Breath of the Wild 2 is currently scheduled for Spring 2023, which gives us plenty of time to draw up a wishlist for the biggest sequel in gaming. Breath of the Wild was such a classic, however, there were some things that could be improved upon to make it even better. Today I am going to round up ten things Nintendo should add to Breath of the Wild 2 to make it even better than the original.
Before we get into today’s topic of what I’d love to see Nintendo add to Breath of the Wild 2, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments. What do you want to see added, what was it about the original Breath of the Wild you think could be improved. If I miss something today off your wishlist, I’d love to hear from you.
Without further delay, let’s dive into ten things I’d love to see Nintendo add.
Playable Zelda
First of all, I’d love to see a playable Zelda in the game. We’ve been playing as Link for 30 years, and it’d be good to do something a little different. Personally I’d like to have co-op play too with both Link and Zelda, but I’d settle for simply playing as Zelda herself. Ever since we had the first trailer back in 2019, fans have been speculating that Zelda would be a playable character, based on her new haircut and outfit similar to Link’s. Both of them are embarking on an adventure of some kind, following on from the end of the Breath of the Wild.
Durable Weapons
One of my biggest critiques from the first game was the breakable weapon system. I think this was a good experiment to try, but ultimately I don’t think it worked for me personally. I did like having to try out a variety of weapons, but I think there are other incentives Nintendo could put into the game for players to mix things up with different weapons, like weapon rarities or something else. Rather than breakable weapons, I’d like to see durable weapons. I think weapons can and should degrade over time, but they could be repaired or cleaned when you visit a village or settlement. There was a similar system in Red Dead Redemption 2, and it’s reported the team working on Breath of the Wild 2 had been playing a lot of Red Dead 2 during development.
Aerial Combat
Next up we have aerial combat. This is something we got into recently based on the Nintendo patents, where we can see aerial combat, specifically with a bow and arrow could be more prominent in Breath of the Wild 2. Given we’re going to be exploring Hyrule and the sky islands, it makes sense to have more in the space between those two locations. It would also be a fairly unique feature to have battles in the sky when you are skydiving, I can’t think of another good example off the top of my head for something similar.
Weapon Quests
I would like to see weapon quests added to the game. This is a specific quest where you pick up a lead in a village or from an NPC somewhere, and then go off on a quest and you are rewarded with a specific weapon at the end of it. I’m a big fan of looters and MMOs, and while I don’t think all mechanics from these games would work in a Legend of Zelda game, I think weapon quests would be great fun. Having a powerful weapon in the game, that you either picked up from a quest or perhaps you defeat a specific boss for, much like displaying a trophy. We saw a bit of this in the original Breath of the Wild with specific armour sets, but I’d love this to go even futher with weapon quests.
Flying
Given we’re going to be in the sky a lot in the game, I’d love to see flying added. At the moment we’ve seen Link skydiving, and we have clues pointing to aerial battles being added to the game via the Nintendo patents. I would like to see more ways of flying. In previous games, we’ve had sailing, for example in Wind Waker, and we’ve seen flying in Skyward Sword. We have seen a lot of comparisons between Skyward Sword and Breath of the Wild 2, and it’s not too much of a stretch to think Loft Wings could make a return. I’d love to see more flying vehicles and different ways to fly using machines or something else we’ve yet to see. In the original Breath of the Wild one of the Divine Beasts was a flying machine, so we know the technology exists in Hyrule.
Unique Bosses
The original Breath of the Wild suffered a little from stale bosses. All the Divine Beasts had similar boss battles. At the end of the game Calamity Ganon changed things up a little, with a multi-phased boss battle. Lynels were also pretty tough in the game and could be regarded as roaming mini-bosses. One of the best things about the old-style Legend of Zelda games like Ocarina of Time Link to the Past or Twilight Princess was the varied boss battles. The mechanics were interesting, they were normally specific to the dungeon you’d find them in. For me, the bosses in Breath of the Wild felt like an afterthought, and much of the design and development went into the massive environment, which is understandable as the first open-world Zelda game. But, I’d love to see these unique bosses come back.
Expanded Villages or Settlements
Villages were good in Breath of the Wild, with many NPCs to talk to, plus you could actually buy your own house later in the game with enough money and materials. I would love to see Villages and maybe even settlements expanded in Breath of the Wild 2. Looking back at Red Dead Redemption 2, where you had a roaming gang and they would create their own settlement for a few chapters, I’d like to see this kind of thing happen in the sequel. I did enjoy some of the side quests which originated in villages in the first game, although I’d like to see these side quests expanded a little further, so we had to do more than fetch a certain number of items, or find a bunch of chickens. More meaningful side quests woven into the story, similar to The Witcher 3 would be perfect.
Hard Mode
I’d like to see hard mode selectable from the start of the game. Yes, we had Master Mode in the original Breath of the Wild, and this was a fantastic experience. I would like to see this from the start, just to offer up the more challenging mode if fans want it. We’ve seen From Software learn from Nintendo when looking at the wildly successful Elden Ring, and I’d like to see Nintendo learn from FromSoftware. Don’t be afraid of difficulty and challenges, put it in the game and I think the reception would be incredible. Keep the regular mode there for those who want to play it, but add in Master Mode or Hard Mode from the start, I think fans will lap it up.
Dark Link
Dark Link is the evil reflection of Link. Dark Link appears in many Legend of Zelda games, although I probably remember him best from Ocarina of Time. He is one of the most enigmatic enemy characters in The Legend of Zelda series, usually appearing with no backstory and no dialogue, although it is implied on numerous occasions to be merely constructed of shadow magic. Dark Link is normally seen as the ultimate challenge because it’s not a monster Link is fighting, it’s himself. I would love to see Dark Link return in some form in Breath of the Wild 2.
Dungeons
The original Breath of the Wild was heralded as one of, if not the best game of all time, however, fans of the classic Zelda series missed the old school type of Dungeons like the previous Zelda games. Yes, we got the Divine Beasts and the Shrines, but they didn’t really hold a candle to the old Dungeons from Skyward Sword, Ocarina of Time and Link to the Past. The return of dungeons would also allow the return of boss variation, something that was lacking from Breath of the Wild. I would imagine much of the development went into the open world itself, rather than the Divine Beast design. They were good, but they also felt very samey, and the only boss variation we really got was from the Calamity Ganon himself. You could argue the Lynels felt like bosses at times and had good design variation, but nothing beats a good dungeon or temple with a dramatic boss fight at the end.
Let me know in the comments what you want to see added to Breath of the Wild 2.
That’s it for this look at theories about Link’s arm in Breath of the Wild 2. For more Breath of the Wild 2 content like this check out Triforce Times on YouTube and subscribe today.