What’s next for The Legend of Zelda? It seems to be the big question scratching everyone’s heads this year.

2026 is still a blank Sheikah Slate. Now that the Switch 2 console is in full swing and the Era of the Wild seems to be finally riding off into the Gerudo sunset, we’re truly in uncharted territory. We know there will be a Legend of Zelda movie coming in 2027, but other than that, we’re just about as blind as a wayward Keese in a snowstorm on Snowhead. Who knows what’s going to happen in the first main, non-Partner Nintendo Direct for 2026, or if there will even be a Zelda game revealed in the coming months.

Fortunately, the legendary staff behind the series isn’t lost by any means. They know what they’re doing, and they’ve left us a mysterious but important clue behind. In an interview with 4Gamer and the Koei Tecmo development team, Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma shared that an enormous amount of inspiration took place when they co-developed Age of Imprisonment with Koei Tecmo and their new AAA Studio staff.

“Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment is the first Zelda title for the Nintendo Switch 2. To be honest, we wanted to be the first to do so,” Aonuma laughed, according to TheGamer’s translation. “However, the inspiration we received from this collaboration with Koei Tecmo may be reflected in the [next] Zelda we create. Please imagine this while playing Age of Imprisonment, and look forward to our Zelda.”

But it’s not Imprisonment for you

Hold on, before you groan and head for the back button in disgust, I know what you’re thinking. Many of you (not all) are a little weary of living in the Era of the Wild for almost a decade. And the last thing you want in a Zelda game is more repetitive hack and slash to boot, right?

That’s understandable. I’m 99.99% confident that’s not what the next Zelda will be about. I leave behind the 0.01% because, well, it’s The Legend of Zelda we’re talking about. What the Zelda team has in mind will always be mysterious to a point.

That said, I believe their inspiration with Age of Imprisonment in creating the next Zelda game has to do with a new narrative style. In fact, Age of Imprisonment could hold the key to solving the “Great Divide” between the old school and new school Zelda fan camps. Imagine a game in a brand new Hyrule era that finally joins the open-world and traditional Zelda formulas together into a unique cinematic interactive experience.

How is that possible? Allow me to explain.

Think Legend of Zelda: The Video Game Movie

It’s true, Breath of the Wild changed history. Not only did it revolutionise the open-world genre for the entire industry (looking at you, Elden Ring), it introduced full spoken voice acting into the series for the first time. This format encouraged stunning art direction and breathed life into characters like never before in a Zelda game. But there was a problem. The sheer freedom of open world movement limited the narrative potential to flashback cutscenes that the player finds scattered throughout the map, geographic lore hunting, and a creative, though somewhat disconnected final boss.

Its sequel, Tears of the Kingdom, introduced a much stronger final boss experience with the return of Ganondorf and has plenty of geographic lore hunting, but it too was limited to cinematic flashbacks that can either elate or ruin a player’s experience depending on who you ask, what the found order was, and what the context consisted of in the player’s personal situation. Or perhaps, the scenes we do get are produced so extravagantly that we are only left wanting more.

One thing is for certain: they’re powerful enough to spark gigantic internet fights. That’s open world for you. Do with that what you will.

Putting it all together

Now I arrive at Age of Imprisonment’s strongest point – the narrative.

Its purpose is to allow players to experience the ancient Imprisoning War firsthand and fill in the gaps left behind in Tears of the Kingdom with a staggering three hours’ worth of seamless voice-acted cutscenes that surpass the limitations of Breath of the Wild, thanks to its more linear Purah Pad map format.

What’s fascinating is that the game isn’t completely linear. Unlike the previous Hyrule Warriors instalment, Age of Calamity, the battle challenges in Age of Imprisonment are incorporated into the main story with the map. There’s a lot of freedom to select battles without breaking the narrative. When you clear a certain amount of them, a story-locked milestone battle with cutscenes appears. Even the map itself interacts with you to pull you into the high-stakes tension of the Imprisoning War. You truly feel like you’re in the trenches with the characters and sharing in their blood, sweat, and tears as they push back against the Demon King’s overwhelming forces. This was intended by design.

Tears of the Kingdom director Hidemaro Fujubasashi explained that Age of Imprisonment’s “functionality and player experience came first, but even though the order may change, we put it together so that the scenario and terrain are well-rounded.”

Koei Tecmo director Aoyagi Kimiki further explained that Age of Imprisonment has “the appeal of a historical drama” with the Imprisoning War, an important event for Zelda fans. “We aimed to give the historical flow that was shared with us at the beginning its true form, and to create a structure that would allow players to feel that they were part of that history as they fought, as part of the Warriors experience.”

Could this mean that the narrative limitations of the open-world system will finally be conquered in the next Zelda game? That we’ll not only experience full-length cinematic cutscenes that flow naturally like a traditional mainline Zelda again, but we’ll get to live and interact in a living, breathing Hyrule Castle Town and experience the thrills of massive dungeon crawling and camping under the stars in Hyrule Field, too? Perhaps an entirely interactive, cinematic universe?

I dare you to imagine such a feat. That seems like an impossible fantasy right now. But if the Zelda team can achieve a feat like that, it would not only revolutionise Zelda games again, it would set an entire industry trend ablaze.

Then again, that’s routine for the Zelda team. They have a stubborn habit of making groundbreaking history.