Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom devs on implementing ideas that weren’t possible for Breath of the Wild

The developers behind The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom have talked about implementing ideas for the game that weren’t possible for Breath of the Wild. Series director Eiji Aonuma, director Hidemaro Fujibayashi, technical director Takuhiro Dohta, and art director Satoru Takizawa commented on this in a new Nintendo interview.

Dohta mentioned how with Breath of the Wild, “there were restrictions in development” since it was originally being made for Wii U. That meant even though the team was interested in flying, that wouldn’t be possible. Also, Aonuma actually wanted to dig underground, but that idea was scrapped as well – but brought back for Tears of the Kingdom.

Here’s the full discussion:

I now understand the challenges and circumstances behind The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’s development. You said that the setting is the same as that of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. However, now that you can explore the skies above Hyrule, does this mean that the world has expanded considerably?

Fujibayashi: Yes, there are the skies and caves to explore now. These are also areas we weren’t able to create in the previous title for multiple reasons.

Dohta: Actually, the previous title, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, was originally developed for Wii U, so there were restrictions in development. There were a lot of ideas we wanted to implement during its development, but we made clear decisions on what we wouldn’t do in that game. For example, we decided that it wouldn’t involve flying. Then Aonuma-san kept saying, “If flying is out of the question, I want to dig underground!” And we’d respond, “Oh no! Please don’t make us develop that too!” (Laughs)

Aonuma: It was just my natural response when playing The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Like, “Man, I want to dig a hole right here.” (Laughs)

Everyone: (Laughs)

Dohta: For The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, we began by compiling and implementing ideas we couldn’t include in the previous title. We wouldn’t have been able to do so had we made a completely new world, so developing in the same setting as the previous game was significant in this sense as well.

Takizawa: The entrances to cliffside caves might be a good example.

Dohta: In the previous title, the cliffs could only be climbed up, and the cliffsides were bare.

Takizawa: I think that players who find a cliffside cave in this game might start wondering, “Is there one in the cliffs over there too?” When a place – even one that’s already familiar – is augmented with something of worth, you begin to see the world in a different light. Even as the game’s developers, we started seeing the landscape in a different way while working on the game. I believe the way players explore Hyrule will change too.