What is Next from the Legend of Zelda
The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom has come out and taken the world by storm. Many have beaten the game while others are taking their time. Some of those who have finished Tears of the Kingdom are going back to past Zelda games like, Link’s Awakening and the Oracle games, waiting for Tears of the Kingdom’s Downloadable Content (DLC). It is very obvious that we will not be getting a 3D open world Zelda installment for quite some time and Nintendo needs to have something planned in the meantime to keep the Zelda craze going. Which leaves us the two options. The first being a 2D installment that could be a new story or a remake. The other option of making another game in the Hyrule Warriors series. Here at Duck Tape Inc. we think that the first game we will get is a new Hyrule Warriors game. Both options have big potential because after Nintendo released Breath of the Wild in 2017, they released both Links Awakening in 2018 and Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity in 2020. Both games sold well and were critically acclaimed by fans, and it seems like Nintendo is going to continue this strategy. If we got a new Zelda game, what would that look like? We are going to answer that question here with a game that Nintendo needs to release before a 3-D Zelda installment.
Hyrule Warriors (Definitive Edition)
Hyrule Warriors is a hack and slash game developed by Omega Force and published by Koei Tecmo. This is a spinoff of both hit titles Dynasty Warriors and the Legend of Zelda. There have been two releases in the Hyrule Warriors series. The first being 2014 title Hyrule Warriors for the Wii U which got ported to the Nintendo Switch in the form of the Definitive edition. This includes all of the games DLC. The second being Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity
Both games are hack and slash, strategy, battle games but each has their own stories to them. Hyrule Warriors focuses on multiple Zelda games like Twilight Princess, Ocarina of Time, and Skyward Sword while including both characters and maps from those different games. Hyrule Warriors offers a vast roster of characters to choose from. You can build a team consisting of both heroes and villains who have different weapons and combos to defeat the opposing army soldiers and bosses. For example, my team would often consist of Sheik, Zant, Ganondorf, and Skull Kid. This team would complete challenges throughout the battles, unlocking secret characters, weapons, and treasures.
Age calamity is quite similar when it comes to game play with little to no changes. This game, however, only focuses on one game, Breath of the Wild. In Age of Calamity, you are able to witness the battle the heroes fought 100 years ago. The roster is much smaller than the Definitive Edition, but the player can still choose some fun characters like Impa, the past Champions, King Rohm, and even the great fairies. Together they try to stop Calamity Ganon and his forces
Hyrule Warriors: Imprisoning War
The Imprisoning War
Omega Force and Koei Tech could do the same thing as they did with Age of the Calamity but make it based off of Tears of the Kingdom. Age of Calamity focuses on the war 100 years prior, and this game could do the same thing but with the Imprisoning War, thousands of years ago. Similar to Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom focuses on a great war that happened in Hyrule’s past. This would be a great move on developers’ part because they can capitalize on the Tears of the Kingdom sales that are still going on as well as tell a great story. The game could focus on other characters besides Link, as they try to stop the Demon King Ganondorf from taking over all of Hyrule. The only differences between the previously mentioned games other than the story would be the roster and graphics.
Some of the characters could be taken out like the Champions; Rivali, Urbosa, Daruk, and Mipha and be re replaced with the Sages of the past. The ancient Water, Fire, Lightning, and Wind Sages that were revealed in Tears of the Kingdom were very mysterious characters but crucial to the story of the Imprisoning war. Switching these characters out would be wuite easily since they have similar body types and weapons. Similar to important characters in Tears of the Kingdom; Rauru, Mineru, and Ganodorf would need to be added as well. Obviously Ganondorf would be changed from Calamity Ganon to the Demon King. In both Hyrule Warriors games both the King of Hyrule and Ganondorf are playable characters. Rauru and Ganondorf could be swapped out for King Rhoam and Calamity Ganon. Finally, Mineru could take two different forms. The big mech form or her human body. Her mech body could be replaced with Hestu of the Korok tribe. They are both big creatures and could be modeled off of each other. Her human body could be replaced with the Shiekah Impa. These characters along with a couple other ones would be great to fill up a roster for a Hyrule Warriors: Imprisoning War game.
