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Dungeons have always been an integral part of The Legend of Zelda, from the NES original to Tears of The Kingdom. For 37 years, dungeons have been a highlight of almost every entry in the series and simultaneously the most enjoyable, iconic, and (sometimes) notorious parts of each instalment. We’re looking at you, Water Temple.
That is until Breath of The Wild decided to scrap them in their more traditional form and replace them with 120 shrines instead. Sure, there were also the Divine Beasts, but they revolved around the same basic mechanic and ended with boss fights that were easy to cheese with the right elemental arrows. Enjoyable, fine… but they didn’t scratch the same itch traditional temples would have.
But what makes a Zelda dungeon so great? Now that Tears of the Kingdom is here, it begs the question of what it was that simply worked for the series in years gone by, and whether Link’s latest outing can emulate that now dungeons have returned. However, it also brought to light that Tears of the Kingdom is not so much a return of old design philosophies, but an evolution of more than three decades worth of dungeon design, innovation, and experimentation.
8-bit Breath of the Wild
It’s incredible how much of the design of what makes a Zelda dungeon was codified within the original game. Compared to what we saw in later entries, they’re rudimentary but it’s all there. The map and compass, the keys, the bosses with a weakness to a specific item, and the steady stream of new gear to let you open up new areas, which in turn makes the later portions of the game more manageable.
It also features enemies with attack patterns that would make a Souls boss look like a pacifist and mobs that would test the patience of a saint…
Looking back, it’s staggering that the original Zelda is the same template for what became Breath of the Wild decades later. It has non-linear progression, almost zero hand holding, and the dungeons, much like the shrines, are fairly brief affairs that must be discovered in the world and focus around a central mechanic or puzzle. Whether that’s blasting through walls to find a route, lighting up darkened rooms with the candle, or simply finding the keys you need to open the doors to get to the next chamber.
You can also complete them in any order you like, although, just like the latest two instalments, the difficulty of each is dependent on what you have already acquired on your journey thus far. It may be dangerous to go alone, but you feel a lot safer when you’ve already doubled your health, attack power, and defence before you’ve even entered the first ominous-looking structure. You could just head straight for Ganon, but you’re unlikely to succeed – much like both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom.
A link to the linear past
Like most of the SNES entries to The Legend of Zelda, A Link to the Past took the rough-and-ready open world and gave it context, stakes, and structure. A much more linear affair than its predecessors, this was the first game to introduce the kind of dungeons and progression that would come to characterise the series for more than a decade, and be what most would call the classic Zelda feel. The opening quest for the three pendants is followed by obtaining the Master Sword, which in turn leads to you entering the Dark World, and the temples that hand you the equipment you need to finally confront Agahnim and Ganon.
Everything feels like an evolution of what was in the original Zelda, however, non-linearity is sacrificed for more coherent storytelling. This is reflected in the dungeons which now have to be completed in a specific order, as you require the equipment from one to open the next. For example, the Power Glove must be obtained from the Desert Palace before you can get to Hebras Tower, and you must have the three pendants before you can get the Master Sword. Which, as you’ll likely know, is sort of an important item for Link.
What even is a Zelda dungeon?
Ocarina of Time is an incredibly important game, as one of the first 3D open-world games to ever exist. There may be loading screens between major areas, but you can still walk from one to the next, and simply explore the world in whatever direction you like.
This redefined what the series shift to three dimensions actually meant. The dungeons in Ocarina of Time were vast and had a sense of verticality that could never be expressed before. From the Great Deku Tree and the puzzle solution that is literally a leap of faith to the spiralling staircases of Ganon’s Tower, the ability to move through all three dimensions gave dungeons even more of a labyrinthine feel. Items were also crucial in the design of each dungeon, as each one enabled puzzle solutions and eventually led you to the dungeon boss.
This is what Ocarina of Time perfected: boss battles. From Queen Gohma scuttling out of the darkness in the boughs of the Great Deku Tree to the final showdown with Ganon amidst the crumbling ruins of Hyrule Castle, or feeding bombs to Dodongo (just like you did in the original Zelda), each is a final test of your skill with the equipment gained from the dungeons prior.
The final evolution in dungeon design is something that had a major impact on future entries: Dungeons didn’t need to be a temple. They could be a tree, the belly of a whale, or the depths of a volcano. A dungeon could be anywhere. So why couldn’t everywhere act like a dungeon?
The Wii era
Twilight Princess is known for having some of the best traditional Zelda dungeons in the entire series, none more so than the Snowpeak Ruins, which is a dungeon masquerading as a mansion. But you don’t figure that out until you find a compass. It’s a remarkable demonstration of how dungeons can be used as set pieces, but also a way to tell smaller stories within the game world that are satisfying in their own right. The story of Link’s hunt for the mirror shard within the confines of an abandoned mansion occupied by a pair of yetis is as touching as navigating the dungeon itself.
This laid the groundwork for Skyward Sword, which despite being lambasted at the time for its repetitive structure and reuse of areas, was in many ways foundational as a testbed for what would follow in Breath of the Wild and Tears of The Kingdom. And I’m not just talking about the climbing.
What I miss about Skyward Sword is that each surface area of Hyrule is also part of the dungeon. Structurally they don’t act as open-world areas in the way that, say, Hyrule Field does in Ocarina of Time. You can find shortcuts and certain routes through the world, not to mention enemies being absolutely everywhere. One example is opening up the route to the Earth Temple in Eldin Volcano, as you must find the digging claws to locate the key before entering the temple. From a gameplay perspective, there’s little difference between this and your average Zelda dungeon, except there’s no boss fight at the end.
A link between non-linear worlds
While Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom suggest a direction for you to head in at the start, you can go anywhere you like and succeed with the tools at your disposal. We first saw something similar to this with Ravio’s shop in A Link Between Worlds.
By giving Link the ability to rent equipment, players could attempt the game’s dungeons in any order they desire. Interestingly, this is still tied to the same act structure created in A Link to the Past, but does give the player a little more freedom in how they approach the initial three dungeons. It still has an order, per se, though it’s not enforced.
Don’t call it a comeback
In Tears of the Kingdom, temples are back and better than ever. They’re essentially seamless with the overworld and act as showcases for all of the abilities at Link’s disposal. This is a complete 180 from how Divine Beasts worked, as even they felt disjointed from the rest of Breath of the Wild.
Looking back, dungeons throughout the entire series had a profound effect on the Tears of the Kingdom dungeon design. They feel both new and traditional in equal measure. Something as simple as pulling a lever or opening a door is no longer a case of finding the specific small key, but of constructing one, by looking at your array of powers and the sackload of items in your pockets and then jamming a broadsword in the mechanism and pulling. It still brings that sense of discovery and those eureka moments to the forefront, because you must utilise some true out-of-the-box thinking to solve some of the puzzles.
These are followed by boss fights that are epic to the nth degree, on the same wavelength of Ocarina of Time. It’s all a culmination of the series so far and the result? Well, it might just be the best Zelda game so far.