You probably shouldn’t hold your breath for more linear games in The Legend of Zelda series. Nintendo has some of the biggest IP in the gaming industry between things like Mario and The Legend of Zelda. The latter series has always been one of the most respected franchises out there thanks to its incredible worlds, feeling of adventure, and ability to push the envelope in the gaming medium. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wildย was a true game changer and allowed Nintendo to take Zelda to a level that was incredibly freeing and didn’t restrict the player very much. Its sequel, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, took things even further and became yet another smash hit for Nintendo.
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However, some Zelda fans don’t really like being let off of the leash. Some people want a more guided experience that is a bit more linear like the older games in the series. Unfortunately for those fans, you probably won’t see anything like that again. Speaking with IGN, Eiji Aonuma noted that the linear entries are more “games of the past” and that the more freeing gameplay design philosophy is aligned with player interests, but it does come at a cost for the developers.
“I am in complete agreement with what [Hidemaro Fujibayashi] said in that games where you need to follow a specific set of steps or complete tasks in a very set order are kind of the games of the past. Whereas currently the games of today are ones in which that can accept a player’s own decisions and give them the freedom to flexibly proceed through the game, and the game will allow for that. So I’m in complete agreement with that as our design philosophy, but as the producer, I do have to admit making games that way always carries with it additional development costs. And that is something I have to think about.”
Aonuma also noted that it may be a “grass is greener” style of thinking that has fans longing for the more linear games.
“Well, I do think we as people have a tendency to want the thing that we don’t currently have, and there’s a bit of a grass is greener mentality. But I also think that with the freedom players have in the more recent games in the series…there still is a set path, it just happens to be the path that they chose. So I think that that is one thing I kind of like to remind myself about the current games that we’re making.
But also, it’s interesting when I hear people say those things because I am wondering, “Why do you want to go back to a type of game where you’re more limited or more restricted in the types of things or ways you can play?” But I do understand that desire that we have for nostalgia, and so I can also understand it from that aspect.”
