12 ingredients that make a game feel like Zelda

Over the holidays we're republishing some of our best features, interviews, opinion pieces and talking points from the previous 12 months from staff and contributors alike — articles that we feel represent our best of 2021. In them you'll find our usual mix of thoughtfulness, frivolity, retro expertise, gaming nostalgia, and — of course — enthusiasm for all things Nintendo. Enjoy!

Have you ever played a game and thought, “This feels a bit like Zelda?” Only the other week, we described the excellent Eastward as “quite a bit like a 2D Zelda game”, and the PC/Xbox game Death's Door — a title that our sister site Pure Xbox called "a 2021 GOTY contender" when awarding it a 10/10 score back in July — evoked a similar response in reviewers. [Note: The game has since been released for Switch, so feel free to check out our own glowing review - Ed.] It's an influence that goes across all platforms, which is unsurprising due to the extraordinary history and prestige of Nintendo's series.

But what exactly do we mean when we say a game is ‘Zelda-like’? The question brings to mind that famous quote from a judge trying to sum up what constitutes obscenity in a 1960s trial: “I know it when I see it”. It’s easy to say “this game feels like Zelda”, but trying to define why is a tall order.

The task [of finding a 'formula'] is complicated by the fact that Zelda games have changed remarkably over the past 35 years

Yet for game designers attempting to build on Zelda’s success, working out exactly what constitutes the Zelda formula is essential. So we spoke to Acid Nerve’s Mark Foster and David Fenn, the designers behind the Zelda-like Death’s Door, to get their take on what exactly makes a Zelda game feel like a Zelda game.

The task is complicated by the fact that Zelda games have changed remarkably over the past 35 years, from top-down 2D affairs to 3D roam-a-thons, with a little bit of side-scrolling thrown in (hello, The Adventure of Link). Then there’s Breath of the Wild. “There's a discussion in the Steam forums for our game where someone was saying, ‘This isn’t anything like Zelda, you can't cook food and can't climb up stuff’,” says Mark. “They're coming at it from a perspective of Breath of the Wild being what they know as a Zelda game.”

But perhaps there are some common ingredients that link all of these games together. Let’s see.

Already we’re struggling to fit in Breath of the Wild, unless you count shrines. But it’s fair to say that dungeons make up a key component of the traditional Zelda recipe. “Other than Breath of the Wild, I think all of the others follow the same kind of structure, with this overworld and dungeon separation. That's a big part of it,” says David.

Whether it’s a boomerang or a hookshot, you’ll need specific items to get past certain obstacles and open up the world of Hyrule. You might not always find these items in dungeons, but using them is essential to making progress. David says that Acid Nerve didn’t initially set out to make a Zelda-like game – the change came when they were working out the structure and progression of Death’s Door, which ended up being linked to unique items. “I think that's where Zelda is such a useful reference point".

You know when you’re in a dungeon and you can see a treasure chest on a ledge but you can’t quite get to it? That teasing level structure is an indispensable element of Zelda games, trailing rewards that you might be able to snag later on if you grab the right item or find a hidden route. Getting this level structure right was essential when they were working on Death’s Door, says David. “That was quite a big focus for us, and it's something that we put a lot of time into. I probably spent about 80% of my time on level design, because it is just such a big task to make levels in that way, and to make sure you have that satisfying level of deeper exploration if you want to find all the secrets.”

In most Zelda games, the bosses act as a sort of tutorial in how to use the item you’ve just acquired in a dungeon. Mark says this was something Acid Nerve aimed to mimic in Death’s Door: “For all of the core bosses, we tried to have something that would be tied to the power you got in that area. The frog boss was a straight reference to King Dodongo, where you throw bombs into its mouth to stun it.” But Acid Nerve deviated from the formula slightly by making it so all bosses can also be felled using just your sword, with some items simply providing an easier way to defeat them. “So it's something you discover if you pay attention, but without doing it you can still get through the fight,".

