4. An Interactive Atmosphere With Exploration Potential
NintendoOne of the closest titles to being truly open world in Zeldas recent arsenal is undoubtedly Wind Waker, with its multitude of islands to explore and miles of ocean to sail. The only problem was, akin to Twilight Princesss vast and empty fields, there wasnt much
to explore. Sure, you could get a small chest or a heart piece here and there, but for the most part, the open spaces in these open worlds were unpopulated expanses of... nothing. This is a pitfall that many open world games are in danger of falling into: the world may be open, but theres nothing to do in it. To combat this, it would be awesome to see this new Zelda game have an exploratory, interactive, varied atmosphere. One of Zeldas best features is Hyrule itself, and so the Wii U title would only improve this world. Weve already talked about NPCs, side quests, and dungeons, but the ultimate feature would have the world itself to be living and breathing, organic and dynamic. Instead of bombing a not-so-subtle crack in the wall to be able to enter a secret area, we could whip out our bombs or bows or hookshots towards anything from trees to mountains to lakes and have it react in way that we can believe, opening up new possibilities for adventure and reward. In short, Eiji Aonuma showed us the vastness of this new Hyrule, but its imperative that they make the journey to the mountains in the distance worth the ride there.