At E3 2019, Nintendo’s Direct somewhat stole the show when its producer confirmed that smash hit The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild would be receiving sequel. Breath of the Wild itself has already been critically acclaimed by a wide array of critics, winning numerous “Game of the Year” awards as well as achieving astronomically high sales at launch. With these factors in mind, it’s no surprise that fans are eager to see how a sequel will develop (and hopefully improve upon) the open-world Zelda experience Breath of the Wild offered. Producer Eiji Aonuma, however, had some bittersweet news for those looking forward to updates on the sequel.
“We mentioned in the June 2019 Nintendo Direct presentation that we had started development on the sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Many people around the world are still playing Breath of the Wild, so I’d like to thank you all from the bottom of my heart,” said Aonuma in the reveal trailer of Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity. “Regarding the sequel, in order to make the vast world you enjoyed exploring in the original game even more impressive, the team is working hard on its development so you’ll have to wait a bit longer before we can provide more updates.”
It shouldn’t really be too much of a surprise that the sequel’s development will take long- Breath of the Wild alone took four years and employed 300 developers, and it features map larger than even Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. On top of that, it also received two downloadable content packs – The Master Trials and The Champions’ Ballad.
“When we released the DLC for Breath of the Wild, we realized that this is a great way to add more elements to the same world. But when it comes down to technical things, DLC is pretty much data–you’re adding data to a preexisting title,” Aonuma continued. “When we wanted to add bigger changes, DLC is not enough, and that’s why we thought maybe a sequel would be a good fit. Initially, we were thinking of just DLC ideas, but then we had a lot of ideas and we said, ‘This is too many ideas, let’s just make one new game and start from scratch.”
Maybe you’re excited to think about how much more expansive Breath of the Wild’s sequel will be, or maybe you’re a bit bummed at the thought of waiting long for updates on its status. Either way, you can scratch your Zelda itch with some of the great titles the Nintendo Switch has to offer – like Link’s Awakening, or Cadence of Hyrule. Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity also launches on November 20. It’s a prequel spin-off of Breath of the Wild, with hack and slash action inspired by Dynasty Warriors – and Koei Tecmo themselves are developing it.