There was a big debate about whether or not Tears of the Kingdom is essentially an “expansion” for Breath of the Wild given that it’s using the same map and further exploring the same space (with floating islands and underground caverns).
But largely everyone agrees yes, it’s a fully new game despite that, and a top choice for GOTY as well (the only choice, until Baldur’s Gate 3 came along). However, if you were hoping for additional DLC content the way Breath of the Wild got to some extent, that is apparently not happening according to series producer Eiji Aonuma, speaking to Famitsu.
“There are no plans to release additional content this time, but that’s because I feel like we’ve done everything we can to create fun in that world. In the first place, the reason I decided to make this a sequel to the previous work was because I thought there was value in experiencing a new game in that Hyrule place. If that’s the case, if a new reason arises, we might return to the same world again. Whether it’s a sequel or a new work, I think it’s going to be a completely new game, so I hope you’re looking forward to it.”
This…makes sense. If you were going to return to this Hyrule, it would have to be an entirely new game like Tears of the Kingdom was, rather than just bits and pieces of DLC added to this one. However, visiting the same landscape in the same style for the third time seems like it might be pushing their luck a bit, as how much more could you really add at this point to layer a third full game here?
There’s also the question of the Switch 2, and that with new Nintendo hardware coming in the next few years, that whatever the new Zelda game is probably has to be developed with that in mind. Still, this is different than Breath of the Wild, which did have two DLCs after release. But some players are wondering if “no DLC” means that even something like the harder “Master Mode” Breath of the Wild got isn’t even coming either. This statement makes that seem likely to be the case.
Obviously whatever Nintendo does next with Zelda is something to look forward to. But after two full games in this Zelda sub-universe, it seems like it probably is time to move on to the next adventure, whenever and wherever that may be.
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