While Nintendo has traditionally released at least one mainline game in its The Legend of Zelda franchise for its consoles, the Nintendo Switch 2 hasn’t seen any such announcement yet. Rather, the closest thing that the console has seen was Dynasty Warriors-styled spin-off Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment. In a new interview with Japanese publication 4Gamer, The Legend of Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma spoke about this collaboration between Nintendo and Koei Tecmo on Age of Imprisonment, as well as how this partnership could even help in defining what the next mainline entry in the franchise looks like.
When asked about Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment, Aonuma joked about how the title had beaten the team working on a mainline entry to the punch when it comes to releasing a new Zelda game on the Nintendo Switch 2. “The Legend of Zelda: Age of Imprisonment is the first Zelda title released for the Nintendo Switch 2. To be honest, we wanted to bring out the ‘first’ (Zelda game on the new console),” he joked, as caught by IGN.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom director Hidemaro Fujibayashi was also part of the interview, and spoke about working with Koei Tecmo to bring the Musou-styled game to life. He referred to the experience by saying, “it was incredibly fun. They always had ideas we never would have come up with on our own, it was truly stimulating.”
Age of Imprisonment’s studio head Yusuke Hayashi was then asked about the general game design philosophy behind the title. He responded by noting that the developers, as well as Nintendo, wanted to make a game that combines classic Zelda gameplay “with the exhilaration of musou, which he described as the feeling of being powerful and mighty while taking down wave-after-wave of weaker enemies.
“We aimed to combine these two approaches; the Zelda-like, strategic back-and-forth of using Zonai gear and varied techniques against powerful foes with the exhilaration of musou (i.e. feeling mighty powerful as you cut down waves of weaker foes),” said Hayashi. Fujibayashi also chimed in by discussing how the back-and-forth communication led to “proposals that elevated [Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment] into something even better.”
Ultimately, this collaboration, according to Aonuma, could even have influences on the next mainline project in the Zelda franchise. He said that, while Nintendo hasn’t yet made any announcement, we will see the fruits of the collaboration and feedback that went into the development of Age of Imprisonment in the next The Legend of Zelda title.
“The inspiration we received from this collaboration with Koei Tecmo may be reflected in the (next) Zelda we create,” said Aonuma. “Please picture this while playing Age of Imprisonment, and look forward to our Zelda.”
Discussions about the next Zelda game had also taken place recently through an interview on developer Monolith Soft’s website. In this interview, Zelda franchise general manager Daiki Iwamoto said that Nintendo wants Monolith Soft to “use the know-how we’ve developed by working together” to “create a unique title in the series together.”
In the meantime, check out our review of Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment, which is available exclusively on the Nintendo Switch 2.
