How a DLC Conversation for Breath of the Wild Emerged a Much More Successful the Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was a very different game than fans had imagined. It was released as a direct sequel to 2017’s Breath of the Wild. However, some might not know that this wasn’t always the plan.

When they announced the game, fans had very low expectations of it. But eventually, as Nintendo unwrapped new details about it, it blew fans’ minds away. How did this game become a ground-breaking success after starting life as a DLC?

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom: from DLC to a GOTY contender

When Breath of the Wild launched for Nintendo Wii U and Nintendo Switch back in 2017, it was an instant success. The big reason behind this success was, of course, the name Zelda. However, another reason was this game’s approach to open-world game design. While other games just gave players a world to explore and look at, Breath of the Wild gave players a world to play with.

This philosophy became the cornerstone of its sequel, too. Freedom is not only on paper but also in practice. The director of both these games explained his and his team’s philosophy regarding creating and recreating the world in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom.

He explained in an interview, “Providing new experiences to people who played Breath of the Wild was one of the challenges we identified when we started making Tears of the Kingdom.”

And, of course, it was going to be a challenge. It’s hard to top a game like Breath of the Wild. And then someone reportedly came up with the idea of just attaching stuff together.

“As we progressed in the development, we noticed that this gameplay was actually more fun in places and areas you know well than in a place that is brand new. You can imagine new solutions, such as building a bridge to get across a place you had difficulty crossing in the last game. You can only come up with ideas like this if it is a location that you are already familiar with,” he explained.

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This meant the whole policy behind creating the world of Tears of the Kingdom was to allow for better interactivity. They wanted players to enjoy the game in already-explored areas, allowing them to be more creative and explore them in new ways.

And this is how what was supposed to be a dlc, became the birth of one of their best games.

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