Right now there is only one game on the radar for The Legend of Zelda and that would be a sequel to Breath of the Wild. Will it just have a number at the end or will it be called something else? No one knows on top of no one knowing when this will come out other than a loose 2022 planned reveal.
While it looks good, it also looks more of the same in that world. So, the big question is where should Nintendo go after that in The Legend of Zelda series? These are just some ideas to help rejuvenate the franchise even more so than what Breath of the Wild did.
6 Playable Zelda
This is something that should have been done a long time ago. Based on the original teaser for Breath of the Wild 2, it seemed like Zelda might be playable. That still may happen but based on the most recent trailer, Link is still the showcased star. The likelihood now is thin. There are very few instances of Zelda being playable outside of this series.
She was playable in the spinoff, Cadence of Hyrule, which is an underrated game in the franchise. Zelda was playable in many forms in the Hyrule Warriors games which was something. She was also an assistant in Spirit Tracks, which is more like a core game even if it was on a portable, but Zelda was not actually playable. She’s been around the block but she hasn’t been on her block if that makes sense.
5 Multiplayer
Nintendo has dabbled quite a few times with adding multiplayer into this franchise. It seems like every time the games were either too complicated or expensive to set up or they were ahead of their time. There was Four Swords Adventures, which had players connect their Game Boy Advance and GameCube systems together for a four-player adventure. It was a fun game but expensive. This type of game mode was in a GBA port of A Link to The Past.
That was less expensive to set up but less ambitious. Tri Force Heroes on the 3DS was a three-player puzzle dungeon crawler that was also not that ambitious despite the interesting concept. Hyrule Warriors, to bring it up again, had a two-player co-op and made both games easier with a friend. It seems like now is the perfect time to try co-op again, in any number from two to four. The Internet is much more stable on the Switch compared to the other games and systems.
4 Voice Acting
Besides the Philips CD-i games, a mistake Nintendo probably wants everyone to forget, Breath of the Wild was the first main game in the series to feature full voice acting. It was good for a first occasion but Link was still silent.
Part of the reason he stayed that way in Breath of the Wild might be because he has always been silent. Why break tradition now? Link doesn’t need to talk but maybe Nintendo could at least try. What’s the harm in that? Those Philips CD-i games and that Saturday morning cartoon can’t damage this series’ image forever.
3 A Return To Dungeons
Breath of the Wild’s stance on dungeons seemed to be quantity over quality. There were a lot and they were all short which was interesting. The Guardian Beasts were bigger dungeons as well as Hyrule Castle, but five big dungeons in a Zelda game felt a little off.
It was a nice change of pace to be sure but it’s not something that should become the status quo going forward. Nintendo could have a game with both ideas in it. Finding the balance is the key to helping this franchise evolve rather than changing things up dramatically like this again.
2 A New Setting
There is something wild Nintendo could do on the scale of Breath of the Wild but even more dramatic. They could choose a new era for this series to dive into. Nintendo is doing this with Pokemon Legends: Arceus, which is a game is set in a more samurai-like time period. Nintendo could go even further back with having an actual samurai theme for The Legend of Zelda.
Another direction to test out would be a future setting. Based on the concept art that never made it into the game, Breath of the Wild could have had a more modern, or future look to it. Link might have even gone to space. Those two examples alone could put a lot of hype back into the franchise.
1 Get Out Of Hyrule
If Nintendo wants to stick with the classic fantasy setting then there is still a way to change the series up. All they have to do is set the game away from Hyrule. This was experimented on in the Mario series via Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga on the GBA.
That game had the brothers visit the neighboring Bean Bean Kingdom. Nintendo could try that by having Link and Zelda sail off to somewhere new. It would also be interesting to see this series go for a full-on RPG with experience points, stats, and the whole nine yards just like those Mario RPGs.