Zelda Wii U is Open, Speculation Over Protagonist

There’s a lot we don’t know about the next Zelda game, which will come to the Wii U sometime in 2015. We still aren’t sure of its official title. But now, thanks to Nintendo’s digital even this morning, we have gotten to see its first trailer.

This trailer begins with a discussion of the thought process that went into the game and its design, and then segues into in-game footage. Take a look.

The Wii U Zelda game promises to be much more open than previous Zelda titles. We aren’t positive it is meant to be an open world game, but we definitely got that vibe. Whatever the case may be, the world is going to be vast and seamlessly connected.

Now, let’s move on to the more curious part of this announcement. Link, as seen in the trailer, struck some viewers as a little odd. He isn’t wearing his hat, and his character design is slightly different than previous incarnations. Some fans left the trailer speculating that “he” was in fact a she. Well, VentureBeat decided to ask the game’s producer, Eiji Aonuma, about the new character design. And what was his answer?

“No one explicitly said that that was Link.”

Well, no one has explicitly said it wasn’t Link, either, but that comment certainly opens up the protagonist’s identity for debate. Who do you think was in that trailer, and what do you think of the game’s more open approach?

Update: Aonuma has since clarified that it is Link in the trailer.