In the original Zelda for NES, exploration was all up to the player. You could go where you want from the beginning and do what you want for the most part, however you decided to. But in today’s gaming world, with so many new games offering that open world formula, how do you make it work in a game like Zelda? Especially after the more established and beloved “Zelda Formula” has been a staple since A Link to the Past days. Gamer Maker’s Toolkit has the breakdown for you in this beautifully explained look into Nintendo’s design philosophy for Breath of the Wild.
Creating an open world that players can explore to their leisure, is no simple task in general, but making it work in a game that has been stuck in a solid structure of story telling and linear gameplay for the better part of 20 years is even more challenging. Nintendo definitely had their work cut out for them. They designed Breath of the Wild’s open world, ironically, with a system of triangles in mind. Something that can be seen on the map from different angles and distances that lures the player in without making it solely the focal point of their journey. If the player sees something up high on a mountain, they can mark it on the map and head that way, and if obstacles arise they can either go to them, around them, or sometimes through them, all while still making their way toward their initial goal. Sheikah towers stand tall and glow to stand out even more at night, stables have a unique horse-like shape, and plumes of smoke rise high into the air to be seen from a distance. Stables initially only allowed the player to board or register horses, but later had more characters and things added to create more of a social hub for the player. All of these things led to the player eventually heading down a path that would guide them further into the story, without feeling like they are being forced down a path.
Nintendo all but mastered this technique which made Breath of the Wild one of the best games to date, but with the recent success of Tears of the Kingdom, it seems they have perfected it. Tears of the Kingdom takes everything that was successful in the previous title and enhances it. Now in this game, there is always something that catches your eye and pulls you toward it. From looking in the sky at the many different land formations and weather patterns, to falling debris, to towers that are adorned with huge lights, to rifts in the ground spewing a red and black substance remnant of malice from Breath of the Wild. This game’s new version of Sheikah towers now have huge stage lights that shine brightly at night to even further accentuate that there is something there. The new shrines now have a blue-green swirl that rises above and is a lot more noticeable from far distances, even more so than the shrines of the previous title.
Tears of the Kingdom is packed with so many things to do and see; almost nothing is off limits and there is always a lot going on at all times. Nintendo has taken what made the previous game amazing and thoroughly enhanced it. Compound that with a three layer map that consists of the Sky, Hyrule and a new “dark world” type of area called the Depths, there is action and adventure around literally every corner. Just make sure you bring a torch with you, it gets dark down there…
