Given that both The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity got DLC released, it seemed logical that Tears of the Kingdom would go the same. After all, TotK doesn’t have a master mode or Trial of the Sword equivalent, and leaves a few questions open relating to the role of the Sheikah in the Upheaval and the disappearance of the shrines and Divine Beasts.
So, we thought the same would apply here too. That we’d get a first DLC pack with more challenging missions in Autumn, then a story based one later in Winter.
However, it seems that’s not the case here. Why? Because according to a Famitsu interview with Eiji Aonuma, there are no plans for either DLC or future games set in the same version of Hyrule. Here’s the quote in full if you haven’t seen it already:
Fujibayashi: I don’t know if this will be the next one or not, but I am thinking about what the “next fun experience” will be. I can only say that I do not know what form that will take at this point.
Aonuma: There are no plans to release additional content this time, because we feel that we have exhausted the possibilities of creating play in that world. The reason why we decided to make this a sequel to the previous game in the first place is because we felt that new play was worth experiencing in that Hyrule place. Then, if those reasons are renewed, we may go back to the same world. Whether it is a sequel or a new work, I think it will be a whole new play, and I hope you will look forward to it.
As you can see, it’s a pretty clear statement. Aonuma outright says there will be no Tears of the Kingdom DLC, given that they’ve exhausted the possibilities of this version of Hyrule.
And that makes sense to us. After all, we’ve already had three separate games take place in this version of Hyrule, and just about every element has been fleshed out to its full potential. So, we definitely can’t see room for another whole game set here. Regardless of if it’s an adventure title or a Warriors one.
But we’re not sure we’d agree when it comes to DLC. Why? Because here’s the thing; both BoTW and AoC’s DLC were minor improvements to the game and world, not things that require huge amounts of new ideas. You had new difficulty modes, extra difficult challenges for completionists, new armour and clothing and the odd new item to improve quality of life related aspects of the titles.
Gold Lynels and other such enemies were the big new addition to the first DLC pack for BoTW
So, what would be challenging about doing the same thing for TotK? We know it doesn’t have master mode, so that’s one feature they could sell us on. There’s no Trial of the Sword equivalent, so same goes there too. Then add the missing armour sets and items left out of TotK (Ancient Armour, Switch shirt, ancient horse armour), and a few more neat references to other Zelda titles (a Hyrule Warriors style scarf, Link’s full set of pyjamas from Wind Waker, some of the clothing from Tri Force Heroes), and you’d definitely have enough to warrant at least a bit of DLC here.
Could some of these outfits be repurposed for TotK?
Ah well, it’s the Zelda team’s choice here, and they probably know best when it comes to whether DLC is needed here. Still, what do you think? Are you happy to see there’s no DLC planned for Tears of the Kingdom? Or do you wish Nintendo would announce some for this title?
Leave your thoughts in the comments below, or on our Discord server today!
Source:
Zelda producer says no DLC for Zelda: Tears of Kingdom as rather make a new entry (My Nintendo News)