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Everything We Know About Breath Of The Wild 2 So Far

The highly anticipated sequel to Breath of the Wild is currently scheduled for Spring 2023, which is a little under one year away. However, we know surprisingly little about the game, other than it’s a direct sequel, something that is rare when it comes to Legend of Zelda games. Today I am going to dive into everything we know so far about Breath of the Wild’s Sequel and pick apart all the details from the trailers, plus look at some of the best speculations we have so far.

To look at everything we know about Breath of the Wild 2 we’re going to be looking at trailers, but also snippets of interviews with key staff from Nintendo. The obvious place to start is the trailers themselves. We’ve had 3 so far; E3 2019 ‘In development announcement trailer’, E3 2021’s ‘2022 release date trailer’ then we had the ‘delay trailer’ early in 2022.

Let’s start with the first trailer from E3 2019.

Link and Zelda are underground and we assume this is under Hyrule Castle. As Zelda and Link make their way through the caves we see some green magic spirals making their way upwards. Link and Zelda pass wall paintings that appear to depict Ganondorf. He appears to be on the back of a horse with a weapon in his hand. Zelda is sitting on top of a huge animal, an Elephant in size, although Bison by design.

Link and Zelda continue forward into the caves, presumably in search of the green magic. Zelda’s hair is noticeably shorter since the original Breath of the Wild, which has led fans into speculating whether she’s a playable character. No confirmation of this at the moment, but many fans are hoping this to be true. You can see the Master Sword stapped to Link’s back. For a moment we see a shadowy figure, seemingly trapped at the bottom of the green energy.

Things then change, rapidly. Red and black tendrils reach and engulf the steps, killing a rat in their destructive path. Link and Zelda make their way over a bridge, and Zelda raises the torch to reveal the shocking sight in front of them. The green spiralling magic is attached to what looks to be an arm, an arm holding a dusty corpse in place, with the corpse looking like it could be Ganondorf himself. This mysterious green arm appears to be holding back the dark magic emanating from Gandorf’s corpse and you can see a shining jewel set in the centre of this being’s head, similar to Royal Gerudo’s we’ve seen before.

Then we have some quick shots together. Link’s right arm appears to absorb some light, and he clutches at it looking panicked. The black and red tendrils shoot upward, presumably toward Hyrule Castle. We then see an entrance to what could be a Dungeon, leading to many speculating Dungeons making a return after their absence in the original Breath of the Wild. The underground scene violently shakes, Link appears to rise up and Zelda is left below with the glowing red eyes of a corpse-like Ganondorf staring at her.

Then the scene switches to Hyrule and we see the castle rising up into the sky. Then the trailer finishes up with the text saying Breath of the Wild 2 is in development, and then that would be all the information we get for 2 years… Until 2021.

There are a couple of things we should note before moving on to the other trailers. Ganondorf appears to be trapped by this green magic, and these symbols appear to have some significance. Hyrule Castle floats up into the sky. Link appears to have been attacked or has been affected somehow by some magic on his right arm, as he’s seen in some distress, clutching at his arm in a flash of light. Also, Nintendo appears to be hinting at Dungeons making a return with a big, dark, looming doorway shown for a few seconds. These trailers are cut together with such precision that every frame means something.

Next, let’s have a look at the E3 2021 release window trailer.

The trailer starts with the corruption or black and red smoke reaching up once again. In a split second, we see Link, wearing his blue Champion’s Tunic, and he’s reaching for his arm seemingly under attack from some magic or dark force.

Ganondorf’s corpse screams. He’s clearly moved on from the last trailer where he was being held in place and only opened his eyes. Now he’s awake and screaming, plus looks angry. The corruption or black and red mist continues to grow and reach, although we don’t know what to at this point. Evil is escaping, that’s for sure. We then see Princess Zelda falling backwards into a pit or into the depths, although it’s not clear whether this is a dream or in the underground caves.

Then we see Link falling from the sky, he’s sky diving much like he did in Skyward Sword. Pieces of Hyrule appear to have arisen from the ground and are now suspended in the sky. Link looks different. His hair is longer, his right arm is different and he’s not wearing the blue tunic anymore, he’s wearing some kind of half tunic.

Then Link is gliding down to Hyrule. This is the same Link with the long hair and the strange new arm. He’s now running up a hill, he’s got a shield, a bow and some arrows. Above you can see the pieces of Hyrule land suspended once again in the sky. A new mechanical enemy appears to appear, with a new symbol on its stomach or midsection. A Stone Talus rises from the ground with Bokoblin’s running off it.

