The sequel to Zelda: Breath of the Wild was surprisingly revealed at the E3 2019 Nintendo Direct. This title has come sooner than expected and is a rare direct sequel to a Zelda game. While the trailer was awesome and possibly teases a return of Ganondorf, when this game will release is still somewhat of a mystery. As it will (presumably) use the same assets as the original, one would think that it wouldn’t have as long a development cycle as Breath of the Wild. An interesting job listing has been posted over on Nintendo of Japan’s site advertising for dungeon/field designers.
More Diverse Dungeons?
This means that the new Zelda game for Switch will probably have full-scale dungeons (hopefully with their own themes!)
Many Zelda fans will be really happy with this news since Breath of the Wild was light on dungeons and focused on shrines. How many dungeons the new game will have is still a mystery but it may take a different direction from the original, whether that’s in terms of its overworld, tone, themes, etc. The truth is we don’t know. What we can be sure of is that Eiji Aonuma and his team will try to innovate and bring fresh elements to ‘Breath of the Wild 2′.
Is 2020 Realistic?
Some fans are arguing that the fact that at this stage the developers are looking for new dungeon designers means that we still are a few years away from the title hitting shelves. This is a possibility, but developers change staff all the time. Team members could leave or get promoted or, join other internal teams. The title could have been in development since the release of Breath of the Wild, and as it uses the same general map (as has been alluded to by Aonuma), could even be out in 2020.
As Nintendo and Zelda fans, we should be excited that this new game appears to be darker and more story focused than the original Wii U and Switch game. Thematically diverse full-scale dungeons fused with a truly open world is an appealing prospect. Let’s just hope they can get it out by 2020.