The producer of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has revealed he doesn't quite understand why fans want to revisit the series' older, more "restricted" games when the new ones give you so much more freedom.
In an interview with IGN, Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma talks about how the Nintendo series has evolved over the years, most noticeably since the release of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. Before both of the open-world games, the Zelda series followed a more linear path, which Aonuma says can be "restricted" and "limited" compared to the games of today.
"Games where you need to follow a specific set of steps or complete tasks in a very set order are kind of the games of the past," the Zelda producer tells IGN, "Whereas currently the games of today are ones in which that can accept a player's own decisions and give them the freedom to flexibly proceed through the game, and the game will allow for that."
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When asked how Aonuma felt when fans say they miss the old-style Zelda games, the developer responded: "I do think we as people have a tendency to want the thing that we don't currently have. There's a bit of a grass is greener mentality." The Zelda producer continues: "It's interesting when I hear people say those things because I am wondering, 'Why do you want to go back to a type of game where you're more limited or more restricted in the types of things or ways you can play?'"
That being said, Aonuma isn't completely surprised by fans wanting to go back: "I do understand that desire that we have for nostalgia, and so I can also understand it from that aspect."
Speaking of Zelda nostalgia, a very dedicated fan has taken it upon themselves to remake their favorite game in the series: Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link - complete with new features, quality of life improvements, and more.
Find out what our favorites are with our best Zelda games list.
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