We then get a close up of Link’s right arm. His nails are long, and his arm is encased with bracelets or something keeping the arm in place. It looks more than decoration. It’s not clear where this arm has come from. Is this the same arm that was holding Ganondorf in place? Is this Ganondorfs arm? Or is it somehow Zelda’s arm? My money’s on the arm that was holding Ganondorf in place, but that doesn’t account for the long fingernails.

Then we switch to a new scene with blue Champion’s Tunic wearing Link having new abilities. He appears to be able to manipulate physics or time by throwing a big spikey ball back up a hill, which looks similar to stasis powers from the first Breath of the Wild, but we haven’t seen the Sheikah Slate yet. Either the slate has been given an upgrade or we’ve got new powers from somewhere else. Link is then seen with a flame thrower with an attachment on the left arm.

We then see a very mysterious scene, with a water droplet going in reverse and Link appearing to be able to travel through concrete. Link seems to jump up into the ceiling and travel through an ancient structure. It’s not clear if Link is going in reverse or if he’s travelling through the concrete. This is the Link with the strange arm and the long hair, rather than the Blue Champion Tunic wearing Link.

Finally, we have another wide shot of Hyrule and we see Hyrule castle floating in the sky with the corruption escaping beneath it, with strange music playing in the background. Nintendo tease us by giving us a 2022 release window, although that would be delayed early in 2022 itself, back to Spring 2023.

From this trailer, there’s a whole bunch of new information. We see more than one Link, we don’t know if we’re going to operate them at the same time, or if there is a transition from one time period to another. We’ve played as Young Link and Adult Link in past Legend of Zelda games. This doesn’t look like a young or adult version, both look like adult versions, but one seems altered in some way… haggard with long hair and an arm either injured or possessed in some way.

We see much more of the sky in this trailer. Link diving from the sky is very reminiscent of Skyward Sword, plus we get to see the fragments of Hyrule in the sky, leading to much believing gameplay will be extended to the sky, this would be later confirmed by Eiji Aonuma.

We also get a better look at Link’s arm in this trailer, and its significance in Breath of the Wild 2. It looks like it’s been possessed or taken over, and this may give Link new powers, similar to that of the Slate from the original. We have only seen snippets, but Link’s arm is a significant development and it’s going to be interesting to see how this one plays out.

Finally, let’s look at the third trailer from March 2022, otherwise known as the delay trailer.

The main bulk of the trailer is Eiji Aonuma announcing the delay to Spring 2023.

The gameplay replays the reverse droplet going into the concrete with Link appearing to travel through the solid rock. We then see Link standing, our new Link with longer hair and the strange arm, and he’s standing in front of a glowing orb.

Link reaches behind and grabs the Master Sword, but it appears broken or corrupted. It’s also glowing blue and seems to be responding to the glowing orb in front of him. Link’s hand is also glowing with a symbol on the back of his hand, a symbol that isn’t the Triforce, it’s a yellow glowing glyph of some kind.

These colours have had significance in past Zelda titles. Blue has represented magic, and also the Wisdom part of the Triforce, which historically belongs to Princess Zelda. Water, the Zora, Nayru have all used the blue colour, but most significantly blue has been attached to Zelda, so there could be a clue in there. Fi, from Skyward Sword, also has been represented by the colour blue. The yellow colour is slightly more tricky to place, given the other triforce colours have been represented with red and green.

This trailer was very short but appears to contain some important info. The state of the Master Sword is shocking, and perhaps the bulk of our quest could be to repair it. There is some significance in the blue glowing colour on the sword and also the yellow glowing too, and the two elements appear to be responding or reacting with one another.

Other than the trailer we know from interviews with Eiji Aonuma that this is going to be a direct sequel to Breath of the Wild, given they had so many ideas for the original Breath of the Wild and didn’t want to put them into DLC. It’s going to be a ‘continuation’ of the story. Also, the game is being directed by Hidemaro Fujibayashi, the same guy to take the reigns on the first game. Fujibayashi apparently took inspiration from Skyrim for Breath of the Wild, although many younger members of staff have been playing Red Dead Redemption 2 throughout the development of Breath of the Wild 2. How or if that inspiration is going to appear in the sequel is yet to be known.

Let me know what you think in the comments.

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