Given the nature of not just video games but entertainment media as a whole, when something big comes around, there will inevitably be people who try and copy its success. In video games, they’re known as “clones,” and it’s not always a term of respect. Other times it’s hard not to notice that several “big games” have similarities with one another.
For example, when Elden Ring came out, the FromSoftware team admitted they were taking ideas they saw in Nintendo’s Breath of the Wild and putting them into their title. But the reverse wasn’t true with Tears Of The Kingdom.
That comes right from the top of the dev team, as game director Hidemaro Fujibayashi said that he didn’t have time to play Elden Ring, and thus didn’t “take notes” from them when making the hit sequel:
Sorry, but we didn’t really have the chance to play the game. We were too occupied with the development of Tears of the Kingdom, which resulted in us not really being able to play games. We did hear about it, though. Even if we had the time to play games, we wouldn’t reuse ideas from them. When we make a game, we come up with a general concept to come up with new ideas based on that.
Producer Eiji Aonuma backed that up by stating:
I’m always looking for original ideas.
Yes, there are likely similarities between Tears of the Kingdom and its open-world competitors, but the Legend of Zelda crew are always trying to push their games in unique directions, which is often why they stand out from the rest. Be sure to read our review of the game!
