Picture: Chelsea Reed / Nintendo
What’s subsequent for The Legend of Zelda? It appears to be the massive query scratching everybody’s heads this yr.
2026 continues to be a clean Sheikah Slate. Now that the Change 2 console is in full swing and the Period of the Wild appears to be lastly driving off into the Gerudo sundown, we’re really in uncharted territory. We all know there shall be a Legend of Zelda film coming in 2027, however apart from that, we’re nearly as blind as a wayward Keese in a snowstorm on Snowhead. Who is aware of what’s going to occur within the first foremost, non-Accomplice Nintendo Direct for 2026, or if there’ll even be a Zelda recreation revealed within the coming months.
Thankfully, the legendary workers behind the collection isn’t misplaced by any means. They know what they’re doing, and so they’ve left us a mysterious however vital clue behind. In an interview with 4Gamer and the Koei Tecmo improvement group, Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma shared that an unlimited quantity of inspiration occurred once they co-developed Age of Imprisonment with Koei Tecmo and their new AAA Studio workers.
“Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment is the primary Zelda title for the Nintendo Change 2. To be trustworthy, we wished to be the primary to take action,” Aonuma laughed, based on TheGamer’s translation. “Nevertheless, the inspiration we acquired from this collaboration with Koei Tecmo could also be mirrored within the [next] Zelda we create. Please think about this whereas enjoying Age of Imprisonment, and look ahead to our Zelda.”
However it’s not Imprisonment for you
Pictures: Chelsea Reed / Nintendo
Maintain on, earlier than you groan and head for the again button in disgust, I do know what you’re pondering. Lots of you (not all) are just a little weary of dwelling within the Period of the Wild for nearly a decade. And the very last thing you need in a Zelda recreation is extra repetitive hack and slash as well, proper?
That’s comprehensible. I’m 99.99% assured that’s not what the subsequent Zelda shall be about. I go away behind the 0.01% as a result of, nicely, it’s The Legend of Zelda we’re speaking about. What the Zelda group has in thoughts will all the time be mysterious to a degree.
That stated, I consider their inspiration with Age of Imprisonment in creating the subsequent Zelda recreation has to do with a brand new narrative model. In truth, Age of Imprisonment may maintain the important thing to fixing the “Nice Divide” between the old fashioned and new faculty Zelda fan camps. Think about a recreation in a model new Hyrule period that lastly joins the open-world and conventional Zelda formulation collectively into a singular cinematic interactive expertise.
How is that attainable? Permit me to elucidate.
Assume Legend of Zelda: The Video Recreation Film
Picture: Nintendo / Sony Photos
It’s true, Breath of the Wild modified historical past. Not solely did it revolutionise the open-world style for the complete trade (taking a look at you, Elden Ring), it launched full spoken voice performing into the collection for the primary time. This format inspired gorgeous artwork path and breathed life into characters like by no means earlier than in a Zelda recreation. However there was an issue. The sheer freedom of open world motion restricted the narrative potential to flashback cutscenes that the participant finds scattered all through the map, geographic lore looking, and a artistic, although considerably disconnected last boss.
Its sequel, Tears of the Kingdom, launched a a lot stronger last boss expertise with the return of Ganondorf and has loads of geographic lore looking, nevertheless it too was restricted to cinematic flashbacks that may both elate or destroy a participant’s expertise relying on who you ask, what the discovered order was, and what the context consisted of within the participant’s private state of affairs. Or maybe, the scenes we do get are produced so extravagantly that we’re solely left wanting extra.
One factor is for sure: they’re highly effective sufficient to spark gigantic web fights. That is open world for you. Do with that what you’ll.
Placing all of it collectively
Pictures: Chelsea Reed / Nintendo
Now I arrive at Age of Imprisonment’s strongest level – the narrative.
Its goal is to permit gamers to expertise the traditional Imprisoning Warfare firsthand and fill within the gaps left behind in Tears of the Kingdom with a staggering three hours’ price of seamless voice-acted cutscenes that surpass the constraints of Breath of the Wild, due to its extra linear Purah Pad map format.
What’s fascinating is that the sport isn’t fully linear. Not like the earlier Hyrule Warriors instalment, Age of Calamity, the battle challenges in Age of Imprisonment are included into the principle story with the map. There’s a number of freedom to pick out battles with out breaking the narrative. Once you clear a certain quantity of them, a story-locked milestone battle with cutscenes seems. Even the map itself interacts with you to tug you into the high-stakes pressure of the Imprisoning Warfare. You really really feel such as you’re within the trenches with the characters and sharing of their blood, sweat, and tears as they push again towards the Demon King’s overwhelming forces. This was supposed by design.
Tears of the Kingdom director Hidemaro Fujubasashi defined that Age of Imprisonment’s “performance and participant expertise got here first, however regardless that the order might change, we put it collectively in order that the state of affairs and terrain are well-rounded.”
Koei Tecmo director Aoyagi Kimiki additional defined that Age of Imprisonment has “the attraction of a historic drama” with the Imprisoning Warfare, an vital occasion for Zelda followers. “We aimed to offer the historic stream that was shared with us at the start its true kind, and to create a construction that might permit gamers to really feel that they have been a part of that historical past as they fought, as a part of the Warriors expertise.”
Picture: Chelsea Reed / Nintendo
Might this imply that the narrative limitations of the open-world system will lastly be conquered within the subsequent Zelda recreation? That we’ll not solely expertise full-length cinematic cutscenes that stream naturally like a standard mainline Zelda once more, however we’ll get to reside and work together in a dwelling, respiratory Hyrule Citadel City and expertise the thrills of large dungeon crawling and tenting underneath the celebs in Hyrule Subject, too? Maybe a wholly interactive, cinematic universe?
I dare you to think about such a feat. That looks as if an not possible fantasy proper now. But when the Zelda group can obtain a feat like that, it might not solely revolutionise Zelda video games once more, it might set a whole trade pattern ablaze.
Then once more, that’s routine for the Zelda group. They’ve a cussed behavior of constructing groundbreaking historical past.
Saavaq! Chelsea is a proficient author and passionate Legend of Zelda, Pokémon, and Kirby fan. Residence: Gerudo City. Talks means an excessive amount of about Ganondorf and Elfilin.
