opinion: Switch or not – Tears of the Kingdom is of great importance for all game fans. Because this Zelda prepares us for the future of the Open World
There”s no way around Breath of the Wild. It doesn”t matter if you”ve had Nintendo”s hybrid console on your shelf since 2017 or if you”ve always been loyal to the PC alone. At least not if you have even the slightest fascination for open game worlds.
Because hardly any other game has left such a huge footprint on the open-world landscape in the last five years. Not every open world that came after Zelda may have realised its achievements. But whenever modern open-world design is discussed, the name of this title simply has to come up. Breath of the Wild was an eye-opener for many people.
And now the sequel to this remarkable work finally has a proper name. At the Nintendo Direct on 13 September 2022, a new trailer announced the official title (Tears of the Kingdom) and release date (12 May 2023) of the highly anticipated Zelda adventure.
This may not concern pure PC gamers at first, but after Breath of the Wild, that would be a big mistake. Tears of the Kingdom will be an open-world sequel that we all have to be interested in.
And a sequel that has a big task ahead of it.
The pure urge to discover
I wouldn”t call myself the biggest Zelda fan. I”ve owned too few Nintendo consoles in my life for that and have never been particularly fond of the pointy-eared little fellow with the green pointed cap. Before I ventured into Breath of the Wild, my only other Zelda was A Link to the Past on the Super Nintendo.
But ever since I wandered, swam and climbed in the Hyrule of BotW, my ears perk up even more than Link”s at the mention of a new Zelda. Because this game did something to me. It seamlessly pulled me into its wilderness and showed me what Open Worlds can actually do.
Before Breath of the Wild, relying on map icons and quest markers in an open world seemed like a given. Assassin”s Creed and its ilk were too present at the time, Morrowind was too far in the past.
But Breath of the Wild has kicked all the open-world standards of 2017 to the curb. The world beckons with curiosity and the promise of a wonderful journey. No mountain seems unclimbable, no journey too far. And all of this without pestering me with markers and points of interest. Breath of the Wild has understood what the appeal of an open world really is and tickles me with a pure thirst for discovery with every hour of play.
A groundbreaking open world
This ingenious way of presenting its world did not leave the genre unscathed. In the five years since its release, Breath of the Wild has changed the way all developers look at Open Worlds. So it no longer matters if Zelda doesn”t take place on the PC. At the latest with Immortal”s Fenyx Rising, even Ubisoft tried its hand at this form of Open World. But traces of this game can also be found in other areas.
When it comes to Open Worlds, more and more often we talk about how the game manages to organically guide us through its world. Of course, not every open world game has to go the Zelda way, especially if a strong story is supposed to be the real draw.
But even story games with a strong focus on side activities think more often about how we, as the game”s end, wander through their open world. Take a look at Ghost of Tsushima for that. Here you”ll find elements of the classic Ubisoft formula as well as an attempt to capture the allure of Breath of the Wild. I am not forced to follow a compass symbol to the next destination or to always keep an eye on the mini-map, despite numerous side tasks. Here, it”s the wind that discreetly but effectively guides me through the romantic Japanese scenery.
Breath of the Wild even managed to make FromSoftware break out of its highly hallowed Dark Souls formula with Elden Ring. This attempt could have gone horribly wrong. But Elden Ring was almost universally acclaimed after its release in early 2022. At least, if you”re not completely put off by the basic soul concept.
And what is the reason for that? That”s right: Elden Ring has a lot of the same fascination as Breath of the Wild. The path is much more often the goal here than simply being mercilessly hammered by the next boss. The next huge dungeon can be hidden behind an inconspicuous crevice. The danger of missing something in Elden Ring is immeasurably high, but that”s what makes the explorations so fulfilling. You really feel like you”re discovering something rather than being nose-dived into it.
What lies beyond the horizon? What beyond this forest? What secrets does this gorge hold? Curiosity instead of a guidebook – that”s the Breath-of-the-Wild principle.
The tremendous hope for Tears of the Kingdom
What does this all mean now for the next Zelda? What does this legacy mean for Tears of the Kingdom? I”ll be frank with you: My anticipation is huge. At the same time, I”m not really expecting the next open-world revolution. But I believe that Tears of the Kingdom has a whole other chance. For as brilliant as Breath of the Wild was and as groundbreaking as its open world was – even this game has not yet perfected the concept of an open world to the full.
I believe that Breath of the Wild, above all, encouraged creative thinking about how open worlds can be made even more believable in the future and how the desire for discovery can spread among us gamers. It showed what an extremely powerful motivational weapon it is to simply let us open up such worlds. But Breath of the Wild also relied on towers and struggled with storytelling. After a while, even a certain form of idle repetition could creep in.
With Tears of the Kingdom, Nintendo can now finally refine the open-world revolution. That”s the big opportunity. Nintendo now knows what strengths Zelda has in its open world and can really step it up here. Can show in which new worlds curiosity becomes the trump card over boredom.
Because an open world can be diverse and doesn”t have to consist only of land journeys or fantasy worlds. It will be exciting to see how the Breath of the Wild principle plays out in a new setting.
More than just the next page
Clearly, Tears of the Kingdom could also simply deliver more of what Breath of the Wild already had. It could be the next page in a fairytale narrative. I expect it to be a whole new chapter, though. And as it seems at the moment, Nintendo will try to do just that. Not much is known about the new world of Tears of the Kingdom. But we do know that there will be flying islands.
This is exactly the new environment away from forests and fields, where curiosity and the urge to explore have yet to prove themselves. Can flying islands create the same fascination as wondering what”s waiting over the next hill? Hard to say, but Nintendo will have a plan for it.
Tears of the Kingdom can prove that Breath of the Wild didn”t create an open world that only works in a dull and familiar environment. But that the same principles also apply when an open world consists of cloud-covered island fragments – and who knows what developers will do with this realisation this time.
Tears of the Kingdom could allow for whole new approaches to other open worlds. We may soon be thinking of open cities completely differently like in Cyberpunk 2077, or it may give new food for thought to open universe designs like Starfield promises us.
No matter what it is, Tears of the Kingdom gives me hope that things are moving again. That we will all benefit from it. That it will once again be a game that can”t be ignored.