Zelda games are packed with memorable people, from the songstress Marin to middle-aged man-fairy Tingle. “One of my favourite characters is the Happy Mask Salesman,” says Mark. “Just the way he's animated with frozen frames, and when the camera cuts [back to him] he’s in a different position.” Mark reckons the general tone of Zelda was certainly an inspiration “on a subconscious level” for the characters in Death’s Door– and Pothead certainly reminds us of some of Hyrule’s stranger citizens.

The characters generally don’t speak that much in Zelda games – instead the design does the heavy lifting of characterization. “Every element of a character design has so much attention to detail,” says David, “even if they only have a small amount of phrases. That is a really focused way to build a character without a huge script.” Acid Nerve used a similar approach in Death’s Door, keeping dialogue to a minimum. “We really wanted to maintain that pace, and not overwhelm you of having too much text on screen at one time. I think that's something Zelda excels at.”

Link starts and ends each game with a sword, and the combat is kept incredibly simple, usually with just taps to swing your sword and a charge attack from holding down the button – but combat always feels satisfyingly crunchy and responsive. Death’s Door likewise has simple, one-button sword fights, and Mark says they poured a huge amount of into getting it right from the beginning of development: “That was the very first thing we did – getting the combat feeling good.”

“As you add more stuff in, you break the old stuff, and you have to come back and polish it all over again.”

Scrappy, janky games can be fun, but to make something truly feel like a Zelda game, you need to give it that Nintendo polish. Mark says that they were constantly polishing Death’s Door whenever they added new elements, but it was an endless process: “As you add more stuff in, you break the old stuff, and you have to come back and polish it all over again.” The final touches also took a long time, as outlined by David: “We finished the whole game about six months before it actually launched, then from that point on we had a big list of everything that we wanted to polish.”

Generic fetch quests have no place in a Zelda game. “I feel like Zelda is really good at making all of the content in the game bespoke,” says David. “You always have this big collectathon thing, but it feels like every single one of the items you find is a satisfying discovery.” Mark explains that it’s a format they tried to reflect in Death’s Door when it comes to collectible items: “If you're gonna make someone do that much work, you've got to at least give them a reward.”

Each Zelda game looks a little different, but Zelda wouldn’t be Zelda if it had photo-realistic graphics. Death’s Door follows a similar approach of avoiding too much realism. “There's not a focus on realistic detail,” says David. “It's not super cartoony, but it's stylized, and we focus on a colour scheme in each area.”

David explains that “Zelda games are never intimidating to me. You always know that you can make progress without messing up your journey or missing an item or making the wrong build.” No matter how long it’s been between playing sessions, you can easily pick up a Zelda game and get stuck in without having to remember complicated controls or plots. “There’s definitely a cosiness to it”.

Generally, there’s no levelling up in Zelda games – the only real level-building is done through collecting hearts. This is one area where Death’s Door deviates from the formula slightly, says David: “We have a bit of a minimal build creation, because I think in general we do have more of a combat focus, so we wanted to develop that side of it a bit more.” Even so, grinding for levels is definitely not a feature of Death’s Door – and grinding certainly has no place in a Zelda title.

So what do you think of our list? Is there anything we’ve missed? Let us know in the comments.

All this, and more, is why Breath of the Wild didn't feel like a proper Zelda title to me, and why I disliked it so much.

Also, #13 memorable soundtrack is an absolute essential and more important than most of the things on that list in my opinion.

I like the formula breakdown.

Zelda _______ is the best. Zelda _______ is my least favorite. ....is what people will say.

Moodycat beat me too it.

Breath of the wild is awesome in my opinion, and it's soundtrack is sublime, very understated but awesome, the sheer scope of the game makes you feel as if you are in a real adventure.

The games that have given me an experience closest to that of the original LoZ have been BotW and Shadow of the Colossus.

Interesting analysis. Thanks for sharing.

@moodycat Indeed. I saw “accessible” listed as a precept of Zelda games and immediately thought that doesn’t apply to BotW. Bosses and overworld enemies that insta-kill the player if they don’t know which random ingredients to cook together at a pot in order to increase their health bar? That isn’t a friendly, accessible design to me.

