The rumored dimensional features of the new open-world Zelda game just make perfect sense

There's still a lot we don't know about the next main series The Legend of Zelda after the game Echoes of wisdomas Nintendo has not officially confirmed anything about it yet. However, the latest rumor surrounding another open world Zelda the game is at least interesting enough to entertain, especially since it sounds so much like something the franchise would eventually do anyway. According to insider Nick Baker on episode 294 of the XboxEra podcast, the next major Zelda the game will reportedly continue in the same open-world direction as Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdomwhile introducing dimensional puzzles tied to “Tears in Reality”.

Again, Nintendo has yet to confirm if this is true or even more Zelda installment is an open world game in the same vein as BotW and TotK. Even if The Legend of Zelda is building its next open world game on dimensions, it makes perfect sense. After all, this is a franchise that has spent decades sending Link through alternate worlds and realms for one reason or another, so the idea of basing the puzzles on dimensional travel wouldn't be the least bit far-fetched.

Every new Zelda: Ocarina of Time Remake game, a new open world game, and a new 2D game have been leaked

According to various sources, fans could receive up to three brand new Zelda games by the end of 2028.

Zelda has been playing with dimensions for decades

When it comes down to it The Legend of Zelda and dimensional design, it's hard not to bring A link to the past mind because it's where it all started. A link to the pastThe light and dark worlds are still the best example of the series taking one world and making players think about it in two different ways. While the light world was the default or normal world state, the dark world changed where players could go, what they could achieve, and how certain areas connected to each other. Moving between the two versions of the world eventually became part of how players solved problems, and this loop then inspired future installments to experiment with variations of it.

What kind of weapon is that?

Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.

What kind of weapon is that?

Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.

Easy (7.5s) Medium (5.0s) Hard (2.5s) Permadeath (2.5s)

One rather rare view of the dimensional pattern was The Major's Maskwhich did not see Link traveling between dimensions, but instead placed the game's entire story in the parallel world of Termina. There were familiar faces and races in Termina, but its atmosphere and tone did The Major's Mask unique among Zelda games. In fact, it's widely considered a horror-adjacent game in the franchise, one of the few, simply because of the parallel nature of the world and what that means for the people and places within it.

This is a franchise that has spent decades sending Link through alternate worlds and realms for one reason or another…

Princess Twilight is another great example of a Zelda a game using dimensional elements. It introduced players to the Twilight Realm, another parallel dimension to Hyrule. For much of the early part of the game, the Twilight Realm bled into Hyrule through Twilight-covered areas that turned Link into Wolf Link as soon as he entered them. Instead of moving between two active versions of the same map, players would enter these damaged areas, chase Tears of Light, restore the local Spirit of Light, and return that part of Hyrule to normal.

Then there was Heavenly Swordwhich split its world between the sky where Link began his journey and the surface where most of the main quest took place. Additionally, it used the Spirit Realm as a spiritual testing ground, sending Link into altered versions of places he had already explored, only without his weapons and with guards ready to chase him if he made a mistake. It wasn't dimensional in the same way as A link to the past and Princess Twlightbut still used separate layers of the world to change the way you play.

A connection between worldshowever, it is probably one of the clearest examples Zelda turn dimensional travel into a central game idea. He sent the Link between Hyrule and Lorule, a destroyed counterpart kingdom that shares parts of Hyrule's structure. The game also gave Link the ability to bond with walls like an image, allowing him to reach places that would otherwise be unreachable. Between the Hyrule-Lorule connection and Link's ability to connect walls, A connection between worlds in fact, it incorporated dimensional travel right into the exploration and puzzle solving of the game.

A dimensional open world would be a natural next step after tears of the kingdom

The real challenge for Nintendo now is figuring out where the open world is Zelda goes after Tears of the Kingdom. Breath of the Wild has already turned Hyrule into something that no player, regardless of age or experience with the franchise, has ever seen before. Then Tears of the Kingdom returned to the same foundation and expanded it vertically, giving players the sky above Hyrule and the Deep below. In large part, it worked because it gave players a new relationship with a world they already understood.

But that also leaves another open world game quite a difficult problem. If Nintendo were to stick with the same general design language, simply making the map bigger probably wouldn't be enough. At some point, adding more space may start to seem like the most obvious answer, but it's not necessarily interesting. However, a dimensional mechanic would be a clever way around this, as it could make the world feel new without being entirely dependent on square kilometers.

Essentially, this kind of design would allow players to experience two different open worlds in the same game, and assuming Nintendo didn't Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom's Hyrule, another open world Zelda he could have used the dimensions to make the brand new Hyrule look bigger without relying entirely on map size. One version of the world could influence the other through puzzles, traversals, enemy placement, environmental changes, or dungeon access, giving the exploration the complexity it needs to feel rewarding even after dozens of hours. Players would learn how these two versions of the world interact, and this could lead to another open world Zelda its own identity after two games already built on freedom and player problem solving.

Of course, the rumor could end up being completely wrong. Nintendo is unpredictable and the company has never needed to follow the path that everyone expects. Still, this is one rumor that makes sense as it aligns with the franchise's past and the immediate future of the open world era. Zelda he's already taken Hyrule out, up and down, so at this point another reality might be the most natural place to go.