It's Unfortunate Nintendo is Afraid to Go Dark Again

[Altair1293]

I've seldom been creeped out or felt more engrossed in a dungeon's theme like I have with Bottom of the Well or the Shadow Temple.
Aside from the Ancient Cistern in Skyward Sword or Arbiter's Grounds in TP Nintendo hasn't ever gone with a darker theme than the Shadow Temple or the Bottom of the Well.

I believe it's because they're aiming to keep that E rating - but anything trying to aim for that creep factor seems to have fallen short ever since.

What do you think? Will Nintendo ever give us a dark themed dungeon again? Or will they play it safe to the ESRB lords?

 

[twilitfalchion]

They've already confirmed that BotW2 will match (and possibly exceed) Majora in the game's thematic darkness, so I think that's something they're well aware of and willing to go for. Even if it means the game earns a T rating, I don't think that'll stop them. Not like Zelda hasn't been T rated before.

 

[Altair1293]

They've already confirmed that BotW2 will match (and possibly exceed) Majora in the game's thematic darkness, so I think that's something they're well aware of and willing to go for. Even if it means the game earns a T rating, I don't think that'll stop them. Not like Zelda hasn't been T rated before.

I wasn't aware that it was confirmed for BoW2 with the theming.

I did find it curious that the music during the first teaser trailer sounded eerily similar to Twilight Princess Twilight Realm music.

To my knowledge - the only game to be T rated in the Zelda Series was Twilight Princess if I remember correctly.

I do hope that they end up giving us darker tones in the new game. It's a bit of a snoozefest with the family friendly "scary" themes.

 

[Mikey the Moblin]

My favorite Zelda game is the baby one so I don't care

 

[Altair1293]

My favorite Zelda game is the baby one so I don't care

Baby one? Wind waker? It's the only childish looking game I can think of. Which is one of the best in the series.

 

[Fraxinus]

Looks are deceiving though. Wind Waker addresses some of the most mature tones in the series, despite its artstyle. I'm not sure if I would consider them dark, but the backstory certainly was built upon loss and sacrifice.

 

[Hyrulian Hero]

Sure I miss some of the "darker" tones of the series but I also appreciate that the developers keep Zelda accessible to younger fans. Mario is Nintendo's most accessible franchise, I think because of its simplicity. The darkest they ever got in Mario was his nipples but keeping it G means more people get to play it. Nintendo has always been the best toy-maker and that has necessitated them putting gameplay first and narrative...somewhere well after that.

Innocence is a prime commodity so a lot of parents don't want their children playing games that deal with death. Hopping on goombas is seen as mild in our culture whereas swinging a sword at fantasy monsters is not quite as mild. I think Nintendo has kept Zelda a bit more "child-friendly" by having body's just disappear when they die (except the Hylian guard, that was straight-up Poe!). I love the darker parts of Zelda as an adult and I also love that I feel comfortable letting them enjoy some Zelda games with me.

 

[Requiem Of Spirit]

I agree. I loved Majora's Mask as a whole, the Kakariko Well in OoT and the Ancient Cistern in SS. I have always liked TP's setting, darker story and character designs.

When it was released I was hoping Age Of Calamity would have a much darker tone than BotW, but it didn't.

BotW2 looks like it's going to be darker than previous main games (Botw, LAhd), so i'm very interested to see in what direction Nintendo takes BotW2. I don't know what to expect, but I'm excited.

 

[Dio]

Ocarina of time is perfect in terms of the games tone as it has both very light-hearted funny moments and also some quite dark scary ones. This contrast between the innocence of childhood and the harsh reality of adulthood makes the darker moments even more effective than a game of pure gloom.

I hope for another Zelda game like this in the future. But I would also not mind another more depressing game with a more bleak outlook such as Majora's Mask.

Mario is great lighthearted fun but it's always been a game that puts storytelling to the back. I don't think Zelda should try to copy this or fear to venture back into a more mature territory because it is there that you can really develop more rounded and intriguing characters if there are those that have a dark side as well.

 

[Hyrulian Hero]

I'm only saying that Nintendo knows what they're doing and I would opine that there wouldn't be as many sold-out fans of Zelda if Nintendo restricted it by focusing on death. Starting Zelda early has lodged the series deep within many of our formative years. It's truly brilliant marketing. I really like The Elder Scrolls but considering I didn't start it early, it can never have the chance to influence the time in which I was forming an identity.

Nintendo is "afraid" of including dark themes in zelda like we're afraid to let Nintendo keep making money hand over fist like they've done since 1889. Implying that someone is afraid to do what I want may work with someone who wants my approval and doesn't see the ad hominem manipulation but Nintendo couldn't give less of a korok seed how we think they should change their game series that they've been making for longer than most of us have been alive. Ocarina of Time did an awesome job of dealing with the loss of innocence but the presentation kept some children from being able to play it as early as they might. I'll be content with more "darkness" or less but there's something to be said for accessibility in games and I'm just betting Nintendo knows that. In fact they probably learned that they were casting too small a net when they were printing dirty playing cards and renting out vibrating beds. And it's beside the point but do you have any idea how much of pay for one of those vintage beds with the Nintendo name on it?!

 

[Uwu_Oocoo2]

I think it's less that Nintendo is afraid to go dark, it's just that they're going about it the wrong way. Majoras mask is the only true example of a successfully dark Zelda game, as it incorporates those themes into every aspect. Every other attempt wasn't as complete. Wind waker had some darker themes, yes, but buried under a mound of cell shaded cuteness that makes it seem like an afterthought, and keeps you from really feeling the weight of anything. Twilight Princess, the "edgy" Zelda, got the atmosphere with the art style and colors, but there was very little actually dark about the story. Botw has stuff that could bee seen as dark or at least sad (ya'know, with all the dead friends and such) but it's not really addressed or presented in a way that makes us really care. Even Ocarina, which some say is darker, has some creepy stuff but without any explanation and surrounded by ordinary elements that undermine the theme. So basically Nintendo has been "trying" to go dark, they're just not doing a very good job of it. If they took all of those elements and combined them, as was done in mm, they might be able to get that theme in as successful a way. But as simple standalone creepy things, it takes away more than it adds.

 

[Bowsette Plus-Ultra]

It seems out of an unwillingness to deviate too much from Zelda's narrative status quo. The series has only really gone dark once, and it was treated as an outlier to the series' usual narrative.

 

[GZ Zelda]

Idk, Zelda always seems on the verge of dark, but it never really commits (even in MM), and I don't think it needs to in order to effectively convey its narrative and thematic points. While there are moments in MM that are dark (mask transformation, moon annihilation) that's about it. Same with TP: there are moments that some could consider dark (like those wack cutscenes) but it's never really committing. And the only time I think Zelda ever went intentionally scary was Dead Hand.

Personally, BotW has one of the darkest stories in all of Zelda (thousands of people died, after all, and we see the scorched earth that represents them) but it doesn't need to be tonally dark to convey those messages. Same with Wind Waker: it's cartoony but it is laid on a backdrop of a true apocalyptically dark tragedy.

The Ganondorf in the BotW2 trailer and whatever fallout there is from that reveal is probably the darkest we're gonna get (and it's definitely the darkest we've gotten (explicitly) since Termina's moon). But the stuff in Lorule, the possession of Linebeck by Bellum, Byrne...not to mention the large-scale murder of men, women and children; Zelda, breaking down in grief at the loss of her entire kingdom because she couldn't channel the powers of the Goddess...I think Zelda's gotten dark recently.

 

[Farore's Chosen]

Nintendo, and developers who work for Nintendo don't do dark often. But when they do, it's usually good.