In fairness the first two games aren’t particularly accessible either, but Nintendo were still learning what worked back then and only really perfected things with Link to the Past.

Sooooo… extended advert for Death’s Door…?

A big part of it that many people underestimate is the audio components of the series. It's not just the songs that have simple melodies designed around a central hook, that can be filled in and fleshed out. It's also the pavlovian response players get from very well placed sound effects, such as the sense of relief from a heart's "bloop bloop" or the satisfying "chingcling" of a rupee pickup. It's been one of the most satisfying auditory experiences in gaming from day one, with the "kachow" of a fully powered sword beam and the sound of discovering a secret entrance (you know the one). It's something that doesn't get enough praise.

Death's Door was great. I barely touch my Xboxone these days, but I immediately downloaded it when I saw it. Hopefully it gets ported to Switch at some point.

That's like the ingredients for a delicious cake. Without the frosting. This list highlights the mechanical strengths and design.

What about the feelings evoked? The frosting?

The whimsy, wonder, awe, not just art style but actual beauty. The ability for us to insert ourselves in Link's shoes and 'feel' the game. The memories this series brings out uniquely in us. The evergreen nature of the series as an entirety.

Some, especially BotW recently, have such a profound reaction in people that it's helped pull them out of depression! My favorite memory of Zelda most recently is in BotW and has nothing to do with a boss, dungeon, quest or anything. I was searching for Shrines and exploring an unfamiliar area when it started to rain. The storm got nasty and I had to take off all metal as usual. When it moved on the sun poked thru with rain still drizzling I saw a beautiful rainbow, with a flock of birds in V-formation. I stopped and just stared that a game created something that beautiful and random and real? I've had similar reactions to Windwaker while sailing, LttP, even Skyward Sword.

For an article highlighting the 'feeling' of Zelda, it seems to have forgotten the feelings but it's good mechanically. Very few games actually evoke emotions out of my middle-aged self, Zelda is one of the few. There might be one that just came out that's close but I need more time with it.

@moodycat Pretty much my line of thinking. It is also why despite Zelda being my favourite series, I am not hyped at all for the sequel. The latest trailer has made me nervous for the current direction.

You didn't mention the main feature that attracts me to Zelda games: a beautiful overworld to explore, so that would make 13 characteristics in all. No Zelda game has all 13 of them, but the three most important features of a great Zelda game are

1) overworld exploration 2) fun, simple combat 3) intriguing dungeons

The reason everyone hates on the DS games is that they lacked the simple combat of the best games. Most people don't want to play videogames with a pen. Some people dislike Skyward Sword and Majora's Mask because they have less exploration. The best balance of all the features was probably in Ocarina of Time.

The secret ingredient is Zelda, herself. Memorable characters are one thing. Icons are in a league of their own.

Will pick up Deaths Door day one if Limited Run publishes it

I thought of the Divine Beasts as close enough to dungeons in BotW ...

The problem with trying to justify a "formula" for Zelda is that there are a number of mainstream games that already challenge said formula. Obviously, Breath of the Wild comes to mind, but then you have Four Swords, Four Swords Adventures, and Tri Force Heroes which pretty much exclusively play in "dungeons" to an extent. The Adventure of Link also comes to mind for being much more "RPG" than most Zelda games.

Having to justify a formula is also just saying that you aren't open to major changes to the franchise. Breath of the Wild changed most of how we play Zelda games, but it still maintains the base framework other than linearity. Everything mentioned in this article applies to Breath of the Wild, but in a different way.

@CharlieGirl Don't forget the one when you pick up an important item...

"Da da da DAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!"

There are 120 shrines in BOTW, each a mini dungeon. I wonder if there was exactly the same amount of gameplay, but they divided them all into 10 big dungeons, would the people who complain about dungeons in BOTW still complain?

@MarioBrickLayer Of course they would, because the complaining is the point.

@MarioBrickLayer I think the issue people have is less to do with the amount of gameplay, and more to do with a lack of themed dungeons. You know, forest, fire, water, etc. All the shrines, and even the guardians all have the same basic aesthetic. I loved BotW, but I do hope unique dungeons make some kind of return in the sequel.

