For the past thirty years, The Legend of Zelda series has been one of the real cornerstones of gaming. It has captured the hearts of many with its perfect cocktail of adventure, exploration, and problem-solving. However, as the series moves through different generations, so do the arguments about its direction. Have the series' changes over the years been natural progressions, or have they really watered down what made Zelda truly great? In this article, we examine these questions using Ocarina of Time as a point of view to see where the series has gone wrong.
Early Zelda's Magic: A World Without Hand Holding
When The Legend of Zelda came in 1986, it was a revelation. Players were dropped into a huge world with nothing but a sword and a sense of curiosity. There were no detailed maps or quest markers; the game trusted players to explore, experiment, and discover on their own. It's this feel of freedom and adventure that has traditionally made Zelda special.
The early games, particularly the original The Legend of Zelda and A Link to the Past, are almost unanimously praised for their open-ended design. They gave a world full of mysteries where the fun was to discover things for yourself. You transverse the big evil and find your own way to ease Link's path through the various challenges that Hyrule presents.
Ocarina of Time: The Changing of the Tides
Enter Ocarina of Time. Released in 1998, this was to be a genre title that changed the series from 2D into 3D, touting innovations like Z-targeting that would become hallmarks of modern gaming. At the time it was called a masterpiece and many have hailed it as one of the greatest games ever made.
But Ocarina of Time also marked the point where the series' design philosophy began to shift. Earlier games came alive through the unknown; Ocarina of Time instead introduced a more guided experience. Yes, the world was large and still full of secrets, but players now often had a guided nudge on where to go and what to do next. It was a solution to make the game accessible to the broadening audience, but it did come at a cost: the sense of being a true adventurer, just discovering the world on your own terms, began to fade.
With Z-targeting—a brilliant solution to the problems thrown up by 3D combat—it allowed players to lock onto enemies and engage in far more dynamic battles. This innovation also segmented the game into distinct combat and exploration modes. In the original Zelda games, you fought enemies as you moved around the environment; often, you did both at the same time. But in Ocarina of Time, these elements started to separate out from each other, and combat began to feel like a series of isolated encounters rather than an integrated part of your journey.
Puzzles and the Problem of Linear Progression
One of Zelda's staples has always been puzzles. From pushing blocks to finding hidden switches, these kinds of challenges have made the series for the past forever. However, starting with Ocarina of Time and continuing with its successors, the puzzles became some variation of "do this, this, this, and that" rather than actual problem-solving.
In the earlier games, the puzzles were about using your wits to get past an obstacle. You'd be in a room with locked doors and some enemies, and you had to work out what to do to progress. But as time went on, such puzzles became about hitting the right switch or using the correct item in the right place, reducing the player's sense of agency. The challenge shifted from figuring out what to do to simply executing a series of predefined actions.
This linearity extended into the actual game structure itself. In Ocarina of Time, and indeed in most games following this, there was nearly always a set of tasks that the player could follow in an ordered sequence, leaving very little room for deviation. This is rather removed from the earlier games where one could more or less roam in a world of their own, finding new areas and challenges.
This trend in gameplay only deepens with the progression of the Zelda series. Games like Skyward Sword have taken this formula even further to the extreme with very linear design and a strong emphasis on story. While these games still had loads of challenges and engaging gameplay, they were farther away from the spirit of pure exploration and the act of discovery that defined the early titles.
The problem with this is that it can turn the world of Zelda from a place to discover into a series of challenges. Knowing every dungeon will end with a boss fight requiring an item you have just found really takes out much of the sense of wonder and excitement that comes to you when exploring unknown space. Instead of feeling like a pioneer in some huge, mysterious world, you're more like a tourist on a guided tour.
A Return to Form? The Case of A Link Between Worlds
A Link Between Worlds, a direct sequel to A Link to the Past released in 2013, really seemed to return the series to a lot of its roots. It reincorporated that open-ended form of exploration and nonlinear progress mostly absent from most recent titles. Along with this came back the sense of mystery and discovery in a world full of secrets waiting to be unearthed.
One of the most striking innovations of A Link Between Worlds was its item rental system, which allowed the player to rent them and upgrade them according to his wish. This gave freedom to people to move in the world more freely than ever, equipped with what they wanted. It was a small change, and it went a long way toward recapturing that sense of adventure that had made the original Zelda games so compelling.
The Future of Zelda: Embracing the Past While Moving Forward
So, where does that leave the Zelda series now? Most notably, with 2017's release of Breath of the Wild, Nintendo took a bold leap toward recapturing that open-ended, exploratory feel and sense of wonder which had defined the series' early days. The game would go on to receive widespread acclaim for the scope of its world, allowing players to wander and uncover at will, much in the same way as in the original Legend of Zelda and spawning the sequel, Tears of the Kingdom.
As the series progresses and continues to evolve, however, it needs to remember what truly made Zelda special in the first place. The best games in the Zelda series have always been more than simply following some formula; they are about creating a world alive and full of possibilities where every nook holds a new secret and every challenge represents an opportunity for learning and growth.
Going into the future of Zelda, we can just hope for further innovation and experimentation by Nintendo, yet faithful to the roots of the series. After all, it is not the mechanics or graphics that hold any magic in Zelda but the sense of adventure coming from stepping into a world full of mystery and making it your own.