With The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild a new era began for the Zelda series, where by now the game got its own spin-off prequel with Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity and of course a whole sequel – The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, all set in the Hyrule established by Breath of the Wild.
But where will we go from here? Will Tears of the Kingdom shape the future of the series on a similar level as Breath of the Wild did? Or is it the end of the line for this era of Zelda, before we venture into a new Hyrule? Let's discuss potential follow-ups to the most recent entry in the series and what the future could hold for the series in the upcoming years...
This post is just meant to be an overview for a rough timeline, where all bullet points will get their own posts later on, discussing things in more detail.
The Next Zelda Games
Let's get the big topic right out of the way. Tears of the Kingdom was the 20th installment in the Zelda series and it most likely won't be the last, where it will be interesting to see what's next. And here we are looking at a variety of possibilities.
While the game's ending technically allows for another sequel with this Link and Zelda, we probably shouldn't expect that. In the very least, the next game won't take place in the same Hyrule, where producer Eiji Aonuma already has said as much (see GameInformer). And that's understandable. The Zelda development team has worked on the same world for over ten years, they certainly want to move on to something new and fresh. So, even if we were to get another story with this incarnation of Link and Zelda, they would probably adventure into some distant land.
The next Zelda game won't be for the Nintendo Switch, however, but for the next hardware generation. And with that comes new possibilities, which most likely will lead to a different art style and gameplay. The next The Legend of Zelda title will likely have its own identity, setting itself apart from the rest of the series, much like most 3D Zelda games before it. Sequels like Majora's Mask and Tears of the Kingdom always take place on the same hardware generation, re-using the previous game's engine and assets, which won't be the case here.
Whatever it will look like, after the massive success of both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom there is no reason to believe that they will abandon the current open world direction. They will certainly refine it even further and might even try to find more of a middle ground, but they will keep making Zelda games that put their emphasis on freedom first, because that's what selling. So, if you're hoping for the next Twilight Princess, you probably will be out of luck.
However, it will take a while before the next major 3D Zelda game will see the light of the day. We're in a similar position as twelve years ago, after the release of Skyward Sword on the Wii, which was nearing the end of its life cycle. It took five and a half years for Breath of the Wild to come out and it became one of the last games for the Wii's successor, the Wii U, and even the launch title for the Nintendo Switch. Zelda was essentially skipping a console generation in this case.
It won't be in Nintendo's interest to have a second Wii U, of course, but if it takes another five to six years for the next 3D Zelda game to be developed, we will be looking at 2028 or 2029 as a release, where the next Nintendo system already will be a couple of years old...
With that in mind, it makes sense for the Zelda team to release something in between, a smaller project that utilizes the top-down perspective. We haven't seen a new game like this since A Link Between Worlds and Tri Force Heroes on the Nintendo 3DS, which were released in 2013 and 2015 respectively. So, it's about time! Maybe it could even be something that makes creative use of the next console's features. For example, if the Nintendo Switch successor would offer a VR mode, then a top-down Zelda game would allow for a much more immersive experience, when you're looking down at a miniature world.
A smaller project would allow to get a new Zelda game out much earlier, as early as 2026, potentially even 2025, and also bridge the time until the next big 3D Zelda game. In addition, it would be the perfect basis for a sequel of its own, which was common for all the handheld Zelda games.
Shrine Maker
While the next Zelda games will very likely do their own thing, it's possible that Nintendo might explore the universe of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom in supplementary titles. One of these ideas could be a Shrine Maker, based on the Sheikah Shrines and Shrines of Lights from these games. It would be Zelda's equivalent to the Super Mario Maker, but instead of 2D levels you're making 3D shrines, similar to the Test Chamber Creator from Portal 2.
This idea came up with Breath of the Wild, but it makes sense that Nintendo hasn't done this already, because the Shrines of Light and abilities from Tears of the Kingdom are adding a lot to this now. And it would be a fantastic use of all the assets from both games, bringing everything together one last time before we move on.
We shouldn't hold our breaths, however, if we were to believe Aonuma's words from a recent interview with Polygon. There he says that they don't want to force the players to be creative when asked about this topic. But that's exactly what they did with the Chamber Dungeon in the Link's Awakening remake, even though you can argue that this was more of a dungeon puzzler than a dungeon maker. And you don't have to creative in order to play Super Mario Maker, since you can always just enjoy the creations of others or the preset levels. So, let's not rule this out just yet.
Hyrule Warriors: The Imprisoning War
If we're ever returning to the world of Tears of the Kingdom, then it will very likely be in the form of the next Hyrule Warriors game. With Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity they've explored the current Hyrule from 100 years ago, during the time of the Great Calamity, with some time travel shenanigans to get as much as possible in there.
The very same thing could be done with Tears of the Kingdom. Make the next Hyrule Warriors take place during the era of this Hyrule's founding and the Imprisoning War, but also bring in Link, Purah, and the Sages from the present to tell a different turn of events. There's a lot of potential with this and we will talk about this later in greater detail.
Now, Koei Tecmo has been releasing their Nintendo-licensed Warriors titles in a two year schedule, ever since Hyrule Warriors in 2014. We got Hyrule Warriors: Legends in 2016, Fire Emblem Warriors (and Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition) in 2018, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity in 2020, and Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes in 2022. It's too early for another Hyrule Warriors in 2024 and the biggest contender for this year is probably a "Xenoblade Warriors", where it's the perfect timing after the conclusion of the trilogy with Xenoblade Chronicles 3.
This would put the next Hyrule Warriors in 2026, three years after Tears of the Kingdom, giving them enough time to make a Warriors game based on the most recent Zelda. Age of Calamity also came out three years after Breath of the Wild, so this would add up perfectly. This puts the game on the Switch's successor, but this would be for the best, seeing how Age of Calamity was already struggling on the Nintendo Switch. It's the Zelda-related title that would benefit the most from better hardware, where it would also be nice to see an update for it.
Remakes and Remasters
So far we've been looking at the games to come out on a potential Nintendo Switch successor, as if the Nintendo Switch is already done. But the Nintendo Switch isn't done yet and it might run a couple more Zelda titles in the end, even if those won't be exactly new.
The Wind Waker HD and Twilight Princess HD are eternally on the table, as some of the few Wii U titles that haven't been ported over to the Nintendo Switch yet. A remake of Oracle of Ages & Seasons, based on the one for Link's Awakening, also still feels like a logical next step. Any of these could still happen on the current system in 2024 and/or 2025.
And this is only the start, where the next Nintendo system will open the doors for a lot more: Phantom Hourglass, Spirit Tracks, and A Link Between Worlds are all good candidates to be remade (or remastered). And at some point they will likely even start over with remaking the 3D Zelda games, where Ocarina of Time 3D is already getting 13 years old in a couple of months... But placing a remake of the N64 classic on the Nintendo Switch still would create a similar situation to Metroid Prime Remastered, where you'd expect the sequel(s) to follow soon after, so it would be best to wait for the next system, where you have enough leeway for that.
Conclusion
One thing is for sure, we certainly won't get bored after Tears of the Kingdom. A lot of it depends on when the successor to the Nintendo Switch will launch and how this next Nintendo system will look like, but it's easy to come up with ideas to fill the years between the big Zelda releases.
A big point in this timeline might become the year 2026, where this could see the release of a new top-down Zelda, but also a new Hyrule Warriors based on Tears of the Kingdom. It's also the year of the 40th Anniversary, so there will be something to look forward to in 2026 in any case. And in the meantime there's a lot that Nintendo could do with remakes and remasters, given that they really don't to give use something like a Shrine Maker for both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom.
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