In short, looking at the base progression mechanics, Zelda was a top-down metroidvania that turned into a 3D-metroidvania.

Or more on point, a metroidvania is just Zelda from a sidescrolling perspective.

How did they forget Soundtracks?!

Zelda is an action adventure game not an rpg. Hence no levelling. Maybe swap that for boss battles.

And I get the Dungeon point, but it's not so much about just a change of environment, but more the elaborate puzzle you need to solve to progress through it. Bellys of fish and water temples aren't dungeons and BotW had soo many of these challenges.

@BulkSlash I would honestly say BotW is one of the most accessible games in the series (if not the most) since you can avoid most enemies and dungeons are simple without being OoT complicated (obligatory water temple example.) BotW was my first game in the series, and you can cheese a lot of the potion related stuff. Wind waker is my favorite, and that one is accessible too.

What about the story arc?

@Buckychop_Fandom The Zelda series got good with A Link to the Past. People may praise BOTW because it's the most like the first game but the first game isn't the one people keep calling the best. That honor falls to A Link to the Past or Ocarina of Time. Besides, the first game had dungeons.

@TheWingedAvenger One reason I still prefer Phantom Hourglass as my favorite Zelda game is due to the simpler combat. I've always felt it's easier to pick up and use a pen than pick up and use a controller since the Nintendo DS generation, especially for the Zelda series. Knowing the location of the touch screen versus knowing placement for A, B, X, Y, R, L, ZR, ZL, right stick(press), left stick(press), d-pad up, d-pad down, d-pad left, d-pad right, + and - for inputs in addition to having inputs to learn behind combinations of those buttons. DS Zelda games are much easier to understand.

@I-U I had nothing but trouble trying to play the Spirit Flute.

Spirit flute really sucks the big one when you’re on a moving greyhound.

Yup, moodycat got it in one. BotW, while a very good game, is not a Zelda-like. I've long felt that way and this list is a very helpful way of articulating it.

@Crono1973 I should replay Spirit Tracks again at some point as I'm not sure if the Spirit Flute was used during combat. I know it was used for progression. I do agree though that the combination of using the touch screen while also trying to position to blow into the DS's tiny microphone is troublesome. It's a part of the reason why I feel Phantom Hourglass is the better of the two games.

@I-U I can confirm the spirit flute was not used in combat; in fact, it’s only mandatory to play about 7 or 8 times through the whole game. It’s still horrible to use, though, especially with the final song.

@I-U I suppose it's because you took the time to get used to it. The problem I had with Phantom Hourglass was that I had never used a stylus before.

@TheWingedAvenger Prior experiences with WarioWare: Touched!, Animal Crossing: Wild World and Metroid Prime Hunters made stylus control for me nearly second nature by the time I got Phantom Hourglass. The game could have benefited from having traditional button controls to be more accessible, like Wild World's which can be switched between by pressing a button or the touch screen respectively. The two Zelda games are not introductory games for touch gameplay, they're more involved than that, so I could see why it would be a tougher adjustment as your first experience.

@Crono1973 Yes the first game had dungeons—and it’s precisely my point that despite different mechanics and structure, the three games I named were, for me at least, similarly evocative. Despite their many excellences, LttP and Oot were not (again for me at least) evocative in that way. I assumed this feeling had been a product of my young age, but BotW and SotC proved me wrong.

I think BOTW didn't want to act like a zelda title, It wanted to do its own thing and it did well at that.

And i thought it was exploration, puzzles and combat.

For me the Zelda formula is the setting and lore, the soundtracks (including botw...I have got to learn how to play the piano now), the non Link characters, the puzzles and the snappy combat. Dungeons (even though they exist in BOTW) aren't required for me as each games feels like you are reading a grand adventure.

