Top 5 Things I Want To See From The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

After an abnormally long wait, the sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is a month away — and after saying that, I’ve officially dated this article! No worries, because The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is getting closer and closer to being a reality, so let’s discuss the top five things I’d like to see from the game.

1. A More Significant Story

I’m in the minority on this because I liked Breath of the Wild’s story and felt the developers did an admirable job of creating a narrative, without getting in the way of the player’s exploration. The story was the biggest Zelda story yet, with a Ganon that has given up on resurrection and instead decided to destroy Hyrule as we know it. It also has multiple diverse characters with distinct personalities and voices, while finally having a use for all the different races. However, Breath of the Wild’s plot still had some downsides. Princess Zelda’s redemption story didn’t live up to its potential because while she redeemed herself by stopping the Calamity — the world was never restored to its original form, and the Princess should’ve just faded away. Lucky for us, though, we have a sequel coming out, and this is the perfect opportunity to create a more significant story! I think the first thing almost all of us would like to see is a better ending and not just a hidden star on your save file. I’d also like to see a story that is a lot darker than its predecessor — maybe even killing off some characters.

Majora’s Mask did a fantastic job of using its darker plot line to impart a sense of impending doom to the player while still keeping all of the normal Zelda stuff intact at all times. So something like that would work really well with Tears of the Kingdom. Maybe Ganon has given up on reincarnation again and instead uses his new form to destroy the Kingdom of Hyrule for the millionth time but with a higher sense of danger. Or maybe there is a different entity we don’t know about that is laying waste to the world. Whatever the case, I hope the plot gets more of a focus this time.

2. Pettable Dogs

This one is a little silly, especially compared to the previous idea. Still, countless fans have requested for dogs to be pettable in this title for a while now — and it would be yet another addition to the laundry list of improvements we’ve seen so far. Plus, the developers are leaning into the social media aspect of their games more and more. So, several thousand influencers sharing clips of the adorable little pooches receiving a good scratch from a Hylian for all to see is the best type of advertising. I also have a dog at home, so it’s necessary for personal reasons.

3. The Return Of The Chemistry Engine

I don’t know about anyone else, but for me, Breath of the Wild’s chemistry engine is one of its best parts — just that feeling of having limitless possibilities in the world is yet to be replicated at this scale. There isn’t anything Nintendo really needs to do here except bring the chemistry engine back in all of its glory. The trailers have been reluctant to show any of the multiplicative gameplay seen in the last title — so hopefully, there hasn’t been a need to showcase any of it. It’d be nice if the engine had been stretched even further — but if that’s not the case, the fire will still be as beautiful as ever.

4. More Boss Battles

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild had some fantastic boss battles, and I want to see more of those in the sequel. Not every shrine or dungeon needs to have an encounter, but the combat should be more of a focus this time. Perhaps there could be set pieces like the Divine Beast Vah NaBoris assault sequence? By including more of these, this new direction for the series could feel closer to the promise of the Nintendo Switch Presentation trailer from 2017. That trailer got my hopes up for a big action movie, and instead, Breath of the Wild felt like a David Attenborough documentary. I hope the developers aren’t using a similar tactic for this upcoming title. It’s time for Zelda to evolve into a combat-centric series rather than a puzzle-focused one — and including more boss battles is a great way to do that.

5. Dungeons

It’s confusing to see the community go from wanting the series to shake up its formula, to demanding that almost all of the prior Zelda elements make a return. However, Breath of the Wild did screw up the memorability of its dungeons — while the Divine Beasts certainly did some things better than the dungeons of old — they were still quite short and devoid of substance. So integrating some of the classic elements from the old Zelda games into this new era for the franchise is a great way to keep many players happy. It might not be what everybody wants, but the developers should still retain some of the series’ origins if they stick with this open-world formula.

So those are the five things I want to see from The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. It wasn’t everything, but if I were given a chance to list every wish I had for this game, we’d be here all day. My last desire is to see Link’s luscious locks at all times!