The Legend of Zelda is heating up again! Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom, and Twilight Princess – Growing anticipation for the Switch 2
Spring 2026, and the gaming world just can't stop talking about The Legend of Zelda. It all started when Eric Barone (ConcernedApe), the creator of Stardew Valley, said in an interview: "For me, the best Zelda is Twilight Princess." The moment he said that, my social media feed turned into a sea of twilight hues. For those of us used to the boundless freedom of post-Breath of the Wild Hyrule, those sombre, heavy dungeons and the bond with Midna still feel incredibly vivid.
To borrow Barone's words: "Zelda has always presented the 'blueprint for adventure'." True enough, the evolution from 2006's Twilight Princess to 2017's Breath of the Wild, and then to 2023's Tears of the Kingdom isn't just about better graphics. It's about breaking down the "walls" of the field – remember that thrill of stealing the skies with the paraglider? The freedom of crafting and material fusion blew right past the limits of the traditional action-adventure genre.
One and a half years after Tears of the Kingdom: Switch 2 rumours and "another Zelda"
It's been about three years since Tears of the Kingdom launched. Fans are still posting discovery videos like "I can't believe you can do that with Zonai devices" – that's Nintendo's craftsmanship for you. Meanwhile, industry chatter is slowly shifting towards the next-gen console, the "Switch 2". I haven't tried it myself, but multiple developers are whispering that "a new Zelda title is being prepped as a launch game."
- A 60fps, high-resolution version (a so-called "DX edition") of Breath of the Wild
- An additional scenario DLC for Tears of the Kingdom, exclusive to the Switch 2
- An entirely new The Legend of Zelda game, rebooting the style of past entries
All of this is still just "rumour" for now, but for longtime fans like Barone who love the linear dungeon design of Twilight Princess, a "tighter experience" – one that isn't purely open-world – is something to miss. In fact, I recently replayed Twilight Princess HD on my Nintendo Switch Lite. The contrast of the Twilight Realm in portable mode felt fresh, with a tension that's different from playing on a TV.
Why The Legend of Zelda now? The "universal design philosophy" behind Barone's words
Barone goes on: "Zelda never rests on past glories. Breath of the Wild shattered the series' conventions, and Tears of the Kingdom went even further in breaking those conventions." In other words, if Twilight Princess was the pinnacle of "traditional 3D Zelda", then the games that followed put "liberation from tradition" right at the core of their design.
With that in mind, just imagining what the next Zelda could look like gets my heart racing. Maybe it'll fully leverage the Switch 2's new features (rumoured "camera-linked controller" and "high-speed streaming assist") to deliver an unprecedented paradox of "building and destruction". Or perhaps they'll take a heavy, linear story like Twilight Princess and refine it with the latest tech – I wouldn't rule it out.
Either way, the Legend of Zelda series never loses that exciting sense of "you never know what they'll do next." Right now, on the Nintendo Switch Lite, you can easily carry both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom around with you. Barone may have his eyes on Twilight Princess, but his praise for the innovation of the latest games is proof that "every Zelda is a part of my youth."
So, why not step into that vast Hyrule again? Who knows – by the time the Switch 2 is officially announced, there might just be one more "legend" added to the list.