u/hot_beverages

I was thinking about what I would want from the next Zelda game and had some ideas. My favourite elements, and those I’d like to see in the next mainline Zelda game, are: 

• Time travel
• A magical musical instrument
• Dungeons
• Unlockable weapons

I would love the next Zelda game to have a vast open world as in BoTW and ToTK, but a completely new world – a reimagined Termina or something completely brand new. The game would be set during three time periods. In this game, you play as Link during childhood, young adulthood and old adulthood.

• Young Link would be weak, vulnerable to attack and unable to use magic, but quick, wily and agile, able to access narrow places and quiet on his feet and able to move stealthily. The world would be largely peaceful and innocent, but with the beginnings of a creeping evil that he has to reckon with. He meets Zelda and the quest at hand begins to take shape. 
• Teenage/young adult Link would be strong, quicker in attack and more adept at using his sword. He would be able to run faster, climb higher and he would be able to use magic in a basic way to complete quests. The evil force has grown and he has to contend with a world that is being taken over by dark forces and enemies. He is reunited with Zelda and continues his mission and fights the final boss and loses.
• Old Link would be the strongest and most powerful, but much slower in his movements. He learns to conduct powerful sword fighting techniques and wield powerful magic to neutralise enemies and complete quests. Old link has lost and has to reckon with his failure – his life is about survival and desperately figuring how to undo what has transpired in his world.

You play Link’s full life cycle before you’re able to start moving between time periods to change things, complete temples and prevent evil triumphing. Some temples or quests will require all three Links to complete. Young adult Link loses against the enemy and we see old Link living in a world where evil has completely prevailed. He has to reckon with his defeat, the death/capture of Zelda as well as countless innocent lives lost, and it’s up to him to learn the music and magic needed to go back to his childhood and young adulthood to make the changes needed for his young adult self to defeat Ganon (or whichever evil force has taken over).

I would love to see a world with civilisations that dramatically change over the course of Link’s life – towns growing and developing exponentially, towns destroyed and the ability to profoundly follow the stories and life cycles of individuals, like in Majora’s Mask but on an even larger scale. The changes that you make in the past are permanent and subtly change the course of the future.

This would combine the things I love about all the Zelda games I have played and make use of the possibilities allowed by advancements in the hardware.

I am hoping, that if they really are making a OoT game from scratch, that the love and appreciation of classic dungeon design will come back and they can make a fully open world that still has some elements of linearity and proper old school dungeons and weapons.

What do you think? What else would you want to see from the next completely new (non remake/remaster) instalment in the series?