9 years on, the devs behind my favorite sandbox game say "it's amazing" to see Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom innovating on the genre

May. 26, 2024

“It was really fun to see how similar some aspects of [Tears of the Kingdom] were to Besiege”

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For the developers of my favorite indie sandbox game, seeing the likes ofThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdompopularize the genre was “amazing.”

Speaking to publishing director Stefan Metaxas and lead producer Toby Hawkins, I asked what it was like to see the idea of a contraption-driven sandbox thrust into the global spotlight by the most recent Zelda game. Tears of the Kingdom grants players many tools that aren’t too dissimilar from those available in Besiege, and while Nintendo used its own worldbuilding to let players build, there’s certainly a comparison to draw.

“It’s awesome to see other people taking that and doing something with it and innovating on it,” says Hawkins. While sandbox games are hardly a brand-new idea, it’s comparatively rare to see those ideas placed in an entirely open world. According to Metaxas, however, that new environment is part of what’s so exciting about Tears of the Kingdom’s take: “You’re only limited by your own creativity, and I think that’s just a very fun thing. So it’s natural for other games to explore that as well. It was really fun to see how similar some aspects of [Tears of the Kingdom] were to Besiege.”

This Tears of the Kingdom tank is evidence that the crossover with Besiege might be closer than you think.

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I’m GamesRadar’s news editor, working with the team to deliver breaking news from across the industry. I started my journalistic career while getting my degree in English Literature at the University of Warwick, where I also worked as Games Editor on the student newspaper, The Boar. Since then, I’ve run the news sections at PCGamesN and Kotaku UK, and also regularly contributed to PC Gamer. As you might be able to tell, PC is my platform of choice, so you can regularly find me playing League of Legends or Steam’s latest indie hit.

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