Personally I am loving the format of the current switch games, and Nintendo has signaled that they intend to keep making games in this style though not necessarily a sequel.
I would love first and foremost for the story telling to be brought back to the standards of Ocarina of Time, Wind Waker, and Twilight Princess.
Also, to me the best thing in the 3D games has always been the pacing, you have your first initial quest, that leads to Link powering up in a few different ways. Then Link is set on a second quest, becoming more powerful again. Then a twist of some sort, though that’s optional. Then finally the climactic battle with the big bad. I would also like to see more of an after story, though it is traditional for that to not be a thing at this point.
As for settings, I would LOVE to see a game set after spirit tracks in New Hyrule in the midst of an industrial revolution, mixed with magic.
How about you, what are your wishlist items for the next/future Zelda games?
Child + Adult link, with the Adult Link’s worlds being more like TOTK (exploration-based) and child Link being more like OoT (puzzlevania). Each could have their own version of the underground, land and sky - with child Link being before devastation and adult link afterwards. And playing the ocarina you can switch between them while keeping your location.
Underwater and building submarines. It’s such a shame this isn’t in TOTK already.
Like imagine playing TOTK but you start out on a load of islands like Wind Waker and build a small raft, then eventually a sailboat, and then with Zonai fans, and a bit of swimming.
More automation-based gameplay with better object persistence and larger contraption possibility and be able to save and share them more easily. It should be possible to evenutally automate obtaining Zonaite for example, Factorio style.
Koji Kondo music of course. Even if they have both, TOTK has way too little music, and too quiet.
To your first idea, the seamless transition between past and present in the same spot. I think it could work something like what we THOUGHT would happen in The Medium if you remember that game. Though it wasn’t super great there lol. I did love the time crystals in skyward sword!