandeur The Legend of Zelda has ingrained with its music.

An overworld theme is needed for the next Zelda game, and Nintendo could take it to new heights. Implementing a constantly evolving theme that changes from region to region, or even as Link progresses through the story, would keep it dynamic. Towns and cities need robust musical scores that highlight that particular culture and identity and bosses need awe-inspiring themes that enhance the combat and make each one memorable.

The Magic Meter

Magic is an often overlooked aspect of the series, but one that could have so much depth. Magic seemingly was restricted to Wizzrobe weapons and Link’s abilities in BotW and TotK, but the next Legend of Zelda game has the potential to make this feature so much more interesting. Returning the magic meter and giving Link spells to learn would reinvent the system and tie it directly to progression and accomplishment.

Link could learn spells along his travels, many of which could reflect abilities from previous games while allowing new ones to be added. These spells could be used to solve puzzles, defeat enemies, power up Link’s weapons, and even interact with the environment. Introducing spells Link could learn throughout his journey and tying them to a magic meter would them more impactful to unlock and give using them more weight.

A Darker Tone

Some of the best Legend of Zelda games have a dark tone. The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess had darker atmospheres, even bordering on horror. Many expected The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom to be a return to this darker tone, and while it certainly had its dark moments and horrifying creatures, it still maintained the largely jovial and lighthearted theme.

A dark unsettling story would provide a stark change from the most recent games and could put Link and players in thought-provoking situations. It could introduce real consequences where every decision has an impact on the story and world. Nintendo played it safe with The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and the next entry in the series needs to take risks if it wants to compete with previous games.