Fans are naturally curious as to what the next mainline Legend of Zelda game will be. Unfortunately, Nintendo has revealed very little about what we can expect from the series going forward, instead choosing to focus on the upcoming Ocarina of Time remake and the Legend of Zelda remaster releasing in 2027. It makes sense that Nintendo would opt not to jump the gun, if only because it is forever reticent to over-hype its fanbase, but that doesn't make it any less frustrating.
While Nintendo has made vague comments on the future of the Zelda series, for the most part, it has been left up to fans to dictate. Of course, Nintendo is still spearheading the production of official Legend of Zelda games, but fans have been churning out spin-offs, remakes, and more in the process to keep the rest of the fandom entertained. Which brings us to The Legend of Zelda: Savage Wind, a brand-new project that is absolutely for the fans and one everyone should keep an eye on.
While there have been leaks about a new open-world Zelda game, for the most part, fans are a little unsure about what they can expect from the next mainline entry. This is especially true as Nintendo has confirmed that it isn't particularly interested in continuing the Wilds era unless it is particularly passionate about a new entry, which could lead to the next Zelda game being a more traditional entry. That wouldn't inherently be an issue, but it does mean that those who want a new open-world game are out of luck.
Well, that is apart from The Legend of Zelda: Savage Wind, a new recomp of Breath of the Wild for PC. This fan-made project is drastically enhancing what is inarguably one of the best Zelda games of all time by improving framerate, reducing stuttering, adding mouse and keyboard support, implementing PC specific settings, and allowing users to have different languages for both the audio and subtitles (a feature bizarrely missing from the original Switch release). It's an impressive list of improvements to an already incredible game that will also help make it even more accessible.
The Legend of Zelda: Savage Wind currently runs at around 45 to 60 frames per second, which is higher than the original Switch port of the game, but a little less consistent than the Switch 2 release. Of course, it benefits from improvements that the Switch 2 port lacks, which does, in theory, make it a more definitive version. There are also plans to improve Savage Wind in the future by further enhancing its performance and adding new features. These improvements include:
You can download the recomp from its dedicated GitHub page, but you will need a legally obtained copy of Breath of the Wild and its game files in order to be able to run Savage Wind. It is currently in a very early alpha state (0.2.0), so anyone who does choose to download it should be prepared for a lot of bugs. However, it's a great start for an important project that could see even more people play a truly phenomenal open-world Legend of Zelda game during a time when it remains unclear if we'll ever get another one again.
