At E3's 2019 Nintendo Direct presentation, Nintendo announced a sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and while there are many unknowns surrounding the title, there are still plenty of things players do already know about Breath of the Wild 2. Although a creepy (albeit short) trailer revealed that the game is in active development, much of the specifics of the game has been kept in the dark.
Breath of the Wild launched on the Nintendo Switch in 2017 to massive praise and success. Fans of the series applauded the game for its massive open world environment coupled with an array of interwoven game mechanics which kept players entertained for hours. Due to the non-linear fashion that the game presented, many returned to Breath of the Wild over and over again in order to hone their skills and uncover all the secrets that the Kingdom of Hyrule had to offer. With such a dedicated fan base still going strong, many hope that the upcoming sequel will be just as enjoyable, if not even better than its predecessor.
According to IGN, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was developed because the team had too many DLC ideas they couldn't fit into the original. The series producer Eiji Aonuma revealed that there was just too much content everyone wanted to include and, ultimately, this led to the creation of an entirely new game.
Breath of The Wild 2's Gameplay
These hints about "too much content for DLC" have led to a lot of fan speculation surrounding what features might be included, ranging from possible co-op to a return to the classic dungeon systems previous The Legend of Zelda games had. At this time, there has been no comment made by Nintendo about the legitimacy of these claims, but given the amount of new technical and world aspects the team want to include, it's possible some of these rumors could be true.
Given the trailer's overall dark tones, many speculated that the Breath of the Wild sequel will have ties to The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. However, Aonuma has confirmed that these speculations are false. While Breath of the Wild 2 is going to be darker in nature to its predecessor, there will be no direct relationship between it and Majora's Mask. However, this does not discredit the blatantly creepy aspects that Breath of the Wild 2 is setting up. With the latest trailer depicting a mangled zombified corpse suddenly awaking, it's clear that Link and Zelda will be facing something much more grisly than Calamity Ganon.
Breath of The Wild 2's Setting
However, fans can expect to return to Hyrule in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild's sequel. Eiji Aonuma spoke to how he has wanted to create a direct continuation from the first game in order to explore the world further through the introduction of new gameplay mechanics and story. While its unknown exactly how much of Breath of the Wild 2 will be taking place in Hyrule, it's clear that at least a portion of the game will be taking place in this setting. The trailer itself does depict Hyrule Castle, which further solidifies Hyrule as one of the central locations in Breath of the Wild 2.
A second trailer for Breath of the Wild 2 revealed that the game would also be taking place in the skies above Hyrule, in a setting very similar to the one found in The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.
Breath of The Wild 2's Release Date
At Nintendo's E3 2021 Direct, the company announced Breath of the Wild 2 was aiming for a 2022 release window, although an exact date was not given.
Very little can be glimpsed about the specifics surrounding what players can expect in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 beyond what Nintendo has teased out so far. However, with Hidemaro Fujibayashi returning to direct the sequel, it is likely that the team which worked on the first game in the series will be returning as well. It will be exciting to see what new mechanics the team has in store for the upcoming sequel and how they plan to reimagine Hyrule to further expand upon the story they were developing in the first Breath of the Wild game.
Source: IGN