Zelda Producer Suggests Open World Gameplay Might Be Here To Stay

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild represents a pretty radical departure for the series with its vast open world. It seems to have worked too, with many reviewers (including yours truly) praising this new direction for the Zelda series. What does this mean for the future, though Was Breath of the Wild a one-off with a return to the old formula planned for future games, or is the style of Breath of the Wild here to stay

We may have an answer, thanks to a new Famitsu interview with Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma (as reported Esuteru). In that interview, Aonuma suggests that we'll continue to see these open worlds in upcoming Zelda games. In fact, Aonuma calls this approach to Zelda a new \"standard\" for the series.

Breath of the Wild certainly feels like a much-needed change for a series that has been largely the same since the release of Ocarina of Time. Though we saw shades of open world gameplay in The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, it wasn't until Breath of the Wild that Nintendo implemented any sweeping changes to the tried-and-true formula.

Of course, the next Legend of Zelda game is likely a long way off. If we're looking at console releases, it was over five years in between Skyward Sword on the original Wii and the launch of Breath of the Wild. If the team behind Zelda is serious about making open world gameplay a new mainstay in the franchise, we could be waiting quite some time for the next installment.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was truly a groundbreaking game for the Zelda series, bringing the previously non-linear gameplay into an almost completely free style that was coined as \"open air\". Still, the traditional Zelda formula is one that's still beloved by many fans of the series, and now that Breath of the Wild has changed things so radically, one wonders how future games are going to pan out. It seems that the open world format isn't going anywhere soon, if recent comments by Eiji Aonuma are anything to go by.

I think it makes complete sense for Zelda games to be open-world. It always has been in some vein, but due to technical limitations, they could never truly make it as huge and non-linear as Breath of the Wild. I don't see any reason to return to the old style. They just need to expand on the concept they've already created and if they want to satisfy the whiners, include a few actual dungeons where you're forced to make linear progress. Because apparently that's more fun than being able to do what you want and being limited only by your equipment and/or upgrades.

I'm very excited for this!It can only get better as they get more comfortable with creating open ended huge worlds, listen to criticism on BotW and study open world games in general.At least the physics and chemistry system should stay, even if every installment wouldn't be as open as BotW.

Also, there's no reason DLC for BotW can't be a ring fenced quest more like a traditional Zelda game, with its own story and set of dungeons for example, using a unique set of items but in the BotW world. Certainly gets good mileage out of the effort they put into that world and engine, and I wouldn't complain getting a couple of DLC packages like that whilst we wait for the next open world Zelda game.

I don't mind Zelda staying an open world game, but only if Nintendo learns more about that format. BotW was a good game, but nowhere near as good as other open world games available - most important point being lack of engaging side quests. Honestly, in Skyrim some side quests were as long as main mission in Zelda.

An open world game like Link Between Worlds would be perfect though. It has classic Zelda elements including interesting dungeons and all classic Zelda items. The world is smaller but at least there's something to do at every step other than climbing and I think that's the direction Zelda should move forward to.

With a reworked weapon system, more meaningful clothing (which basically just serve to counter temperatures) and with a little more \"Zelda\" thrown into the mix, the open world formula could lead to some phenomenal results.But if this is kept as is, we might lose out on aspects, that made decades of Zelda games as fun as they were.

I love botw.. how it looks, how it plays, cooking, secrets the world is hiding.. everything.. but I miss dungeons, bosses etc. just like everybody else..They spent most of their development time creating engine for that huge open world and gave us too many boring shrines and too little dungeons to \"make up\" for taking them so long to release a game. Now when they have engine and physics for that world, only the sky is a limit. Now they can do whatever they want and focus on things that makes zelda a zelda game. Open world concept was made to attract newcomers to the zelda (nintendo) world.. and new console of course.So, don't be afraid.. they know their job and they want our money and they know how to get it.. and they will take it.. from old zelda fans and newborn ones.

Also not a great fan of botws open world besides the looks of it. Quests were mostly really boring. Shrines also got boring very fast. And korok seed fetching was just glorified pidgeon shooting. I hate this stuff in open worlds. There was just nothing fun to do besides journeying for me. And that didnt last long.

The problem is that this doesn't actually give the scale of the 'open-air' world he's talking about, and it only really refers to the overworld... future games could still have an open-air overworld, but keep that overworld relatively small (in comparison to BotW) to give a larger focus on dungeons... or even have the game divided between multiple worlds, with each being open-air, but still smaller individually.My point is that there's a lot of flexibility within the implications of that statement, so we can't really tell how it will affect future games.

Despite claims they were open, the prior zelda games were very linear and controlled. It worked in the old games, but for zelda at this time with such a rich world and history, to not allow exploration like this, is like putting the training wheels back on the bike after learning to ride with two wheels...sure, you can still ride it fine, but you lose all sense of adventure

I think there's plenty of room for more games along the lines of Zelda:ALBW in which there is free-form going on, yet there is specific progression. That top-down perspective is a tough one to let go of cause classic Zelda did it so well. But for 3D Zelda, I'm completely fine with open world-- I feel like this is what the original Zelda was meant to be, especially in 3D format. A true sandbox. Time will tell where we go from here.

There's no way Nintendo would only make one game out of all the years and money they've spent on assets, physics, world building, etc. I'm expecting at least two more open world \"spin-off\" zelda games in the switch's future.

Open world is fine. The Jap game developers are not known for open world game designs, imo. But the western devs are so really into open world games. The would pour down millions of budgets into this genre and cast them with realism graphics. Open world + realism graphics, is the target for most western devs.The Jap game devs have a different definition when making a game; it is all about ENTERTAINMENT. It doesn't have to be vast open world and graphic realism. It is all about the GAMEPLAY.One of the closest to this is Final Fantasy series. But even the game franchise have a really wild imagination on the world design, the gameplay and everything else. That what's make Japanese games so unique compared to western games. OSo, if they are going to proceed in implementing open world games for Zelda franchise, I believe this would take more time for the completion, more budget and more manpower. So, expect some delays. The trend nowadays is all about having beautiful and realism graphics. If it is not up to par to that modern standard, it is considered as outdated.

In video games, an open world is a virtual world in which the player can approach objectives freely, as opposed to a world with more linear and structured gameplay.[1][2] While games have used open-world designs since the 1980s, the implementation in Grand Theft Auto III (2001) set a standard for the concept which has been used since.[3]

An open world is a level or game designed as nonlinear, open areas with many ways to reach an objective.[6] Some games are designed with both traditional and open-world levels.[7] An open world facilitates greater exploration than a series of smaller levels,[4] or a level with more linear challenges.[8] Reviewers have judged the quality of an open world based on whether there are interesting ways for the player to interact with the broader level when they ignore their main objective.[8] Some games actually use real settings to model an open world, such as New York City.[9]

A major design challenge is to balance the freedom of an open world with the structure of a dramatic storyline.[10] Since players may perform actions that the game designer did not expect,[11] the game's writers must find creative ways to impose a storyline on the player without interfering with their freedom.[12] As such, games with open worlds will sometimes break the game's story into a series of missions, or have a much simpler storyline altogether.[13] Other games instead offer side-missions to the player that do not disrupt the main storyline. Most open-world games make the character a blank slate that players can project their own thoughts onto, although several games such as Landstalker: The Treasures of King Nole offer more character development and dialogue.[4] Writing in 2005, David Braben described the narrative structure of current video games as \"little different to the stories of those Harold Lloyd films of the 1920s\", and considered genuinely open-ended stories to be the \"Holy Grail we are looking for in fifth generation gaming\".[14] Gameplay desig