A plus for me that most will likely not agree with is the fact that Link is a silent and somewhat flat character beyond his defining goddess given feature of Courage. In a way to me he is a statue given life to be the instrument of the goddesses' will, while Zelda and Ganon (and the other NPCs) do the heavy lifting for the personality aspect of the game. Since I never liked the over the top action McAction guy types or the Edgy/Emo Action-san bishonen types that are such a part of male protagonist archetypes in media during the 80s and 90s, Link's blandness made him less intrusive/off putting the way most other male protags were/are for me. I love that the NPCs have gotten more and more nuanced and lively while Link remains a living weapon really (except in SS which the whole Zelda/Link "romance" put me to sleep. I saw it as a friendship but I think word of god says it was intended as a romance).

So BOTW isn't a Zelda confirmed.

You can add all those things together and still not get a Zelda game imo. Also as others have mentioned the music is a key pillar of the game as well as the sound effects, i mean how can you ignore that element.

Of course Breath of the Wild qualifies as a Zelda game. The divine beasts, Hyrule Castle, the final Master Cycle challenge, and even some of the bigger shrines certainly qualify. The dungeons can be played in many orders, but the same holds true not just for Zelda 1 but also Ocarina of Time, A Link to the Past, and A Link Between Worlds. Many items are used to explore and solve puzzles, there are just multiple ways to solve each puzzle (seen in Ocarina of Time as well, when you can use either the longshot or a fast horse to get into Gerudo Valley, there are multiple ways to light torches, there are optional items like the fire/ice arrows, etc). Bosses are weak to certain items like the mobile bomb or cyronis modules (which can be upgraded). That’s 12 for 12.

Another one here that didnt rate BOTW. I absolutely loved the world and audio. Absolutely incredible in scope and i didnt mind the shrines but the lack of themed dungeons didnt cut the mustard for me and the divine beasts were boring to explore, not to mention the terrible bosses. The giant ogres and arrow wielding lion things were far better. Also didn't like the breakable weapons. Real swords dont break after 3 swings 😂

From an emotional perspective, the defining feature of a Zelda must be how it is capable of evoking both heart-wrenching melancholy and enthusiastic adventurism in equal measure. No other series comes close to how Zelda so artfully marries the two emotions across dozens of games over the years.

1. You are Link. Everything about the game, from controls to sound to characters' reactions to you to UI, should immerse you in the experience to such an extent that you forget you are playing a character and feel you yourself are traveling through a fantasy world on an epic quest. The story is not something you are told or shown. The gameplay is sneakily crafted to make your personal experiences and feelings while playing tell the story of the character.

2. Seamless transitions between slow, meditative gameplay and fast, intense gameplay. The world of the game is complex. You are not doing one thing endlessly, you are doing radically different things depending on the circumstance, which keeps you engaged. But it is one cohesive experience with no abrupt shifts. The music changes are subtle. The controls are the same controls. One kind of gameplay can be layered over the other, for instance trying to solve a puzzle while monsters are chasing you.

3. Exploration, exploration, exploration. All else can change up from game to game and place to place, but the joy of exploration is underneath all of it. The overworld is large and persistent, with distinctive landmarks everywhere to help you get to know the place over time. And you're never dealing with challenges just because the game is throwing them at you, you're dealing with challenges because you want to see what might be in the next room, or because something's just out of reach that looks interesting and the things you're doing are how you'll be able to get there. Every part of the game world needs to be distinct and hand-crafted to instill this motivation in the player.

4. As noted by others, music. Catchy melodies, interesting leitmotifs. Most of all, a cheeky playfulness in how music is composed, arranged, incorporated into the gameplay, and carried through from one game to the next. When you're very focused it stays out of the way, but then you will go somewhere you've been before, and memorable, almost singable melodies will proudly ring out.

5. Give us something new. New kinds of environments, new things to do, new characters, new twists on the story, new styles of music. New experiences. A Zelda game that is exactly like other Zelda games is not a Zelda game.

6. Zelda, Ganon and you. A princess to save, a monster to fight, a Hero with a capital H. Divine trials of worthiness. Forgotten ancient legends which will be repeated in the present. Guardians to awaken and press into service. Was it all cliché already in the '80s? Sure. Is it sexist and regressive? You bet. But that's an essential part of Zelda. Even if the game is subverting some of this story material, it still needs to engage with it.

