It's Time to Leave Hyrule 

Some people want Legend of Zelda to go to outer space or fully Sci-Fi, but that seems like a betrayal of its medieval identity when they can just set the next game in another kingdom outside of Hyrule.

It’s not like there aren’t already games that don’t take place in Hyrule… Majora’s Mask, Wind Waker, Phantom Hourglass, and Link’s Awakening all take place somewhere else

They should create Midrule, since Lorule exists

Echoes of wisdom seems to have completely new locations and I’m hoping the new areas are a big part of the game. My issue with totk is that hyrule itself hadn’t changed that much and wasn’t expended beyond what we know other than the depths. Revisiting old hyrule is a concerning trend imo even if I love all these games. It’s just that exploration is much more rewarding in a brand new world imo Aonuma said that they did everything they could in totk’s hyrule and are moving on to something new so I’m not worried

I get Hyrule basically is ‘Zelda’ as the series but I do wonder more about the world of the Zelda universe itself- what are Hyrule’s neighboring kingdoms? Are those important to people like Aonuma or not really? I’m curious that if they are, then they would make a very interesting new game and I agree with all your points

my current concept is botw link stranded wind waker style on a mysterious archipelago, once home to a might Polynesian Esq. empire long forgotten by time. Intricate sailing, diving, ship building, (and a random crab shaped divine beast) are featured.

We could make Link an old man in the Age of Calamity timeline because this timeline currently has one game and I want to see this timeline expanded apon.

I wish BOTW2 was about being in a transformed Dark World. That would've been siiiiiick (even if still Hyrule)

I feel an easy way of Nintendo to do this would be to lean into the best explanation for the series as a whole: that each zelda gsme is a folk rendition of a folk tale about a hero long ago. But, extend it into an almost religious tale-- such that each culture that encounters it changes it to fit their perspective. The American version of Snow White is different from the traditonal folk one. Ariel the mermaid takes place in a radically different location from the original story in disney. And so forth. For example, an easy deviation from the original location could be a hyrule set in a more tropical region. You could have the master sword and all, and the names of the main characters and triforce remain, but shift the type of people around, change the atmosphere a but, and focus on adding unique differences. Maybe Ganon worked with the main characters. Maybe Zelda was an enemy before turning into a frienf. Maybe there was a Twilight princess. The whole point is to re arrange the legend. Hyrule is important, but the distinct races available have always changed in theri prominence tbroughout the series. They should do that more often.

I don't mind if it takes place in Hyrule again if they introduce new races, locations and elements that make it stand out. But I would be so ecstatic if we could also go to new countries/territories like Termina, Holodrum, Labrynna, or even islands like Koholint... Oh, or alternate worlds. I'd be down with those too

I want a new Zelda game with two worlds, a dark and light, past and future, whatever. We could easily have a mix of old and new with that

It makes sense to me, we could return to a brand new Hyrule in the following game to the next one. I just want something as fun as btw and tears, but new and different. Maybe more similar to twilight princess style and with a similar combat as well.

Zelda plays with difference and familiarity. They can just do Hyrule again with much more differences than usual, and honestly that will probably be it. Other than that i found so funny the discrepancy between Majora’s strangness and the way people describe it. Sure it has it’s weirdness but alien? C’mon

I've been saying this ever since totk was announced, instead of reusing the same map from botw they should've let you explore a land beyone hyrule, it would be a clever reuse of assets just like majora's mask

Yeah, a new world like Termina or New Hyrule would be great, or even a completely unrecognisable Hyrule like in Wind Waker or Skyward Sword. Seeing the same Zora, Gerudo, Gorons, Deku Tree, Hyrule Castle, Death Mountain, Kakariko Village etc has got stale

a thought i had back then during the before-release times of TOTK seeing as BOTW took a lot of inspiration from zelda 1, i figured the next logical step was to take a few cues from zelda 2. namely expanding the map of hyrule to the other continents like eastern and western hyrule. sailing across the open sea to see a new land or something anyway, i totally feel ya. after echoes, now's a better time than any to see a radically different land!

