Where next for Zelda after Breath of the Wild?
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is a stellar game, one that we suggest even lapsed fans of Nintendo's long-running action-adventure series give a go. Nintendo gambled heavily on this title in many ways, the introduction of an open-world, the inclusion of voice-acting, the lack of traditional dungeons, a greater emphasis on gear and resource management, and even some visible statistics to keep track of with respect to weapon and armor levels. But even though we gave Breath of the Wild a 10/10, that doesn't mean we think it's perfect. There are still things I think it should do differently, even if the open-world formula is here to stay.
While some of these general ideas might be touched upon in Breath of the Wild's upcoming DLC, I'm approaching this subject on the idea of broad tweaks that would be seen in a follow-up entry.
Greater Character Interaction within the Narrative
Whether it's following Prince Sidon up Zora River during Link’s first trek towards Zora’s Domain, or learning about Teba’s failed attempt to calm Vah Medoh before your arrival in Rito Village, Breath of the Wild has a surprisingly diverse cast of characters; even if they take a back seat relative to, say, Groose and Princess Zelda’s roles in Skyward Sword. Breath of the Wild is not a narrative-driven game, and for the most part, I find that appropriate.
However, I still felt that outside of the memory fragments, the character interactions remaining in present Hyrule were mostly thin and forgettable. I love the short amount of time you did get to spend with the denizens of Hyrule: some of my favorite moments involved partnering with characters like Teba and Riju in order to access each of the Divine Beasts, but usually, once the Beast is conquered, these characters are never seen or heard from again. Well, they’ll sit in their respective locations to thank you for your work, but the level of interaction is only functional. Outside of these Beast-conquering moments, most of these characters don’t interact with Link any more than any other quest-giving NPC.
The Champions having the majority of Breath of the Wild’s character moments relegated to enumerated flashbacks is a decision that works for the story that this entry was trying to tell, but it still feels like a missed opportunity considering how little time is spent elaborating on the characters of current Hyrule. For instance, one memory scene shows an interesting interaction between the Gerudo Champion, Urbosa, and Zelda, suggesting that they went off to accomplish a sealing ritual without Link needing to be involved.
The cutscene is barely a minute long but is already more interesting than most of the interactions between Link and the current residents of Hyrule. We see similar character interactions in other cutscenes with respect to the other Champions. It would have been neat to see this level of interaction between some of the characters outside of the flashbacks, but instead, each is an island to introduce you to a region and then exits the stage as soon as they have nothing more to offer.
I don’t want the next Zelda title to restrict its gameplay for the purpose of telling a needlessly grandiose story, or tether Link to some other character in a way that limits how the game can be played. I just hope the next entry frees some character moments from the non-interactive flashbacks and incorporates them more into the quest and world. Breath of the Wild has a little bit of this, but having Riju reward you with the Thunder Helm for completing some chores in Gerudo Town is a pretty low bar.
Return of Elaborate, Themed Dungeons
I know this isn’t a unique take on Breath of the Wild: since 1998, Zelda fans have come to expect four to 10 delicately crafted dungeons in 3D titles. As the first game with those prominently absent, it's only natural to have that feel a bit off in Breath of the Wild. Nintendo has been experimenting with the traditional dungeon formula - find dungeon, get item, use-item-on-boss - since A Link Between Worlds, where the dungeon order was not set and items that are normally relegated to dungeon chests, such as the bow, boomerang, and hookshot, were instead loaned or bought out from Ravio's store.
In a similar vein, Breath of the Wild's dungeons are also void of such items. While each of the Divine Beasts was located in a region with a general theme (lake, desert, etc), the interiors of these dungeons did not really do a lot to elaborate on each region’s characteristics in which they are located. The Beasts have a commonality of sharing a degree of moving parts, such as tilting Medoh's orientation or laying Rudanis on its side and back again, but I feel that more could have been done to make each of them more individually memorable.
The Divine Beasts each touch on their "theme" in a small way: Ruta's trunk will position a waterfall depending on its location and Medoh will involve some degree of gliding with the assistance of a few updrafts, but these are pretty thin when compared to the level of specialization each dungeon received in previous Zelda titles. I feel that Nintendo could go back to this degree of decoration without compromising on the "open air" design of Breath of the Wild.
Imagine going into a dungeon at the top of Mount Lanayru, only it's far colder than the mountain itself. Simply wearing your Warm Doublet isn't enough to trivialize the frigidness of this place. Sure, maybe Link encounters this dungeon early on and wants to make do with a limited supply of food and equipment, but he'll have to find a warm weapon to make up the difference. Perhaps a quest nearby can reward him with a flame rod which can be used to create a few shortcuts in the dungeon proper, where someone going into it less well prepared won't have that convenience. Another nearby quest gives the snow boots, convenient but optional.
