Now now, don't get too excited by the image. Valley of the Flood was a completely fan created game concept that had a fake interview attached. What this image does though, is represent some of what Pipking seems to suggest: Zelda needs more Steampunk.While Steampunk can refer to many specific genre things, the foremost is a technological progression where steam power drives all innovation and ingenuity. It's often linked to the aesthetic of Victorian era England - all dark coats and sooty faces, dirigibles and Jules Vernes and Jack-the-Rippers in the shadows. But more than a specific look, the important thing about the Steampunk style is it allows fantasy and technology to coexist. In a way, I feel it is about the magic of the technological, that precious space where fancy and fact haven't quite met; somewhere directly between worshipping the Moon as a goddess and landing on it in a rocket.
What we know of Spirit Tracks so far is that it has trains. Trains in a fantasy world do not a Steampunk make - but it certainly suggests some possibilities.
Zelda could use bit of Steampunk shine.
-Pipking: 100 year itch
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Categories: Fan Community News
I don't think steampunk would fit the Zelda mithos... It's true we need something new to the series, but a drasrtic change in the game's genre would be prejudicial... At least for now, I mean. PH and ST are introducing steam-powered transportation to the series, and other examples show us that the technology level in the series is rising (pictographs, cannons...). But changing the genre is a little too much, for now...
Steampunk isn't a "genre"; it's a time, a setting. It's not exactly cliche either, there are far, far more games using fantasy motifs similar to classic Zelda than there are using steampunk.
There are numerous indications in previous Zelda games that if the world's technology was ever to develop further, it would be heading in that general direction. We're not actually even all that far off from it. Remember the hook-shot? What about Clocktown, with it's massive gears? The spinner in Twilight Princess? Heck, we've got steam-powered trains and boats now in the DS games. It would still clearly be fantasy, there'd still be magic, and a large number of classic items would fit right in, plus possibilities for some interesting new items.
I feel that steampunk has become cliche at this point, and I don't want to see my favorite series conform to this.