The hyrule from echoes of wisdom is only inspired by a link to the past, it's very different when you have a look at it: death mountain is now a volcano in the north west, there's a new snowy mountain where death mountain used to be, kakariko is further north at the south of death mountain to fit the 3D games, there's a stone structure between kakariko and castle town, there's a rainforest area, there's gerudo so presumably an expanded desert area, there's the deku tree so presumably a larger korok forest, both Zora types so there must be more water areas and probably a lot more. It may look very similar but it will probably be very different

I think a lot of this comes down to gameplay. For example, Majora's Mask takes place in Termina because the mask gameplay inherently contextualizes Link as an outsider. Death Mountain always reappears because it's a lava mountain that perfectly contextualizes all of the gameplay associated with that. Similarly, except for the Gerudo, every race emphasizes a mechanic. Skyward Sword is the most obvious example, where the Kikwi's disguise as shrubbery because of dousing, the mogma dig to emphasize the mogma mitts, the parella are colorful visual tutorial cues for the motion control swimming, the loftwings clearly communicate their ability to transport the player, and the robots in their decay communicate the timeshift stones. Personally, I think Zelda can get more interesting locations by varying its gameplay more. I think Breath of the Wild did a good job with Death Mountain, Hebra, and the Gerudo Highlands all providing distinct vertical environments. But they'll really have found something good if they find themselves creating a world with two different kingdoms.

i really want them to go for a narutoesque/final fantasy type thing where they mix medieval and sci-fi into one, but i hope that if they do this, they leave hyrule

Good video. And I hope your (and my) wish comes true - a new Zelda with a new world that you can get lost in, instead of trying to find all the references to previous games. That can be amazing too, and it was in BotW, but by the time I was done with TotK, that magic has worn thin. A new, "crazy" Zelda would be great. But I'm not getting my hopes up anymore. The times where such games were made is long gone. If you look back 20 or 30 years ago, Nintendo was a very different company. Many things were made out of curiosity and innovation and it feels like they were just "having fun" (if you ignore how harsh and demanding game development was back then for different reasons than today). Link's Awakening, for example, started out as a passion project by the devs, almost like an after-school-club. Obviously I can't know for sure as I've never worked at Nintendo myself, but with how it established itself as a company playing in the "big leagues" now, I don't see a dynamic like that amongst devs happening anymore. Especially when you have things like Aonuma going on record saying he wished people would forget about MM. So instead, I see a lot of clean "how it's supposed to be" titles on the horizon. It sucks, but maybe it's time to look towards indie games more and hope that something comes along from that area that picks up the spirit that may have been lost at Nintendo.

you have ball's of steel

They seem to have exhausted every version of Hyrule at this point. Whether it be in the past, future, underwater, in the sky, or below the surface. Mario is allowed to go to all sorts of wacky locations in his games and isn't tied to just the Mushroom Kingdom. A lot of the 2D games take place outside of Hyrule so they're completely capably of mixing things up. Though I guess they can still do steampunk or futuristic Hyrule to stand out.

Get some Sun

take us to a kingdom that has dungeons

I find your premise absurd, but I do want a sequel to ST, something to take advantage of the sea and exploring new lands.

Small RU-vidrs be dropping the hardest content to be conceived in the mind of a human being.

Go and play spirit tracks lol. Also windwaker is in Hyrule lol.

Honestly hot take:... I think at this point they should just make a "lesbian" Link. They seem perfectly happy never outright confirming a relationship between Zelda and Link and just hinting at it and treating the character like an avatar, so for once just make an actual female "link" or the character option male or female like pokemon does. It just seems disengenuous treating the relationship so coyly in ToTK without an actual reason like requiring more effort or censorship of other conversations.

i love your channel man, seriously underrated but i'm sure you're going places

It would be awesome to play a BOTW/TOTK game with a Xenoblade world and music.

I was thinking the same. Link lost in another world.

Zelda's world was already meant to be a futuristic place, the ancient tech is a super advanced technology, so why not take some ideas from Tron? Going into the zelda's matrix and discovering the inside of the technology, and how Ganon/Malice used this technology against hyrule, show the real magic, the nanotech, the ultrahand is not magic, triforce is a deity force, but not magic either... Or maybe like Megaman legends, it is actually virtual world, and nearly no one is aware of that, hyrule can be a matrix and we need to get out of there to try break the cycle.