‘Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild’ Gameplay: It Should Have An Open-World Dark World

At E3 2016, Nintendo unveiled Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and it was glorious indeed to behold. The game seems like it’s everything that Nintendo has promised: It features a massive open world and shakes up the Zelda formula by adding in more RPG elements. Truth is, we haven’t seen much of the game yet, and it could still have many major secrets. Here’s one for the wish list: The game should have an open-world Dark World, and Nintendo should never tell us until the game is out.

Could Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Have A Dark World?

The gorgeous open world of 'The Legend of Zelda' for Wii U and Nintendo NX.
The gorgeous open world of 'The Legend of Zelda' for Wii U and Nintendo NX. Nintendo

The Dark World is one of the most enduring tropes of the Zelda series: the dichotomy between two worlds. Almost every game in the series features some kind of a ‘dark world,’ a reflection of the normal world tainted by evil or some other force. The Master Quest of Legend of Zelda serves as foreshadowing. The concept is realized directly in Link to the Past’s Dark World, while Ocarina of Time’s Adult time period—a once-pure land corrupted by Ganondorf’s rule—plays much the same purpose. Wind Waker’s Dark World—the suspended underwater ruins of old Hyrule—is subtle and not a major part of the game, but the concept comes roaring back with Twilight Princess’ Twilight Realm. And Skyward Sword plays with time again, with a modern dark age and an idyllic past.

It is no great prediction to say that Breath of the Wild will feature some kind of dichotomy between good and evil as reflected in the land itself. It’s almost as core to the Zelda storyline as the Triforce or Princess Zelda herself. But if Nintendo is really bold, that should take the form of a fully-realized open-world Dark World.

Imagine it. You’ve played through Breath of the Wild’s massive open world and think you’re done. You defeat the latest avatar of evil and think the game is over, and find yourself transported to a Dark World like the one of Link to the Past—open world, filled with quests, harder, less forgiving and more dangerous, and with a completely different aesthetic.

We don’t know just how big Breath of the Wild’s world is, which is to Nintendo’s advantage. The company could very well hide a Dark World from us, even with Miyamoto’s comments that players could go to the last dungeon right away. It’s not impossible, and it would be truly sweet. Don’t get your hopes up too high, but if Breath of the Wild does have an entire second open world buried beneath its surface, we can be well pleased indeed.

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