It is rumored that the third open world work of "The Legend of Zelda" is already in development, and the new work will include cross-dimensional gameplay.

Abstract:

Although Nintendo has hinted that it may bid farewell to the "Breath of the Wild" era, the latest revelations show that the next mainline open world work of "The Legend of Zelda" may continue this series. According to well-known game tipsters Shpeshal Nick and Jeff Grubb on the Xbox Era podcast, the third open world game in the series is in development, following Breath of the Wild and Kingdom Tears.

This news comes as a surprise considering that the Legend of Zelda series has rarely had direct sequels, let alone trilogies. However, the huge critical and commercial success of the first two works undoubtedly provides sufficient reason for the advancement of the third one.

According to reports, the new game will further expand the exploration dimension based on "Tears of the Kingdom" - just as the previous game added sky islands and underground worlds, this game will introduce a "dimension jumping" mechanism. Players can travel between different dimensions through cracks in reality and use objects or events in one dimension to affect another dimension.

Examples of the revelation are as follows: Players can lure a bull to rush towards a specific target in one dimension to open a door in another dimension; or use water flow in one dimension to move objects in another dimension. This puzzle-solving idea is in line with the series' classic "time and space" design.

It is worth noting that it is said that the new game will use the same world and engine as "Breath of the Wild" and "Tears of the Kingdom", and will only be optimized and iterated on the basis of the previous game. This means that the exploration and control feel may be similar to the previous game. However, given Nintendo's previous statements about the "Breath of the Wild era", this new game may not necessarily be classified as the orthodox label of the series - it may be set hundreds or even thousands of years later, becoming a spiritual continuation rather than a nominal sequel.

The whistleblower also pointed out that this new game is still far away from release. The expected window period is between 2027 and 2029, and it is more inclined to the later period. In the short term, Nintendo is expected to focus on announced works in 2026 such as the Switch 2 remake of "Ocarina of Time" during its possible direct meeting on September 10, while new works may only be unveiled as previews to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Zelda series.

It should be emphasized that the above information comes from revelations and podcast discussions, and is not officially confirmed by Nintendo. Please refer to the official announcement for specific circumstances.