Following the success of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and its interesting building mechanics, the argument for a LEGO Zelda game is easy to make. The latest entry in The Legend of Zelda series offers a captivating story, a fully open-world Hyrule, and new tools.
Tears of the Kingdom reintroduces players to a Hyrule that they think they know. The game’s open world may initially feel like beloved Hyrule of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, but the game’s new mechanics, sky and depths maps, and side quests reinvigorate the experience. Of these features, it is the building mechanics that help make the case for a LEGO project based on the Zelda franchise.
Building LEGO Hyrule
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’s new build mechanics and abilities would work perfectly in a LEGO Zelda title. While FromSoftware’s 3D Dot Game Heroes replicated part of the classic Zelda formula in a blocky format, a LEGO game with Tears of the Kingdom’s toolkit would be a more personalized experience. The latest Zelda game gives players six abilities to play with: Recall, Ultrahand, Fuse, Ascend, Autobuild, and Camera. Each of these abilities adds to the overall experience of the games, letting players truly customize their experience. They offer creative approaches so that each type of Tears of the Kingdom player can revel in the game’s flexible design, but a LEGO spin-off could provide even more freedom.
The Fuse and Ultrahand abilities would be essential for a LEGO Zelda game. Ultrahand could allow players to move and carefully stack LEGO blocks. The Tears of the Kingdom ability could add a layer of precision to carefully stacking the virtual LEGOs by their brick-and-knob connections. The Fuse ability would be the true star of the game, as it would enable these blocks to be connected to weapons, shields, and each other beyond their aforementioned connections.
Tears of the Kingdom’s Recall ability would be an absolute joy in a LEGO Hyrule setting. Rewinding down LEGO block structures and manipulating the timing of their fall physics could make for some genuinely creative game design. However, though a LEGO Zelda game has the potential to take Tears of the Kingdom’s Recall to the next level, and Fuse and Ultrahand would be perfect fits, the other abilities are worth considering.
The Ascend ability may be the most difficult to implement in terms of a player-created Hyrule, but it might open ways for the developers to create new approaches to dungeons or shrines within a LEGO setting. Ascend could add more verticality to the blocky world than the previously mentioned 3D Dot Game Heroes by creatively encouraging players to ascend and descend between LEGO levels.
The best part of LEGOs is creating, and once players had already built their dream vehicle or Hyrule Castle replica, then the Autobuild ability would be a necessity. Players would only have to build these objects by themselves once, and after that, the Autobuild tool would grant LEGO Zelda players the opportunity to replicate their creation—whether it be a flying device, castle, or robotic Ganondorf—to their heart’s content.
Finally, no LEGO Zelda game would be complete without Tears of the Kingdom’s Camera ability. A LEGO setting would give Zelda players even more ways to personalize their own Hyrule. Being able to build, create, and take pictures for side quests as well as collectibles, and maybe even encourage Nintendo to provide a feature to share these snapshots on socials. Adding the social dimension would encourage ingenious ways for gamers to invent and reinvent their own virtual Hyrule. A research side quest might even encourage players to recreate their favorite levels or moments from Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, Wind Waker, or Link’s Awakening. A LEGO with the Tears of the Kingdom toolkit would provide imaginative players with near-endless freedom to build their dream Zelda game, all with a charming LEGO aesthetic.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is available now for Nintendo Switch.