The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and its successor, Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, have done what they can to change The Legend of Zelda forever. While it could be argued that they aren't the first open-world Zelda games ever made, the design and execution of their open worlds have nonetheless had a lasting impact on the franchise, likely determining where it will go from here. In addition to the new era of Zelda open worlds, Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom introduced several survival mechanics that the series has never seen, like weapon durability and the multitude of weapons that Link can use. Unfortunately, this has led to some of Zelda's classic weapons largely being set aside in favor of more modern weapon designs and those that would best complement the new era's evolved gameplay.