This is all obviously just a hypothetical, but I think this sort of design could give the dungeons in a future "open air" Zelda title a level of the bespoke composition corresponding to a theme without compromising on freedom of choice. You would prepare to go into a dungeon with the items necessary to conquer it easily, not come out of it with the only item tailored for it.
Monster Variety and Combat Progression
Breath of the Wild has a pretty good level of diversity when it comes to the foes Link will encounter, but early on you will find an over-abundance of enemies that are color coded for your convenience. Bokoblins, Lizalfos, Moblins, and Hinox all generally progress from red to blue to black to white, each one getting more health and hitting Link harder with their attacks, but otherwise acting identically. The white version of each enemy type is only really different in that they hit Link harder to account for having such a large health pool and better armor at later stages in the game.
Chuchus and Keese are elementally categorized in a similar fashion. Guardians are a little bit more varied, with some focusing entirely on laser attacks, some having both a weapon and a shield, and others only carrying different weapons each with a different method of dodging. But outside of perhaps Lynels becoming more common as you reach out further from central Hyrule, the enemies that you encounter early in the game are basically the same as the enemies in the later parts of the game.
In general, it feels like a lot of classic Zelda enemies could have been introduced that would have alleviated the lack of variety found in Breath of the Wild. Like-Like type enemies could introduce a type of foe where it’s a gamble to get too close, Redeads could be an enemy type where it’s imperative to attack from behind. Perhaps these could be implemented as a night-time foe to keep up the level of challenge once enough progress has been made towards the main story goal. More than just reintroducing favorites to Zelda’s next entry, the goal here would be to introduce more types of enemies that change up the type of combat encounters Link could experience.
Not only are the different flavors of Bokoblin, Lizalfo, and Moblins each categorically boring, but all three of those enemy types will attack Link with a weapon and maybe a shield. The way Breath of the Wild was designed, this was necessary to ensure that the player always had something on hand should his current weapon break. I feel though that this necessity to have the overwhelming majority of enemies carry useable weapons ends up stunting the variety of combat and makes engaging foes in combat less exciting than it could be. This could be alleviated by making more weapons available in shops or rewarding more gear as quest rewards.
Get rid of Spirit Orbs, Keep the Shrines
I love the Shrines in Breath of the Wild, for the most part. While there is a whopping 120 of them and their general aesthetic is identical from one another, I never found myself burnt out or bored even after tackling more than 100. Sure, there might be a few too many Test of Strength-style Shrines, but for the most part, I thought the variety was appropriate, and none ever felt mundane. The various Shrine quests were also well implemented and were some of the best optional content in the game, especially compared to the more chore-like nature of some of the other side quests, where NPCs would just ask for a bundle of materials and hand you some rupees, or go tell you to kill some Hinox somewhere.
The one weakness that I found was the reward given for clearing each of these Shrines: Spirit Orbs. Basically, a currency that Link ends up trading for a Heart Container or an extension to his stamina meter. I found this disappointing in a few ways. One, the limited options for “spending” these Orbs meant that, for the most part, the trip to the goddess statues became a needless chore. The possible upgrades to the stamina bar are far more limited than to your heart meter, and managing your health pool has way more numerous options at Link’s disposal (all food restores some health, only specific food will alter or increase your stamina). I maxed my stamina relatively early on, so Spirit Orbs were functionally no different than Heart Pieces for the majority of my playthrough. I often found myself stockpiling Orbs because they felt inconsequential.
On top of that, most shrines already had a decent reward for completing it outside of the Spirit Orb, whether it was a new piece of armor, a weapon, or even some rarer materials such as Ancient Cores. I almost found the Spirit Orb reward almost superfluous. Now, I’m not arguing that whatever takes the role of Shrines in the next entry should reward the player less, I just feel it can be done in a more interesting, engaging way.
Most Shrines in Breath of the Wild already give some bespoke reward for Link, I don’t think there’s any reason that this wouldn’t be possible for all of them. This could be a reward like a powerful weapon or armor piece, but it could also be something more general. For instance, it could open up a previously blocked passageway in the open world that leads to a merchant area having a larger selection of goods, or it could unlock specific upgrades to Link’s abilities. The developers could get creative, maybe a shrine revealed a large capsized ship off the shore which then becomes available for Link to explore for more monsters to fight. Breath of the Wild having two “currencies” in Orbs and Korok seeds that needed to be turned in for incremental improvements was a relatively bland way to occupy the map with tasks to complete. I love the concept of shrines and the shrine quests tied to many of them, I just think the rewards and incentive for completing them could be tweaked.
I want to reiterate that I think that Breath of the Wild is fantastic. I've put nearly 100 hours into the game and had a blast even doing relatively mundane tasks like upgrading all of the available armor sets. I'm only short on Koroks, which I am waiting for the spiffy new DLC item to help find more easily. Nintendo has opened up a whole new set of possibilities with the risks that they took with Breath of the Wild, and I think there's nowhere to go but up for fans of the long-running series, both new and old.