It is the diversity of gameplay that has made Zelda the legendary license that we know today, and its developers intend to stick to it. During the Nintendo Switch era, Link's adventures have taken many forms. But apart from the Breath of the Wild / Tears of the Kingdom diptych, the titles released on this platform have mostly taken the form of remasters and remakes. So to speak, Nintendo's teams have stuck to a single formula for their new games: the 3D open world established for the first time in 2017. The bias aimed at keeping the same graphics engine and the same recipe with a few minor details had been widely criticized by some players when Tears of the Kingdom was released last year.
Ultimately, we had to wait for the unexpected launch of The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom for things to change. This adventure developed by Grezzo – an external studio notably at the origin of Ocarina of Time 3D and A Link Between Worlds – has become a habit for us setback to give us one of the most memorable experiences in the history of the franchise. By taking the graphics engine introduced by the remake of Link’s Awakening, the developers have managed to create an adventure that is as simple as it is effective, proving that the top-down recipe still has its place in the franchise. In an interview with BBC, the producer of the license Eiji Aonuma stated that this title and its success were a real revelation.
Making two approaches coexist
The cohabitation between the 2D and 3D formulas of Zelda is not new. While home consoles have pushed the boundaries in terms of graphics and gameplay, portable consoles have perpetuated a more classic recipe, adapted to the performance and use of these machines. But with the arrival of the Switch, the boundary between home console and portable console has been definitively broken, leaving doubts hanging over the future of the franchise. But with Echoes of Wisdom, Nintendo has brilliantly maintained the tradition.
“This game made me realize that there are still many opportunities for these Zelda opuses from above” Aonuma explains to the BBC. “So we're going to have the more dynamic 3D episodes, but on top of that, we hope to be able to continue developing these 2D Zelda games.”
This approach not only allows us to continue to diversify the franchise, but also to keep a healthier pace of development and release. If there's one thing the delays of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom have taught us, it's that it takes many years of hard work to bring something this advanced to life. A title with A more reasonable scale such as Echoes of Wisdom is easier to develop, but does not appear to be a second-hand Zelda. If nothing is certain yet according to Aonuma's words, Nintendo has every interest in continuing on this path in order to keep the license in top form.
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