In my mind Breath of the Wild is Zelda-likeness distilled to its core, for how it immerses you in the world and story, puts such an emphasis on exploration, and keeps the gameplay varied but carefully crafted. There are elements of the old traditions I'd like to see them very carefully fold back in, like having actual characters with an active role in the story, a slightly more complex plot and good dungeons. Also better music, because I think not having different music for different areas, and de-emphasizing melodies almost everywhere, does not live up to the standard of the series. But overall, Breath of the Wild was more a righting of the ship than anything, after the series' gradual descent into linearity, overuse of cutscenes and overfamiliarity.

Some Zelda games are more Zelda-like than others, of course. Four Swords Adventures has been cited here, which is one of my favorite multiplayer games ever but doesn't feel that much like a Zelda game in many ways. A Link Between Worlds is familiar to the point of being almost a fan game rather than a legitimate entry in the series. I didn't particularly have the sense of being truly immersed in the game world and excited to explore. With the Capcom games there's something that feels very off, like the surface elements are all there but the principles underneath them are not. Skyward Sword is too small, too linear, too talky, and while I really enjoy the combat, it sometimes overpowers other gameplay elements rather than blending with them. These are all good or even great games, but they lack a bit of the spirit of Zelda in one way or another. Breath of the Wild is right up there with the first five games and The Wind Waker and Spirit Tracks (Yes I said it, bring it on!) in terms of feeling like a proper Zelda game, and in many ways surpasses all of them in how much it feels like it captures the essence of the series.

Soundtrack is a huge omission from this article. Music and SFX play such an enormous role in Zelda games.

Final Fantasy is another great example where the soundtrack takes it to a whole new level. FF6, FF7, FF8, FF9 and FF10 all have spectacular soundtracks and its not a coincidence that these are the fan favourites of the entire series (in various orders of rank!).

I remember playing Link's Awakening on the Game Boy and the intro music as the camera pans up from Link being found on the beach to the Egg is powerful!

Sonic 2 is another great example that springs to mind. Chemical Plant Zone!

Kinda baffling that they almost don't see Shrines and Divine Beasts as dungeons when that's literally what they are. A different take on dungeons, but still very much dungeons.

@Meteoroid true but from past expierience they are too "samey" the divine beasts, while being dungeon like were boring and resembled each other too much internally imo as did the dungeon bosses. I never had that "thats a cool boss" feeling. The water temple at the bottom of a lake or a fire temple atop a volcano were far more exciting but thats just my oppinion.

@Kidfunkadelic83 Sure, but the wording in the article almost states that BotW did not have dungeons, which is untrue. That pillar was absolutely there. Not in the exact same form, but still.

@Meteoroid id certainly class the divine beasts as dungeons. Solving puzzles to proceed with a boss encounter at the end. No different to the recipe of any dungeon in any other zelda game. I agree with you.

@moodycat hopefully Nintendo learned and bring back the Zelda formula in Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild 2.

despite Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild been a amazing game, i found very concering the lack of severals aspects that make up the Zelda formula, such as tradicional Dungeons and memorable music, hopefully Nintendo is gonna bring back the Zelda formula in Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild 2.

#13: make the hero mute #14: name the franchise after a damsel in distress. #15: make it exclusive to a Nintendo console (sorry CDi, you don't exist) #16: have a green tunic somewhere in the game (unless you play a new game + in wind waker)

Another important element is the medieval Western European fairy tale setting that Breath of the Wild mostly lacked. That's one of many reasons why I didn't like it. You did a great job covering the rest of them.

Within this framework I do not think Nintendo have ever lost their edge. I have never played a Zelda game I did not enjoy.

This said there have been many occasions over the years where I feel developers have closed in and surpassed Nintendo. Unsuprisingly it starts with Sega:

@moodycat Happy to see there are more people that agree on that. Almost all the items on this list were missing from Botw. I understand they wanted to break away from the conventions, but... it's just not a very fun game as it is now. Still hoping for a Zelda collection!

