‘Tears of the Kingdom’ gives ‘Zelda’ creators more time to play in their world

Hidemaro Fujibayashi and Eiji Aonuma were not done playing in the sandbox they helped create.

Fujibayashi was the director and Aonuma the producer of Nintendo’s “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.” The 2017 release eschewed the beloved series’ familiar conventions and presented gamers with a massive adventure in the inviting open world of Hyrule.

It was arguably the most ambitious game Nintendo had produced, but even with two releases of extra downloadable content, the development team felt they left a lot of ideas on the table.

With this week’s release of “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom,” a direct sequel to “Breath of the Wild” six years in the making, gamers get to see many of those ideas finally take form.

“Looking at the Hyrule we created, I became convinced that there were still a lot of different opportunities and possibilities to play in that world,” Aonuma told The Canadian Press from New York through a translator in a recent interview.

“And we kind of became excited about that idea.”

With a solid foundation in place, the development team set to work expanding Hyrule. “Tears of the Kingdom” includes sky and underground realms that map out in direct relation to the existing surface world.

“I think the biggest thing that’s now in `Tears of the Kingdom’ is the idea of having it be seamless,” Fujibayashi said through a translator. “There’s a whole range of vertical axis that is made available, and to be able to explore that seamlessly was something that I really wanted to make happen.”

“You can call it a souped-up, powered-up version of what we were able to experience in `Breath of the Wild,”‘ he added.

Another notable addition is the ability of Link, the game’s hero, to manipulate objects in the world and use them to strengthen weapons or build devices. Fujibayashi said this ability highlights how the development team was able to use the foundation laid by “Breath of the Wild” to create something new.

“In `Breath of the Wild,’ there are assets that are in there like perpetually spinning cog wheels,” he said. “So, we thought: `What if we put a plank on top of four of those?’ And then we were able to create an impromptu car.

“In the same vein, some staff members put together four wood planks and created a makeshift cannon you could drop a remote bomb into. With those two elements together, we were able to create this kind of DIY tank using just the mechanisms and assets from `Breath of the Wild.”‘

While the development team was able to hit the ground running in making “Tears of the Kingdom,” other challenges arose during the game’s six-year development cycle. The COVID-19 pandemic began in the middle of the creative process, and Aonuma said the development team dealt with the same workplace disruptions felt worldwide.

“But I can say our desire to create an interesting, captivating experience for players didn’t change and is something that we adjusted to and continued pursuing,” he said.

Fujibayashi says part of creating that experience is finding ways to surprise players.

“For me, and my team, the people clearly on the ground making it, it’s really just a collection of people who want to provide something new,” he said. “Everybody has that same desire and same dream. What kind of delight can you provide players next?”

Fujibayashi said the development team knows they are on the right track if they can impress Aonuma.

“It just so happens that the closest kind of monitor tester that we can get our hands on is Mr. Aonuma,” Fujibayashi said. “When we hand it off to him and the producer is like `oh wow,’ we’re kind of like `all right, we’re in business.”‘

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 12, 2023.