Summary
For six years and counting,The Legend of Zeldahas occupied a distinct era compared to the rest of its life.The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wildand its sequelThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomhave stepped away from the linear, dungeon-crawling formula that has definedZeldasince its early days. Absolute freedom has become the core of these titles, and in the process of reinventing themselves a lot of traits had to be left behind.Breath of the WildandTears of the Kingdomwalk their own path, and in doing so have pointed their franchise in a new direction.
A lot of good has come from these changes, especially in the realm of open world game design. For many years,Breath of the Wildwas the name to beat in the genre, and nowadays, the few other open world games that compete with it include its own sequel,Tears of the Kingdom. Thelist of changesBreath of the WildandTears of the Kingdommade toZelda’s norms is exhaustive, and, from gameplay to presentation, no part of the aging series was left untouched.
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The Triforce Has Gone Out of Style
One of the most conspicuous story changes to the open worldZeldagames is the total absence of the Triforce. These wish-granting golden triangles have been important in almost every mainlineZeldagame, but theTriforce is not even mentioned inBotWandTotK. Strangely, their imagery is still found in crests used on the Master Sword and by Hyrule’s royal family. Even Princess Zelda invokes their image upon unlocking her sealing powers, though no attention is drawn to this. It’s telling that the Zonai introduced inTears of the Kingdomseem to exonerate courage, wisdom, and power like the Hylians, but they represent them with dragons, owls, and boars instead of sacred triangles.
Permanent Traveling Companions Are Only Faint Echoes
Link’s lack of speech is often offset by a more talkative traveling companion, some of whom are major players in their games' stories.Ocarina of Time’s Navi andTwilight Princess' Midna spring to mind, but many others like Fi, Ezlo, and the King of Red Lions are all memorable parts of their respective titles. It felt strange for many fans to discoverBreath of the Wildhas no equivalent company.Tears of the Kingdompartially remedied this with Sagesand their Sage Vows, but each Sage only talks during their respective dungeon, and their Vows keep quiet. With even the obvious choice of Rauru being phased out afterTotK’s tutorial, it seems theopen worldZeldagamesprefer to maintain an unbroken natural atmosphere.
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Progression Is More of a Suggestion
Zeldahas not always been about linearly progressing through dungeons, but it often takes that shape. There isn’t much that players can skip altogether, even in more open titles like the NESLegend of ZeldaandA Link Between Worlds.Breath of the Wildthrew that out the window by making the only requirements to see credits beating the tutorial and slaying Calamity Ganon. The most direct path to do so is not an easy one, but it is possible. A mandatoryParaglider quest is also inTears of the Kingdom, but the game’s objectives and length remain almost entirely in the player’s hands.
Story Has Become A Self-Served Feature
Similarly, how much of the story players experience is mostly up to them. Completing the main dungeons and finding either Link’s memories or the Dragon Tears are optional despite being marked as main quests.Breath of the WildandTears of the Kingdomeven go as far as not setting an order in which these story segments must be seen. This allows for more variance in each player’s experience, although returning to atraditional story structure could benefit futureZeldagames.
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Climb or Fly Anywhere
To go along withBreath of the Wild’s structural changes, the geography itself was opened up. Normally,Zeldagames use plenty of impassable walls to show the limits of the play space and herd the player into scenarios designed to play out in specific ways. In the spirit of allowing players to invent their own solutions,Breath of the Wildallows for climbingon most surfaces with enough stamina, and the Paraglider was introduced to reward reaching the highest heights. Dwarfing even the Great Sea ofThe Wind Wakerand the skies inSkyward Sword, it’s impressive how compelling Nintendo managed to make such enormous open worlds.
A Hookshot Is Nowhere In Sight
Despite how open navigation inBreath of the WildandTears of the Kingdomcan be, neither take the next step in including a hookshot.Hookshots have been nearly ever-present inZeldasinceA Link to the Past, but they have no equivalent in the open world games. This is despite how they would synergize with the many climb-able walls, with fellow open world gamesJust CauseandHalo Infiniteshowing how grappling in such environments would look. It’s become redundant now thatTears of the Kingdomhas introduced flying vehicles, but many hope that these classic traversal devices will return some day.
