The dev team behind Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom explained in an interview how Breath of the Wild’s fan feedback directly influenced its sequel.
When Breath of the Wild came out, it was basically a cultural phenomenon. As the first Zelda game to truly go open world, and one of the better ones to have done so far, it is considered a fan favorite in particular for its freedom.
And it seems the dev team behind its sequel, Tears of the Kingdom, enjoyed the vast amount of feedback they got from fans, as they reveal it was the community’s response to the open world that influenced their newfound direction of freedom.
In an interview published by Nintendo, Eiji Aonuma, and Satoru Takizawa explained as much.
When asked about how they felt about BOTW being played in various different ways due to its freedom of approach, Aonuma answered, “The direction of giving players the freedom to do anything in this game came about precisely because of the reactions of people who played the last game.”
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Takizawa also chimed in, “Even though it’s been six years since the last title was released, many fans still post drawings, comments, and videos on social media.” Relating the openness of the game that allows fans to interpret it however they would like for themselves.
Aonuma explained further, “I’ve seen some fans say that the Legend of Zelda games make them feel like they’re the only player to have solved the puzzle, and that’s what they like about the series.
“I think letting the players come up with their own solutions to puzzles gives them a stronger sense of being the only one to have figured them out than if we got them to use pre-defined solutions,” he said.
Tears of the Kingdom is undoubtedly a confident sequel to BOTW, and it’s quite clear its deeper development into the game’s freedom is very much inspired by its fan’s love of the franchise’s newfound freedom.