Eiji Aonuma: “it would eliminate the room for imagination”
Ever since The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was released in March 2017, fans have been wondering where it fits in the official series timeline. And while it’s always been a hot button topic amongst hardcore fans, series producer Eiji Aonuma has now flat out said that the game won’t ever be placed in the chronological timeline.
The reason for that is because Nintendo enjoys seeing everyone’s own interpretations of the popular Switch/WiiU adventure game and that if they did make it apart of the overarching story, that “it would eliminate the room for imagination.”
Aonuma had much to say about it in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild — Creating a Champion, the official hardcover companion book:
“The final thing I’d like to convey to all of our players is that video games, not just Zelda, can go much, much farther! We got a lot of responses from adult players who said they felt the same way playing this game as they did when they used to be hooked on video games when they were younger,” Aonuma explained.
“We made this game with the intention of returning to our roots, so the response from players about feeling the same as they had when they were young is promising. Since Nintendo Switch is portable, I hope that they will be able to engage deeply with the game in a fresh, new way too.”
“In books like the recently released The Legend of Zelda Encyclopedia, we revealed where each Zelda game fell on a timeline and how their stories related, but we didn’t do that for Breath of the Wild. There is a reason for that. With this game, we saw just how many players were playing in their own way and had those reactions I just mentioned.
“We realised that people were enjoying imagining the story that emerged from the fragmental imagery we were providing. If we defined a restricted timeline, then there would be a definitive story, and it would eliminate the room for imagination, which wouldn’t be as fun.
“We want players to be able to continue having fun imagining this world even after they are finished with the game, so, this time, we decided that we would avoid making clarifications. I hope that everyone can find their own answer, in their own way.”
The companion book is definitely worth checking out if you’re interested in learning more about the game. Let us know what you think the latest Zelda game skipping the timeline in the comments below.