[E3 2016] The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild includes technology

During Nintendo’s live demo of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild at their E3 “Treehouse Live” livestream today, the publisher revealed some interesting tidbits about the game’s influences and setting.

The game’s Director, Eiji Aonuma, explained that a technological/future-based setting was something that many fans have asked for in the past. And while Breath of the Wild doesn’t seem to fully jump into space stations, we can at least ascertain that there are some connections — links, if you will — to the passage of time and its influence on the world.

As Link awakens in the demo, the first item he comes across is the Sheikah Slate, a sort of handheld tablet (iSlate?) that provides a mix of tech and magic. This can at least open doors, as we see in the gameplay, but more than likely it’s used for other things as well.

The art style of the game also focuses on glowing lights, clearly not natural, as a means to show us how different things actually are. In the trailer for the game, we were treated to what appeared to be a technology-based puzzle solving and perhaps terraforming of a pond.

Within the world there are many mechanical objects, including the spider-beast that has appeared in trailers, but the majority of them seem to be in ruin. In fact, the spider-mechs Link comes across are rusted, shattered, covered in moss and dust. The world itself is in ruin, so this suggests that some cataclysmic event has taken place and we are in some future version of Hyrule.

Will Link need to go back in time to save the world? Or is it too far gone already? We’ll find out more as the week goes on here at E3 2016.