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Musical Instruments Aren’t In Link’s Repertoire
Another item missing fromBotWandTotKis some kind of musical instrument. Whether it’s the iconic ocarina, a conductor’s wand, or even the howling of a wolf, playing memorable melodies to magical ends has been with theZeldaseries since the very first game.Breath of the Wilddoes include a musician element with the wandering minstrel Kass, but evenhis music is gone inTears of the Kingdom. Admittedly, later instruments likeSkyward Sword’s Goddess’s Harp andSpirit Tracks' Spirit Flute were so situational that they felt like obligations, but it would be nice to at least play some tunes while on the open road.
No Need For Bottles
Another iconic item in theZeldaseries is, surprisingly enough, the bottle. Bottles are highly sought after, sometimes implied to have mystical properties, and the player can usually only get their hands on a few of them through side content. Because of how many items players need toforage for in the open worldZeldas, bottles had to go. Even so, their function in limiting powerful healing resources is still intact thanks to the need to cook powerful meals and Fairy-spawning caps based on how many are in Link’s inventory.
Weapon Durability Is The Name of the Game
One of the more controversial changes inBreath of the Wildwas its implementation of weapon durability. Every weapon, even the Master Sword, had limited durability, after which it would either shatter or become temporarily useless. This is a far cry from the largely static loadouts in mostZeldagames. Breakable weapons were only involved in side quests, and scrounging for temporary weapons was once exclusive toThe Wind Waker. WithTears of the Kingdomseeing Hyrule’s weapon supplydegrading from Gloom, it seems Nintendo is dead-set on weapon durability being a part of open worldZelda’s identity.
The Green Tunic Is Out
Link’s traditional green tunic is still in open worldZelda, and multiple versions of it can be found throughBotW’s DLC and amiibo costumes, orTotK’s many side quests. However, all of these outfits are non-essential, and the clothes Link is given and commonly shown with look drastically different from his normal getup.Breath of the Wild’s iconic Champion’s Tuniceven changes Link’s dominant color to blue, something previously restricted to specific rings or tunics. With plentiful distinct options to dress Link up, the hero of Hyrule has never been more fashionable.
Dungeon Items Have Been Replaced
Discovering helpful tools in dungeons has been a staple ofThe Legend of Zelda. Unfortunately, a lack of traditional dungeons andlinear progression inBreath of the Wildmeant the old formula wouldn’t work. To solve this, Nintendo opted to give Link all of his major tools during the tutorial, with runes andTears of the Kingdom’s arm powers being designed with the versatility of multiple dungeon items. Sage powers brought dungeon items back somewhat inTotK, but seeing as they’re only necessary to activate switches, they don’t compare to the many tools used in navigating classic dungeons.
Shrines Are The Closest Things to Linear Dungeons
Speaking of which, the old dungeon style has been replaced by the nonlinear Divine Beast format.Tears of the Kingdomdid add more distinct theming to each of its Temples, but they still play out likeBreath of the Wild’s massive machines. The closest equivalent to oldZeldadungeons are the many Shrines dotting the landscape, each one providing a couple rooms' worth of puzzles. Multiple solutions are still present on a mechanical level, but at least the spirit of the old tradition is kept alive until, hopefully,futureZeldatitles try other dungeon formats.
Hearts and Rupees Won’t Appear Out Of Thin Air
One might not think of cutting grass or smashing pots when they first pictureThe Legend of Zelda, but that’s been the traditional way to find minor items. Chiefly, recovery hearts and rupees are gained this way, though sometimes players can stumble upon bees, shells, or a Fairy. Smashing crates can still produce recovery food andvery rarely rupees in the open worldZeldas, but otherwise the old days of casual item collection are over. Rupees must be found by defeating Yiga, completing quests, and selling items, while Hearts can only be recovered through eating or brewing one’s own potions. It’s a massive change toZelda’s norm, but helps keep the many grassy fields from bogging down the experience.
The Soundtrack Takes Many Rests
Breath of the WildandTears of the Kingdomhave plenty of music, and many fans agree that they sport standoutZeldasoundtracks. The problem is, that music doesn’t play all the time. Formerly,Zeldagames featured a constant soundtrack, with the more subdued songs often reserved for dungeons that required more concentration.Open worldZeldausually features environmental soundswhile Link is traveling, with a few musical notes sprinkled in. This isn’t all bad, as it helps the music and sound cues to stand out when they appear, and makes the evolving tracks inBreath of the WildandTears of the Kingdom’s dungeons all the more triumphant when they reach their final phases.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomis available now for the Nintendo Switch.
