When a game sets such an impression that gamers can’t imagine the developers doing anything short of that, it’s a good indication that we’ll be getting more of the same from then on. For Legend of Zelda, the newest title Breath of the Wild (read our review!) has made such an impact on players and critics, that many are wondering what the next Zelda game could possibly be.
Others are just curious if this large open world format will be retained, and obviously improved upon (if possible). Well, we may have our answer from Legend of Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma. For in an interview with Famitsu, he stated that “in the future, open air games will be the standard for Zelda.”
“Open air” is just another term for open world, and this seems to seal the fate of future games in the franchise. However, do recall, that this has happened to a degree once before with Ocarina of Time, yet, we have gotten different versions of Legend of Zelda after that, including numerous top-down Zelda games even though that wasn’t the “standard” anymore. And Aonuma also has said that a 2D Zelda on the Nintendo Switch is entirely possible, as there are two Zelda teams.
All that being said, though, what this likely means is that any of the “grand” Zelda games that come out will focus on the gameplay style of Breath of the Wild, and we’re perfectly ok with that.