Eiji Aonuma teases that The Legend of Zelda for Wii U will feature a unique and surprising twist on what players expect from a traditional open world game.

The longtime Nintendo producer and current steward of The Legend of Zelda franchise confirmed in an interview that the development team is keenly aware of fan response to the last game in the series, Skyward Sword. Due to the criticism many directed towards Nintendo's open world attempt in that game, Aonuma confirmed that The Legend of Zelda for Wii U will include a unique surprise that better aligns with what he believes an open world game should be.

“We actually had some feedback from Skyward Sword, where people were saying, ‘This is not exactly the Zelda game I was looking for, I was looking for a bigger open world. Unfortunately, I can’t go into details but I’m hoping to put a surprise, or kind of a twist, on my view of an open world game. I hope that you’ll look forward to it.”

While Aunoma also revealed that the studio does read much of what fans have to say about the series, he went on to caution that not every piece of feedback influences or is incorporated into future Zelda titles such as the upcoming Legend of Zelda for Wii U. The main reason is that Aonuma feels that doing so would remove some of the surprise away from the experience. Instead, the studio would rather take a suggestion and then interpret that into a way the player wouldn't expect.

“If there’s a comment and they’re asking for certain element, I would think, ‘Oh, why not interpret this in a different way that you wouldn’t expect?’ That’s how we create a new element in a Zelda game. I always want to implement something new and surprising into every game.”

After getting delayed out of 2016, it's been a long and quiet road for The Legend of Zelda for Wii U. Even though Nintendo opted to have the game skip E3 2015, rumors have begun to run rampant about whether or not it will actually see the light of day on the Wii U console. With Nintendo shifts focus to their next console, codenamed NX, many have begun to speculate that The Legend of Zelda would be better served as a launch title or at the very least launch on both the Wii U and NX similar to what The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess did a few years back.

Signs continue to hint that Nintendo is planning something unexpected however as a few months ago The Legend of Zelda for Wii U no longer featured 2016 next to it's name on an investors report replaced by TBD, or To Be Decided. With little else planned for next year and Nintendo's promises to unveil the NX console, things are looking even more dire for the struggling Wii U.

What do you think Nintendo is planning with this open world? With the Wii U looking like it's not going to be around much longer, are you still holding out for this game or have you already moved on at this point?

The Legend of Zelda launches sometime in 2016 for the Wii U.

Source: IGN