Breath of the Wild 2: Release Date & Gameplay Details.

A sequel to Breath of the Wild was announced earlier this week at the end of the E3 2019 Nintendo Direct presentation, and while there are still several things we don’t know about the title, there are quite a few interesting pieces of information we’ve uncovered about this highly anticipated game.

The Breath of the Wild sequel was announced on June 11, 2019 during the E3 2019 Nintendo Direct presentation. Its reveal trailer was the final part of the presentation, beginning with glowing green writing floating in the air. The trailer shows this writing spiraling above a source of corruption. Backwards music plays as a torch reveals hieroglyphic images on a stone wall of a man with a trident. Link is shown guiding a large beast of burden with Zelda atop, both holding torches to light their way in a dim cave.

The two find the source of the corruption: a mummified corpse clasped by a glowing white hand that appears to be attempting to seal its corruption, which spews forth from a chest wound. The trailer cuts to the group drinking water from an underground body of water before a rat is consumed by the corruption. The group is shown traversing a large, crumbling bridge, which their beast might not be able to cross.

The corpse is then displayed up close: it’s adorned with golden jewelry, has long flowing hair and appears to be male. Various quick shots are shown, including Link receiving some sort of energy in his hand, Zelda falling after the ground beneath her breaks, and the corpse reanimates, with its head turning towards the camera and its eyes reawakening with an evil glow. Hyrule Castle is shown from afar, lifting into the air. Text confirms this is a sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

Zelda’s Producer Hasn’t Denied Co-Op, Playable Zelda

In an interview with IGN, Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma was asked if fans could potentially play as Zelda in this game, or even if co-op would be a possibility. Aonuma didn’t deny either, but rather said “It’s kind of interesting that you bring that up, because in Breath of the Wild, you see Zelda and Link together often too, so to go straight into the thought of co-op is very interesting to me.”

Later, in an interview with Kotaku’s Jason Schreier, Aonuma was asked a similar question about playing as Zelda. Aonuma said, “A lot of people have been asking that, and so I want to ask you, why do people think that?” Schreier responded saying she’s free at the end of Breath of the Wild, and people have wanted to play as her for a long time.

Breath of the Wild 2 Is Not Related to Majora’s Mask

When the sequel to Breath of the Wild was announced, many made comparisons between it and Majora’s Mask. These comparisons were made for several reasons: the trailer gave off a decidedly dark tone, similar to Majora’s Mask, it’s a direct sequel like Majora’s Mask was to Ocarina of Time, and it appears as if the game will run on the same engine and have the same general art style as Breath of the Wild, just like Majora’s Mask did with Ocarina.

However, Aonuma informed IGN that the Breath of the Wild sequel isn’t related to Majora’s Mask, saying “The new Breath of the Wild or the sequel to it, it’s not necessarily going to be related to Majora’s Mask or inspired by it… What we showed you currently is a little darker.”

Breath of the Wild Sequel Release Date

We’ve been given no direct indication of when Breath of the Wild 2 will be released. Considering we haven’t seen gameplay, and Zelda development often takes several years, it’s possible the game won’t come out in 2020. Following E3 2019, the official Nintendo of America Twitter account posted an image of release windows for games coming to Nintendo Switch throughout 2019 and 2020. In the 2020 section of the image, games that have confirmed 2020 release dates like Animal Crossing: New Horizons and No More Heroes 3 were included, but the Breath of the Wild sequel was not.

Of course, this isn’t a definitive indication it won’t be released next year, as another highly-anticipated Nintendo game, Metroid Prime 4, wasn’t included as well. As neither game has publicly been given a release window, it makes sense neither would appear in this section. It is, however, a public-facing acknowledgement that Nintendo hasn’t yet committed to a 2020 release.