The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was one of the most impactful video games of all-time, garnering universal acclaim with its open world version of Hyrule. How do you follow that up with a direct sequel that doesn’t fundamentally change the setting? As the Ask The Developers interview for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom reveals, it’s a tricky process.
The team sought to “break boundaries” set in Breath of the Wild but not do away with them entirely, keeping core elements while also switching things up. So while retaining certain iconic elements like classic Zelda sound effects, they changed other things up, leading to a common sense of “déjà vu” during development, as if the team had already made the game before.
This led to harried attempts to change things up so they didn’t make the exact same game as before, but at some point the devs realized that they actually needed to keep certain things the same as before, and that the déjà vu was acceptable, even desirable. They referred to the unchanged elements as “The Great Mundanity,” and by the end it had sharpened enough that it was clear what should be kept and what should be altered.
You can read the full Part 2 of the Ask the Developers Interview for more details. Tears of the Kingdom releases this Friday, May 12th.
Make sure to check out our guide where we list off a retailer list and details about pre-order bonuses!
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Written by Amelia Fruzzetti
A writer and Nintendo fan based in Seattle, Washington. When not working for NinWire, she can be found eating pasta, writing stories, and wondering about when Mother 3 is finally going to get an official localization.
