The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’spopularity cannot be measured easily. The Switch succeeded in part due to its coinciding launch with this beloved title. The game was still being played up to the release ofThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomas players hunted for secrets deep within.The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomwill likely have a long legacy as well. It may even get a longer one if Nintendo ports the game to its next console, whenever that happens.
As great as it was to get a direct sequel in another open-world adventure, it’s not what all fans wanted. How then should the next game in the series play out? While Nintendo is the last company to need any advice on how to make a great game, there’s no denying that fan feedback should always be taken into account if a developer wants their games to evolve and reach the next level of technical, narrative, and gameplay ingenuity.
Updated Jul 07, 2025 by Ritwik Mitra:The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom tookthe world by storm when it was released. No one could have believed that this game would end up being a massive improvement overBreath of the Wild, but this is precisely what Nintendo has achieved. The runes have been upgraded to a whole new level, and the world of Hyrule was expanded with the addition of both the Sky Islands and the Depths.Tears of the Kingdomis a mind-blowing game. But of course, fans can always ask for more in the nextZeldatitle, which should be just as groundbreaking a game as this one.
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11A New Combat System
The combat system of bothZeldagames on the Switch seem simple at first glance. However, there are a lot of ways that players can chain their moves with the many runes, items, and more at their disposal. However, the base of the combat system itself has been left largely untouched across the two games.
It goes without saying that combat needs to go through a major overhaullater on in the series. Fans won’t be happy with the same system implemented in a third game. There’s nothing wrong with the combat system, but Nintendo fans will obviously want something fresh and engaging in a later entry.
10Mass Cooking
While it’s great that players can register recipes inTears of the Kingdom, the act of cooking itself can still feel rather tedious. Players have to make dishes one at a time, which can get pretty grating even with the skip button. The fact that Link whistles classic tunes from theZeldaseries eases the grind somewhat, but only just.
Future games in theZeldaseries should allow players to produce multiple items of food at once. It’s a simple change, but one that fans will love. Quality-of-life improvements are always welcomed wholeheartedly.
9A Wider Variety Of Weapons
The Fuse mechanic is a great way to let playerscombine the attack power of two different weapons. While some people were disappointed by the implementation of this power, there’s no denying that Fuse still makes for a fascinating rune that is still leagues ahead of the powers that Link had inBreath of the Wild.
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However, the weapons themselves still fall under the three categories of one-handed, two-handed, and long-reaching spears. This is unchanged from the previous game. It would be prudent for Nintendo to elevate the formula by giving players more weapons with varied movesets to mess around with in a newZeldagame.
8A New World
It’s been great to playsomeZeldagameswith giant open worlds on the Switch. Both games have so much for players to do, and they are great shake-ups from the usual routine of the series. However, two games with this gameplay style are more than enough.
The next game in the series can still be an open-world adventure, but it needs to be in a completely new world with brand-new environments and characters. Recycling this version of Hyrule a third time would feel lazy, especially since it will probably arrive on the next Nintendo console.
7Play As Zelda
How many times do fans need to shout that they want to play as Zelda before Nintendo listens? It’s not like she has never been playable before. Various iterations of her, like Tetra and Sheik, can be playedinHyrule Warriors. She’s also playable in the rhythm roguelike spinoff,Cadence of Hyrule: Crypt of the NecroDancer Featuring The Legend of Zelda.
However, the titular princes has never been playable in a mainline game in the series before, and that’s a crime at this point. It’s been almost forty years, so the princess deserves some proper recognition in the next title.
6Add Co-Op
Tears of the Kingdomadds a lot toBreath of the Wild’sworld, to make this game feel like a proper sequel. But what could have made it more enjoyable this time around would have been co-op .
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The series has dabbled with co-op before, like inFour Swords AdventuresandTri Force Heroes. Imagine how fun it would have been to explore this giant version of Hyrule with a buddy or two. Zelda would have been a great character to put infor co-op action, but it didn’t happen this time.
5Add Online
There are other modes Nintendo could add besides co-op to make it online compatible. One of the biggest new features ofTears of the Kingdomis the building mechanics. Players can combine weapons to make them stronger, or create vehicles to get around Hyrule more easily.
Since building is the hot new gameplay mechanic, Nintendo could strengthen that idea and allow players to craft dungeons in the sequel. Then players could upload challenges to players, similar to howSuper Mario Makerworks. The remake ofLink’s Awakeningdid have a dungeon builder already, but it wasn’t that robust.
4Touch Controls
If Nintendo decides to put building mechanics into the next game in the series, whether it is another open-world adventure or not, they should add touch controls. Touch controls naturally don’t work for players at home using their TV to experienceTears of the Kingdom,but Nintendo could have still added touch controls for portable gaming.
The building mechanics are great and fun to play around with, but they are clunky. It would be so much easier to build vehicles from cars to robots if touch controls were added as an option.
3A Difficulty System
Most of the games in theZeldaseries do not include difficulty levels. Things gradually ramp up from easy to hard during the adventures, and Nintendo typically balances their games well.Breath of the Wildwas a big departure though, as the open-world environment allowed players to go anywhere.
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Without levels like ina typical RPG, players couldn’t tell which areas were going to be harder than others, which resulted in quick deaths. The same is true inTears of the Kingdom.Hopefully Nintendo wisens up, joins modern-day game creation, and adds level scaling to the next entry.
2A Better Fast Travel System
There are three different ways players can activate afast travel point inTears of the Kingdom. They can activate Skyview Towers, which also allow players to quickly access the sky islands without a vehicle. They can visit Shrines, which are the puzzle dungeons that level up Link through stamina and heart upgrades.
Then there are random areas with unlockable touchpoints, like boss dungeons including the Wind Temple. Some of these access points are few and far between, and aren’t easy to spot either. Allowing players to warp to any location would be more convenient in the next game.