@RadioHedgeFund Honestly, for me Okami is a bit of a "form over function" version of Zelda. It does look and sound far better than Twilight Princess, and the setting is also more interesting. However, game/level design wise, it is no match for Twilight Princess at all, and its combat being in a separate arena and not in the overworld seamlessly slows down the pace to a crawl and makes me want to avoid combat encounters after a while.

In theory I should have loved Okami but while I enjoyed it, it left something to be desired. And this comes from someone that is both a huge fan of feudal Japan and Japanese mythology, and also not a huge fan of Twilight Princess; in fact, it is one of my least favourite in the series, however it does have its strengths, like the dungeon design.

BOTW is the closest thing we will ever get to a reimagining of the original LOZ, IMO. Even with it incorporating some of the now Lore of Zelda, it tried to capture that very vast, isolated, desolate but still showing the tenacity and beauty of a world trying to overcome the damage/rot of evil. BOTW may be Aonuma-san’s baby but I’d be hard pressed to see how a time traveling Miyamoto-sama from the 80s would have done much differently. My favorite change is the music though. It heightened the feeling that Link was often alone, and made even the simplest things poignant and (when a guardian randomly spots you over a hill) terrifying. Very charming and organic sound track. Been listening to the LE OST and I am more in love than when I first played the game.

So the Adventures of Link, Breath of the Wild, Hyrule Warriors, Link's Crossbow Training, and Four Swords Adventure are not Zelda games then? Each one are categorized as RPG, open-world, hack and slash, motion control action game, and co-op multiplayer adventure respectively.

Just game design variety. Link is the most omnipotent videogame character ever. "Dungeon" is just a name of a place. You can make dungeonic level design outside of a dungeon as Skyward Sword and Breath of the Wild did.

for as much as I loved Breath of the Wild, I feel like it had a lackluster score for the most part. I enjoyed the ambience and some of the themes, don't get me wrong but I feel like it could've used more music in general. one thing that still bothers me is the fact that Link doesn't wear his green tunic at all in the game or the fact that the Champions were introduced and then promptly killed off (though we've got the new Champions).

I realize that this is slightly off subject but yeah. I would love to see a playable Zelda in a mainstream game.. considering that it IS the Legend of Zelda after all. maybe with a couch co-op option? def would be cool to track dungeons with some buds of mine

I've always thought that it was the 'fairytale' aspect of Zelda that set it apart from your average RPG. That very simple 'save the princess, save the world' theme works really well - especially when the main character is completely mute, and we can essentially embody this role of the 'prince' going on his quest. Few other games outside of Zelda really capture this simple magic and combine it with extremely polished but immersive gameplay. For me - that's what sets it apart.

As fantastic a game as it is, BotW really missed a lot of crucial elements that have always been associated with The Legend of Zelda.

1) As the article stated, the lack of proper dungeons (especially in an overworld that vast) was a HUGE missed opportunity. The shrines were all bite-sized puzzles, often clever and/or challenging in their own ways, but even 100-plus of them could never replace the sheer atmosphere, theming, and satisfaction of overcoming one of the water temples that have always been a series staple, just for one example.

Heck, did anyone else notice how few actual caves were even present in BotW? It was a glaring topographic omission and would have offered innumerable additional opportunities for exploration/loot/combat.

2) The enemy variety took a massive hit. The Bokoblin bases were fun to clear out and they could offer up some decent coordination to challenge you, but otherwise that huge world feels strangely empty. Where are Like-Likes, Stalfos, Darknuts, Tektites, and so many other classic Zelda foes in BotW? Are they all extinct? Ditto the Bosses of what used to be the respective dungeons; I missed the variety and epicness of those.

3) I recall somewhere reading that the developers decided that iconic items like the Hookshot would "break" the game, but I really missed them because they're so ubiquitous in Zelda titles.

4) Breakable weapons may have sounded good on paper, but they're NOT. When even the legendary weapons you got from the Champions can/will break and be lost forever, they ended up hanging at Link's house, essentially useless because I didn't want to just lose them. BotW was the first Zelda game where coming across a treasure chest really felt inconsequential; the anticipation and genuine reward just weren't there anymore.

