The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Is the New "Format" For the Series, Says Producer

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will be the new foundation for future entries in The Legend of Zelda series. The Legend of Zelda has been around for many decades and it has seen a lot of different incarnations. It has been 2D, top-down, 3D, and now, it's a full-fledged open-world game where the whole environment is your sandbox to play in. While some feared The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was sticking too close to its predecessor before release, reviews have proven that the game is a huge hit and fans are having a ball with it. 

With that said, it will likely be a while before we get a new Zelda game, it took us six years to get this one, in fact. That hasn't stopped Nintendo from imagining what future entries will look like, though. Series producer Eiji Aonuma told Game Informer that The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time largely served as the basis of the previous era of Zelda games, but that will no longer be the case. Instead, Breath of the Wild will now serve as the new "format" or foundation for the next era of Zelda.

"With Ocarina of Time, I think it's correct to say that it did kind of create a format for a number of titles in the franchise that came after it," said Aonuma. But in some ways, that was a little bit restricting for us. While we always aim to give the player freedoms of certain kinds, there were certain things that format didn't really afford in giving people freedom. Of course, the series continued to evolve after Ocarina of Time, but I think it's also fair to say now that we've arrived at Breath of the Wild and the new type of more open play and freedom that it affords. Yeah, I think it's correct to say that it has created a new kind of format for the series to proceed from."

As of right now, it remains to be seen if that means they'll all be direct sequels to each other and continue to keep the same map, powers, and so on, but it does seem clear Nintendo has a vision. The kind of freedom that was allotted by Breath of the Wild is important to future entries and Nintendo wants to ensure players can maintain that sense of creativity in upcoming games.

What do you think of the future of the Zelda series? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @Cade_Onder.