Contenuti
Intro
Today we discuss Zelda Breath of The Wild 2 a game in development from one of the most important sagas in video game history. This saga created by Nintendo has enthralled hundreds of millions of video gamers from all over the world. The Legend of Zelda Saga is one of the most historic and important in terms of the birth and evolution of action-adventure and RPG games.
These titles have made history in epic fantasy games, and we are sure that fans, especially those who played the first Breath of the Wild, can’t wait to get their hands on the sequel.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2, will be the 20th official chapter of the saga, if we do not count spin-off video games. If, on the other hand, we also count spin-off games, CD-i titles, Satellaview titles, remakes, and remastereds, then this title will be the 44th installment in the saga.
The first Breath of the Wild quickly became one of the best video games in history since its launch on Nintendo Switch. The sequel to Breath of the Wild is therefore creating a lot of hype among fans, especially when it comes to the premise of the E3 trailer, which showed us the possibility of exploring the sky of Hyrule.
Before unveiling the release date,in this article, we will provide a thorough analysis of the main features, novelties and strengths of Nintendo’s second open-world video game.
Features of The Legend of Zelda
Those unfamiliar with The Legend of Zelda should know that Nintendo, somewhat like it does with its most famous saga, namely Super Mario, has chosen to preserve a mechanism that can repeat the main plot twist to repurpose it over time with different facets and characteristics. In Legend of Zelda, keeping with the premise of rescuing Zelda, defeating Ganondorf and saving Hyrule from the Cataclysm, Link has been reincarnated over and over again throughout the various titles in a constant duel between good and evil.
This allows the saga to constantly renew itself while maintaining some of the series’ strengths. Such as the strong characterization of the characters and the beautiful settings of the game world. Link, i.e., the protagonist of the series, has visited a great many places and carried out more quests on certain occasions, but the strength and intensity of the saga remain very high even when changing the peculiarities of the titles.
However, in some chapters of the saga, such as Ocarina of Time (1998) and Skyward Sword (2011) we can witness some important plot-level events that will disrupt the story of later chapters. Mortifer’s curse toward Zelda and Link is the one from which the various stories of the heirs of the two heroes begin.
According to the official Zelda encyclopedia, there are as many as 3 timelines involved within the video games of this series. We will not dwell on them since the story of Breath of the Wild, as admitted by its creators, does not continue any of these lines but is set long after them, even millennia apart. There is no shortage of references to past chapters and stories, but the great battle between Link and Ganondorf is re-presented.
Zelda Breath of the Wild 2 is considered a sequel
Usually each Zelda chapter is completely different from the one before. But this time, the new Breath of The Wild 2 is planned as a sequel and not as a new chapter in the series. This has led to speculation of some new plot twists. Many are wondering if our protagonists will be the same Link and Zelda from Breath of the Wild, or will we see them only some time after defeating the Cataclysm.
How Zelda Breath of the Wild 2 came about.
The Legends of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 is an open world action-adventure video game under development at Nintendo EPD to be released by Nintendo in 2023. The game was announced on June 11, 2019 during the Nintendo Direct, where it was officially proclaimed as a sequel. The great success of the game’s first chapter, which succeeded in approaching and captivating even the most skeptical, allowed Nintendo to exponentially improve sales of Nintendo consoles, particularly the Switch.
Apparently this sequel was not originally planned, as the creative team had so many ideas to create some DLC. At a certain time, the ideas became too many, which is why the developers decided to bring a new game to life. During an interview with the saga’s producer Eiji Aonuma, this detail officially emerged.
As Aonuma states: “When we released the first DLC for Breath of Wild, we realized that this would be a great way to add new elements to the world itself. But when we got down to the technical stuff, we noticed that the DLCs had a lot of data to add to an existing title. So, since we wanted to introduce massive changes, one DLC would not be enough, so we thought that a Zelda Breath of Wild 2 was the perfect solution.
We initially thought of ideas for DLC, but then we had so many that we decided to create a new game from scratch.”
Release date and supported platforms
The release date for this game was originally set for late 2022. In the recent video update released by Nintendo in late March, Eiji Aonuma returned to tell us about the game in development and confirmed the title’s official release period, namely, Spring 2023. This release period is a bit too vague, so we will try to provide a more precise possibility. Based on some recent rumors and tweets from developers, we can say with a guess that this title will probably be released between mid-April and May 2023.
