Five things we want in the Breath of the Wild sequel

Nintendo stunned Zelda fans on Tuesday by revealing a sneak peek of the franchise’s next game, a sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, at the end of their E3 Direct in the form of a one minute and 26-second trailer. It’s safe to say that it wasn’t a surprise that a new Zelda game is coming, but the shape of that game was anyone’s guess. Now that we know it’s a direct sequel to the highly-acclaimed Nintendo Switch game from 2017, we’re incredibly excited to have a chance to spend more time in this world and with these characters. It’s unlikely that we’ll get another look at the sequel until next year, but based on what we saw in the trailer we’ve already got a lot of ideas and theories about what it might be like, and about things that we’d love to see in a Breath of the Wild followup.

Breath of the Wild was a brilliant game that did a lot of things very, very well, but here is a list of five things that could be added or done differently in its sequel.

A more detailed story

Breath of the Wild’s story told in flashbacks worked well for the free-to-roam, go-anywhere style of the game, but fans who wanted an opportunity to delve deep into Hyrule’s lore found it lacking. DLC pack 2, touted as the “Story DLC”, was also surprisingly light on plot, choosing instead to focus on shrines and re-imagining the Ganon Blight battles as the original champions would have had to fight them. And the game itself ends at a point which left me begging for more: to see if Zelda achieves her desire to return Hyrule to its former glory; to see if she, Link, and other characters like Mipha’s father can have some sort of closure. Now that we’re getting a sequel, Nintendo has a prime opportunity to flesh out the world in greater detail and give the new game a rich and interesting story.

The trailer alone raises a number of questions that we hope will be answered in detail, and its creepy vibe suggests that the new tale will have a darker tone. Does the corpse we see belong to Ganondorf, Demise, or someone else? What power is bringing it to life, and who is controlling it? Where exactly are Link and Zelda, and what just happened to Hyrule Castle?

Link and Zelda don’t appear to be much older than they were in Breath of the Wild, so how much time has passed since the defeat of Calamity Ganon, and how much have Link and Zelda adjusted to their new reality? Will characters who appeared in the first game return, such as the champions’ counterparts?

Gerudo symbols are prominent in the trailer, making me hope that the story might focus on Gerudo lore the way that Breath of the Wild’s did on Sheikah. The Gerudo haven’t featured in as many games as some of the other Hyrulian races, and as the tribe where Ganondorf himself originated, I’d love to learn more about them.

Zelda games have always been about gameplay first and foremost, but I’m confident that a detailed story does not need to restrict gameplay, and other open-world games have shown this.

Playable Zelda

The trailer depicts Link and Zelda traveling together, giving credence to the idea of Zelda being Link’s companion in the game, but wouldn’t it be amazing if we were able to actually play as her for portions of the game?

Maybe she has the power to do things that Link cannot or access places he can’t. If the Gerudo play a large role in the game, maybe there are things that only Zelda, as a female, is allowed to do.

Breath of the Wild undid a lot of Zelda’s conventions, and I’d expect its sequel to continue in the same vein. In previous games we’ve had companions, we’ve had Link team up with other characters, and we’ve even had Zelda herself fulfilling both these roles at different times.

Zelda was one of the most detailed characters in Breath of the Wild. She had more agency, motivation, emotion, and depth than we’ve seen in any other Zelda in the series. It would be fitting for her to continue to play a strong role, and for Nintendo to defy the trend of placing her in a position where she needs to be rescued. Therefore, if we’re ever going to see a playable Zelda, now would be the ideal time.

Dungeons

Breath of the Wild replaced the traditional Zelda dungeons with shrines and Divine Beasts. Across them all, there was a nice mixture of puzzle solving, combat, and difficulty, but thematically they were all very similar.

Breath of the Wild nailed overworld exploration, and I’d love its sequel to introduce an underworld which is also fun to explore. Imagine many vast dungeons, each with their own unique style, full of puzzles, enemies, and treasures. In fact, the trailer shows what could possibly be the entrance to a dungeon, and most of the action takes place in an area that is clearly underground, possibly beneath Hyrule Castle itself.

Could this be a dungeon entrance?

A lot of players missed dungeons when playing Breath of the Wild

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If the sequel takes place in the same world, Nintendo will have the challenge of making the gameplay and exploration new and interesting while keeping the world largely familiar. We know that they’re up to this challenge, having done it before in A Link Between Worlds, Other ways to bring a new experience to the world could be through having a dark world or traveling through time. But exploring dungeons would also be great, and, let’s be honest, a lot of us missed them when we played Breath of the Wild.

An interesting villain

As a villain, Calamity Ganon was a force more than a character. I wanted to defeat him because the game told me to, but there was no emotional attachment. My desire for the game to have a more detailed story goes hand in hand with the addition of an interesting antagonist who has believable motives. The best version of Ganon/Ganondorf was in The Wind Waker, and that’s because we got to hear his side of the story for a change. Outside of Ganon/Ganondorf, the Zelda franchise has struggled to produce interesting villains, frequently reducing them to cardboard cutout “big bads”.

What’s incredibly interesting about the new trailer is that there are a lot of hints that point to Ganondorf. There’s malice, which was linked to Calamity Ganon. There’s Gerudo symbology, and we have to remember that Ganondorf was once a Gerudo king. In fact, the corpse featured in the trailer looks so much like Ganondorf, with its red hair, Gerudo accessories, and forehead jewel, that I’m convinced it is him.

Some Zelda fans ask how many times Ganondorf can be revived in the franchise, and while I agree to some degree, I don’t mind having him as a villain as long as he’s got an interesting story. If the corpse is indeed Ganondorf, I’m already wondering how Calamity Ganon came about, why he ended up being buried the way he was, and who is reviving him. I’d love to see a scenario similar to the 1999 move The Mummy where the desiccated corpse regains his original form over time while growing in power. And if we have a scenario where someone else has revived Ganondorf for nefarious purposes, both antagonists had better be interesting and well-developed characters.

Magic

Like dungeons, magic is another Zelda staple that didn’t feature as part of the gameplay in Breath of the Wild. There was definitely magic in the world, but Link didn’t have a magic meter or the ability to cast spells the way he has in other games. In fact, Breath of the Wild blended magic with technology, and it did it rather well. But now that Calamity Ganon’s influence has been removed from the ancient Sheikah technology and Divine Beasts, Link needs a new challenge, and he could certainly benefit from adding magic to his impressive repertoire of combat skills.

Magic does appear to feature heavily in the trailer, with the strange hand, the green swirling light, and the force reanimating the corpse. There’s also a brief moment where it appears that Link is wielding the green swirling lights himself. If there are malevolent forces at play, magic may be the only solution. As a gameplay mechanic, it would be another way to bring something new and fresh to the Breath of the Wild world.

We’ve only just seen a glimpse of the game, and already there’s a lot to talk about! What would you like to see in the sequel to Breath of the Wild? Let us know in the comments, and you can also discuss the game with other fans on our forums.