Fans of a more traditional Legend of Zelda experience have more reason to be incredibly excited for Tears of the Kingdom. It is confirmed that more classic Zelda dungeons are back. In the third part of the Tears of the Kingdom-centric Ask the Developer interview, we got our first official mention of dungeons. After talking about designing the open world with the new sky islands, the topic was quickly touched on at the end.
Breath of the Wild only had four dungeons in the form of the Divine Beasts, and they were all similar in design. They were not nearly as expansive as we have been accustomed to in past Zelda games, and that rubbed some fans the wrong way. In Tears of the Kingdom, dungeons are designed with their surrounding environment in mind. They are described as “huge” and should provide quite a challenge for players. Speculatively speaking, we think dungeons were hinted at in the most recent trailer with the minecart section in the image below.
If you criticized Breath of the Wild for its lack of dungeons, you may be wondering why Nintendo abandoned them. If we connect this discussion to one earlier in the same interview, we may have the Wii U to blame. For example, many of the cliffsides in Breath of the Wild are barren. Now, there are many cave entrances because the Switch can allow for more exploration.
There are plenty of fans ecstatic for dungeons to be back in Tears of the Kingdom. Hopefully, the game can meld that classic Zelda gameplay with the new world design to make something truly special.