The motivation given by Aonuma, the saga’s producer, is the desire to work further to perfect the final product, taking advantage of all the time available to the developers and then giving players a final title of the highest quality.
The Nintendo Switch Problem.
As for supported consoles, it was initially thought that Breath of the Wild 2 would be released for the same console as its predecessor, namely the Nintendo Switch. However, we have learned from many experienced gaming analysts that the new title will use a very powerful graphics engine, and the Nintendo Switch hardware may have a very hard time handling it. Paying attention to the trailer for the new Zelda released in April 2022, we can see a higher level of graphic detail than currently supported by Nintendo’s current hybrid console.
This has raised so many questions and continues to make people think, the Zelda sequel could therefore mark a new generational leap for the Nintendo console. At the moment there is no official confirmation, but this hypothesis seems very plausible. Many industry experts are already convinced that BOTW 2 could be released right at the launch of the new Nintendo Switch 2.
If this assumption proves true, the Nintendo Switch 2 or Nintendo Switch Pro will most likely be the only console on which this title can be played, at least initially.
What we know about the Plot
As for the premise regarding the plot, very little is known at present. Nintendo is jealously guarding many details so as to generate a strong surprise effect in fans once the game is available on the shelves.
To find out a few more details, we analyzed the trailers released by the Japanese company so far.
As we have seen from the footage and statements, this game will use the setting more vertically than the previous one, this will allow us to explore more deeply both what we find above the ground and what we find below it.
In E3 footage from 2019 and 2021, the event that most likely awakened a dark force buried in an underground dungeon below Hyrule Castle was shown. We do not know whether it will be the revival of Ganondorf, a new character or some new element.
Some sources confirm that as Link and Zelda we will explore not only the sky, but also the caves beneath Hyrule Castle. In this case we will find a darker and more hostile environment, in addition to the new and mysterious threat. It will be very interesting to explore and discover what the game world has in store for us, given the large number of celestial and underground dungeons.
What’s new in the sequel
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 will see virtually unchanged the winning formula that led the previous chapter to be voted as one of the best games in the series. The first chapter managed to sell more than 20 million copies, and what we will have in our hands next year will be a new open world adventure of the highest order. This game, somewhat like its predecessor will put together exploratory phases, fighting against enemies of all kinds, dungeon crawling, and the whole re-edited, expanded and improved RPG part.
As previously announced, in this sequel the adventure will not take place solely on land as in the previous game, but also in the sky of Hirule. Room also for lots of surprises, such as new characters and unreleased gameplay elements. Link will again be grappling with a catastrophic event that has brought corruption and destruction to the kingdom of Hyrule.
The ingenious young hero will be able to use certain gimmicks in order to bend physics and the elements to his will in order to set foot in certain areas that would otherwise be impossible to reach. Among the means he will have at his disposal to move quickly, we will find the paravela with which to hover in the air, as well as mounts of various kinds and probably vehicles such as the Master Cycle Zero runic bike.
In addition, Link will be able to use some previously unseen abilities born of the corruption that has taken control of his arm; this will allow the protagonist to manipulate for space-time, enabling him to slow down time and reverse its flow. The overall atmosphere of the title and setting is bound to change as a result of the curse awakened by the warrior and his beloved princess. This will have a lot of effects on the game settings as we can see from the appearance of mysterious small islands suspended in the sky of the kingdom.
A possible new and unique combat mechanic
A very recent tweet by a leaker who is very famous for his often reliable news confirmed rumors of the game’s simultaneous release on the new Switch console . In addition, he mentioned a new unreleased mechanic related to the combat system.
In the tweet, this user refers to this mechanic as a rumor without official confirmation, but gives us some very interesting details. According to the leaker, in the game and in the controls of the Switch’s new joypad we will find a unique system with which to use Link’s sword in BOTW2.
These mechanics will rely on a very sensitive stick angle system and will allow complex sword movements and special attacks. If the description in the post were true, it would be very likely that Nintendo is working on something never seen before, a new way of playing games with some revolutionary mechanics for the video game world.
This may be reminiscent of the combat dynamic used in Skyward Sword, in which we can control sword and shield with toggles (a factor much criticized by players of the title). We hardly believe that the developers will repeat this mistake, since they will plan something much more precise and controllable in the case of a release of the new console.
As a reminder, this is currently only a leak and could be debunked at any moment, all we can do is wait for official news from Nintendo so that we know for sure the new details.
