The Legend of Zeldais one of Nintendo’s most successful franchises in gaming history. With dozens of titles, including mainline entries and spin-offs, and over 160 million units sold worldwide, fans of the legendary series will expect an outstanding new entry in the distant future. While the wait will be long, many can speculate what features the nextLegend of Zeldagame will retain or remove.

With the recent success ofTears of the Kingdom, the franchise now has a clear winning formula that can be repeated for future titles. However, with Nintendo being known for innovation, there is the possibility that the next game may take a new approach. Seeing how there arethings thatTears of the Kingdomdoes better thanBreath of the Wildand vice versa, Nintendo should use the prominent features of both and implement them into their supposed future entry inthe Legend of Zeldaseries.

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What the Future Zelda Game Should Take From Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom

Again, there is always the possibility that the next game will deviate from the open-world formula. A different approach such asmaking Zelda a playable characteror even the main protagonist can lead to interesting opportunities in the type of new genre and gameplay that can be tackled. But Nintendo should consider what made previous entries successful and incorporate what made them work into its futureZeldagame. WithBreath of the WildandTears of the Kingdomsetting the bar high for revolutionary games, they include several features that deserve to be inherited or act as inspiration for the next game:

While there are other groundbreaking features, these have a better likelihood of being included in the next game in the mainline series. This is especially true if video game director andreal-life knight Eiji Aonumacontinues to lead the helm in developing the nextZeldagame.

What Features From Recent Zelda Titles Shouldn’t Return

Breath of the WildandTears of the Kingdomare undoubtedly highly successful in both sales and fan reception, but that does not mean they do not come without flaws. Although fans love the innovative gameplay, there are a few features that were largely unpopular. One would be theweapon durability system that’s prominent in bothTotKandBotW. Some players see it playing an important role in the games' survival aspect, but others dislike it for making what ought to be rare weapons into disposables.

Another mechanic that could bow out of the series is the sliding caused by rain and wet surfaces, which often acts as a hindrance to their exploration. Although there are workarounds such as creating sticky elixirs orobtaining the Froggy armor setto cling to wet walls, it still forces the players to go out of their way to solve an unnecessary problem.

The next entry in the mainlineZeldaseries is expected to be a long way off. While borrowing from the successful open-world formula can help guarantee its success, it would be more exciting to see what Nintendo can create with new ideas and approaches. Until that day comes, players can wait by spending time coming up with their own innovations, such asdeveloping a train with mounted lasers inTears of the Kingdomor finding new speedrunning strategies for older entries.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

WHERE TO PLAY

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is the sequel to the beloved open-world adventure, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. This installment once again sees Link and Zelda battling to protect Hyrule from falling to Ganondorf. This new adventure takes place in the same land of Hyrule as Breath of the Wild but sees something called the Upheaval, which allows link to travel to Sky Islands, as well as deep into the Depths beneath Hyrule. Players can use special abilities to fuse together weapons, and build items to help them progress through the release.