Fans have been waiting forThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2news for almost two years. After the initial June 2019 reveal, the game has only been mentioned to say that it’s not ready to be shown yet. This is a lot more silence then Nintendo fans are used to, and it’s only been compounded by the similar silence experienced forMetroid Prime 4andBayonetta 3. There’s a lot of anticipation for a big news expose, and fans are suspecting it’s going tohappen at E3 2021to coincide withZelda’s 35th anniversary. For as painful as this long, quiet wait has been, it may have been to the game’s (and the players’) ultimate benefit.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2is likely going to be big, and that sort of scope takes time. Nintendo holds its first-party titles to a very high degree of polish, andBotW 2will be no different. A game of its size needs a lot of man hours to work out many of the bugs out of its system, and the ongoing pandemic surely hasn’t helped things go smoothly. It’s in everyone’s best interests for Nintendo to move at its own pace and release the best product it possibly can. The game waiting at the end of all this can only be better for it.
RELATED:10 Open-World PlayStation Games To Play If You Love Zelda
Won’t Set Wrong Expectations
BotWfans are excited and have been theorizing what the sequel is going to be like ever since its announcement. Some YouTube channels have even made their living off of posting speculation about what it will contain. This could be seen as fans setting up wildly overblownexpectations forBreath of the Wild 2, something they know nothing about. This is certainly true to some extent, but there’s only so much damage an overactive imagination can do based on a single cutscene. It has been to Nintendo’s benefit to keep a tight lid onBotW 2’s attributes, as it can keep full control over what fans see in the final game.
After such a long development cycle, fans will see what the final build will look like when Nintendo’s ready. While the title can still be compared to its predecessors, there will be no grieving over lost features, as all thatBotW 2is should be present in-game by the time radio silence has been broken.
RELATED:Nintendo Switch Pro Rumors Are Super Good for Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2
Rebuilding Hyrule
Part of that development process involves actually building everything inBreath of the Wild 2. While there was a statement aboutBotW 2reusing the first game’s mapnear its reveal, there is no way players will end up seeing the same map with updated monsters and quests, at least not exactly anyway. A lot of little things throughout Hyrule will probably have changed. There may be altered geography from earthquakes caused by what appears to be Ganondorf’s resurrection, or there could be a stronger emphasis on tunnels leading to dungeons. The first game’s Master Mode element of airborne common enemies could be expanded upon, and there could even be parts of the playable map that reach outside of Hyrule into the mysterious surrounding lands.
Most intriguing, however, is the prospect of a second world.The Legend of Zeldahas been known for its dual worlds for decades, whether they be twisted dark reflections, parallel dimensions, different seasons, or other points in time. It’s not yet clear whatBotW 2’s plot will be, but it could easily fit in a dark world or jump into the distant or recent past. Players have already seen the modern incarnations of the different tribes’ Champions and spent time with their ancestors inAge of Calamity.
So, it stands to reason that Link could travel back to when the glowing arm in the reveal trailer was made, and talk to the ancestors’ ancestors. At the height of his power and intelligence,Ganondorf could also plunge entire regionsof the world into Malice-infested miasma, necessitating quests to free them. Regardless of what form it takes,BotW 2’s Hyrule will probably feel brand new, and that will have taken a lot of time and effort to get right.
Around for the Anniversary
As was mentioned above, the 35th anniversary ofThe Legend of Zeldais happening right now. Fans are reminiscing about their favoriteZeldagames, andThe Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HDis coming out later this year as part of Nintendo’s own celebrations. However, there’s a much bigger birthday bomb waiting to be dropped.Breath of the Wild 2would make the perfect celebrationif it can be ready by the end of 2021.BotW 1already paid a massive amount of homage to all theZeldagames before it, calling back to concepts present in all of the variousZeldatimelines and fashioning itself after the more open originalZeldagame. ABotW 2holiday 2021 release would be the perfect capstone to a year ofZeldafestivities, even if it’s not likely.
ButBreath of the Wild 2missing one anniversary doesn’t mean it can’t make another.The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wildreleased on June 25, 2025, and that meansBotW 2can still makeits predecessor’s fifth anniversary in 2022.Breath of the Wildmarked an enormous shift in theZeldaseries’ design, moving from a directed dungeon-exploring approach to an open world with puzzles and little trials dotting the landscape. While some things like the absence of typical full-length dungeons and the presence of breakable weapons irked some fans, the game was praised for its incredibly open and freeform nature, and has been held up as an example of an open world’s potential. That’s a difficult legacy to shoulder, butThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2is still in prime position to pick up right where its predecessor left off and deliver another modernZeldaclassic.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2is in development for Nintendo Switch.
MORE:A Look Back At The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
