Zelda Space Project shows concepts of space-themed Legend of Zelda
A video posted to Reddit showcases concept art for Zelda Space Project, a fan-made concept for The Legend of Zelda in space, without losing its fantasy charm.
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The concept for a space version of The Legend of Zelda has started blowing up on Reddit. The post is fan-made, so don’t get your hopes up about this concept on the Switch 2 anytime soon, but it still looks awesome. The video begins with a short animation of Link running over some hills, fighting some sci-fi bokoblins. His shield turns into something not unlike Samus’ arm cannon from Metroid, and he jumps onto a strange vehicle and shoots off into space. The artist is Xabier Urrutia, who shared this post on Reddit, but promises to share more of the concept on Instagram.
Zelda Space Project fan concept is a great idea for the next Legend of Zelda game
Urrutia explains that the concept is not to make a “sci-fi Legend of Zelda,” but something more grounded. “Zelda Space Project is a reimagination of the ‘The Legend of Zelda’ franchise in a small solar system, where Link will travel through different planets, meet their peoples and find all kind of useful items to fight the forces of evil!” Overall, the artwork seems to draw inspiration from other animation like Studio Ghibli, while also drawing from Tears of the Kingdom. Link’s space vehicle looks like it would fit right in with the recent game’s Sheikah or Zonai technology.
The video shows a brief glimpse at the solar system Urrutia mentions. Each planet has a clear theme, and it’s easy to imagine the many unique people of Hyrule occupying these various planets. “Finally, Zelda Galaxy,” says u/ForkliftSmurf in the comments, pointing out that this does look a lot like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild combined with Super Mario Galaxy.
Concepts (left to right): Link's various tools, Link's space vehicle, the Zora people (presumably).Artist: Xabier Urrutia
The rest of the short video showcases more concept art. Link using various tools like a wrist-mounted rocket launcher, a bubble shield, and jet-boots. All tools I can already see game developers deg dungeons around. More concept art shares glimpses at the new interpretations of Hyrule’s Gorons, which have a yeti-like arctic version in this interpretation. Finally, we also get a look at some concepts for enemy designs. Some are recognizable new versions like a Lizalfos wearing astronaut gear and an intimidating octorok,
Concepts (from left to right): The Goron people (presumably), the many planets of this world, and enemy concepts.Artist: Xabier Urrutia
Many comments praised the idea, with several comments calling on Nintendo to hire this artist for their next game. After the major success of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, many have wondered where Nintendo would go next with the series. This is the first concept I’ve heard of that looks like plenty of fans would be able to get behind and take the series in an exciting new direction. But maybe it strays too far from the series roots in fantasy. Either way, I’ll be looking forward to seeing more of this concept. Even if Nintendo doesn’t pick this up, it could make a great Zelda-inspired indie game some day!
