Zelda Producer Suggests Open World Gameplay Might Be Here To Stay

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild represents a pretty radical departure for the series with its vast open world. It seems to have worked too, with many reviewers (including yours truly) praising this new direction for the Zelda series. What does this mean for the future, though? Was Breath of the Wild a one-off with a return to the old formula planned for future games, or is the style of Breath of the Wild here to stay?

We may have an answer, thanks to a new Famitsu interview with Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma (as reported Esuteru). In that interview, Aonuma suggests that we'll continue to see these open worlds in upcoming Zelda games. In fact, Aonuma calls this approach to Zelda a new "standard" for the series.

Breath of the Wild certainly feels like a much-needed change for a series that has been largely the same since the release of Ocarina of Time. Though we saw shades of open world gameplay in The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, it wasn't until Breath of the Wild that Nintendo implemented any sweeping changes to the tried-and-true formula.

Of course, the next Legend of Zelda game is likely a long way off. If we're looking at console releases, it was over five years in between Skyward Sword on the original Wii and the launch of Breath of the Wild. If the team behind Zelda is serious about making open world gameplay a new mainstay in the franchise, we could be waiting quite some time for the next installment.

What do you think? Do you want to see more open world Zelda games, or would you prefer to see the series return to the more linear structure of previous games? Head down to the comments section to let us know!