When it comes to video game franchises, one of the biggest issues developers have is knowing when to stop something and move to the next thing or figuring out how to keep the franchise fresh. After all, if you do the same thing over and over again, fans will eventually get bored. Or, if you do something really great but you can’t recapture the magic, fans will call you out on that. For The Legend Of Zelda franchise, their last two mainline entries have been godsends for the series and have been best-sellers on the Nintendo Switch. But their success does raise questions about the future.
Specifically, the last two games have been game-changers regarding how Hyrule is shown, how gameplay is done, how you do the story, etc. Then, with the most recent entry, they added a construction mechanic that drastically changed how people solved puzzles and got around the game’s world. But given that “freedom” that gamers have been exposed to, what will the game developers do next? Some might feel that they’ll be “restricted” in what they hope to accomplish with the next game, whatever that may be.
Hidemaro Fujibayashi and Eiji Aonuma, the director and producer of the Legend of Zelda franchise in recent times, talked with RTL Nieuws, and they said they felt no such limitations on continuing on with the franchise:
“I get that question quite often, but I think that the possibilities with Zelda are endless. I never felt like I was stuck. When I come up with an idea, it doesn’t necessarily have to do with Zelda. But later I can still make it part of a Zelda game, because you can really go anywhere with the series.”
Aonuma added:
“The games transcend genre conventions, allowing you to put all kinds of different experiences in them. In that respect, I have all the freedom to explore new ideas. I might be stuck with Zelda, but that’s not a bad thing. It’s a very comfortable place to be stuck.”
A unique way of putting it, plus, as gamers have noted, there are new ways to change things in the current open-world setup to add new content. Many players want to be Zelda in the next game, and if a new Hyrule is introduced, new possibilities can be added.
The last two titles alone showed how vast the games can be, so who knows what these two will cook up next time.