5) As previous posters have stated, I did miss the iconic music, such as the Overworld Theme associated with Zelda since the NES. Right out of the gate the developers explained that their reasoning was in the title itself: "Breath of the Wild", and that it necessitated muted scores in favor of the sounds of nature and the environments. The result was great as far as nailing what they were going for. But it just didn't sound much like Zelda.

The biggest question surrounding BotW 2 (or whatever it ends up being called) is whether it might reintroduce some/all of these elements. That nifty trick in the trailer where Link emerges like water through a crack onto a floating island may indicate the return of special items, at least.

BotW will always be a legendary game. But it's still far from perfect, and in many ways, it honestly doesn't feel like Zelda.

I know what isn't the formula, the sprawling emptiness that is BoTW.

@Richardwebb That's why both Link and Master Chief work so well as protagonists. In Link's case, his words are open to your own interpretation and imagination, and with Chief, it could be ANYONE underneath that helmet. In a sense, mute/faceless characters are far easier for the player to make an extension of themselves, and in turn identify with.

Good summary, surprisingly accurate. It’s reassuring that there was no mention of “puzzles.” Puzzles don’t belong in Zelda, it’s a poisonous meme from players who don’t have any idea what they’re actually talking about. There’s a reason the weakest parts of Breath of the Wild are the shrines and beasts, all other parts are universally loved. Exploration, combat, overworld, items, monsters, etc., if they had only included traditional dungeons with maze like obstacles instead of “brain teasers.” Puzzles were never apart of Zelda until Aonuma took over, which coincided with the decline of the series. Obstacles =/= Puzzles

Not to invalidate anyone for whom one Zelda or another felt Zelda-like or not, which is totally fair - I too remember when I thought a series or genre had to have a set checklist and each game had to tick all the boxes to be represented, and later realized the flaw in that mindset. As in life (like, literally, biology), changing core aspects of a game (any aspect, not just optional "non-definitive" ones, but never all or most the aspects) is how to meaningfully grow a game franchise. You don't have to grow a series to make good games in it, but doing so doesn't have to invalidate it as a member of the series. Again that's different from whether a game ultimately feels like part of the series or not as a whole. I just recommend trying not to get overly lost in the patterns and rules. I enjoyed the list and commenters' takes on it.

Nice shot at Zelda 2 at the end

Judging by this list, they haven't made a good Zelda game in years, then. It got especially bad when they started adding all the creepy "eccentric" characters. Thanks, Ocarina of Time.

Based off Miyamoto's initial motive for the game's creation (exploring the woods) I think the series has gone pretty far off-base since Zelda 3/Link's Awakening.

@Crono1973 What the players who praise BotW for its open world, arguing that it comes closest to the original Zelda (NES) forget is that in the original Zelda, you could NOT access any dungeon or area immediately; you needed to acquire some items to be able to do so. (Unlike in BotW, where you are equipped with all needed items from the beginning after leaving the plateau).

I don't think it's the amount of time you spent dungeoning that counts for people, but rather how even smaller dungeons in the older games functioned as short, self-contained stories. Think of the mini dungeons in Ocarina of Time, like Bottom of the Well, and how they spin a kind of narrative, from the moment you walk in and fall into invisible pits everywhere, until you finally get the Eye of Truth and make sense of the place, so frustrating forty minutes ago. That's not a long dungeon by any means, but it's very memorable because of the storytelling embedded in the progression. The shrines don't have that. They're neat, small-scale puzzle rooms, like in The Talos Principle, the first Portal, or Baba is You. They're great fun, but large-scale dungeons are very rare in videogames, because of the architectural complexity they entail, and basically only Zelda games really do it well. And that's where the dissappointment with the shrines stems.

For context, I think Breath of the Wild is one of the top three Zelda games and one of my favorites of all time. But I get where the complaints are coming from.

Crappy, janky games can be fun? Maybe if your a masochist.

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