10 Things We Want in Breath of the Wild 2

Zelda: Breath of the Wild is the Nintendo Switch’s golden goose. It’s not surprising that the game is still attracting new players to Nintendo Switch after three years. The release of Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity has also kept fans interested in Breath of the Wild as it’s the closest thing to a sequel they’ve gotten. Whispers of Breath of the Wild 2 have been confirmed; however, fans have not gotten anything resembling a release date.

Contents

We want the Majora’s Mask treatment
We want to repair weapons
We want bigger dungeons
We want more story
We want partitioned/restricted areas
We want skill trees and leveling incentives
We want to rebuild Hyrule
We want Navi back!
We want Age of Calamity elements
We want an expanded cooking mechanic

There aren’t too many details available right now, so all we can do sit back and wonder what the next leg of Link’s journey will bring us — and what we’d like to see in a sequel. Here’s everything we want from Breath of the Wild 2.

We want the Majora’s Mask treatment

After the teaser trailer was released back at E3 in 2019, the only thing players have been able to talk about is Majora’s Mask. The follow-up game to Ocarina of Time put a spooky spin on The Legend of Zelda — one we didn’t know we wanted. We want to see a return to the darker side of Hyrule. We want a game that runs on the same engine while it puts that ominous Majora-like spin on the original Breath of the Wild.

This Majora theory holds water due to the proximity of Breath of the Wild’s releases and the sequel’s announcement/teaser trailer. Ocarina and Majora’s Mask released on top of each other. Majora copy-pasted Ocarina’s engine and put a unique spin on it, one that would see Majora’s Mask go down as one of the best Zelda games in the franchise.

We want to repair weapons

Breath of the Wild has an infinite supply of weapons and armor to find. At times, it’s almost overwhelming trying to find that one weapon that will aid Link in his current predicament. Finally, you find it. You wind up to take a swing, and just as your about to connect with your target — it breaks. It shatters into a million pieces, and there’s no way of fixing it. We get it; things break. But things can also be fixed. Repair mechanics exists in every other open-world RPG; why can’t they exist in Breath of the Wild 2? We don’t want it to be easy. We’ll find materials. We’ll travel great distances. It’s heartbreaking when the weapon we’ve fallen in love with shatters in our hands. All we want to do is fix it.

We want bigger dungeons

Dungeons are to Zelda games like guns are to Call of Duty. It’s an integral part of the game that keeps players coming back. We enjoyed the shrines in Breath of the Wild, but we were a little let down when most of them were just three-part puzzles or rooms that were relatively easy to complete. Now, we don’t want to be pulling our hair out in every dungeon. All we want is a slight return to what made us fall in love with The Legend of Zelda in the first place. Hyrule Castle, the Divine Beasts, and the mazes were great! We want more of that.

We want more story

Breath of the Wild was a fantastic game in almost every regard. The only thing we felt like it was missing was an in-depth story. Killing Ganon is the only driving force behind the game. In Breath of the Wild 2, we’d like to see more developed plot points. Perhaps break the game up into three significant acts that immerse us into the current state of Hyrule. Adding multiple layers of story to the game will see Breath of the Wild 2 go down in open-world RPG legend. It also leads nicely into our next two requests.

We want partitioned/restricted areas

As soon as Breath of the Wild began, we had free rein to go wherever we wanted. Want to kick in the front door of Hyrule Castle and challenge Gannon right now? Go for it. While this seems like a good idea on paper, it left us questioning if we were appropriately geared whenever venturing into a new area. We want a challenge, but a linear progression through an open-world game will keep the game challenging without making it too hard. A more linear story also makes us feel like we’re getting something done.

With Breath of the Wild’s only core objective being “kill Ganon,” it was hard to know if we were taking too long to do so. An example of useful open-world partitioning was in Ghost of Tsushima. The island, although fully explorable, was broken up into three main sections. Each became available upon completing specific story missions, ensuring that players were appropriately leveled to survive the next area.

We want skill trees and leveling incentives

While Breath of the Wild gave us plenty of enemies to kill and side quests to complete, it never felt like there was a reason to do so (other than increasing our health). Without a leveling mechanic or XP system, why are we even bothering? Having a skill tree in Breath of the Wild 2 would tie nicely into our desire for restricted areas. We’d feel compelled to level Link up to unlock new abilities. An overall level would also allow players to know if they’re venturing into an area they won’t survive in. Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla did this perfectly with its leveling system. Every area of the map was accessible, but venturing into it would notify the player that they were under-leveled.

We want to rebuild Hyrule

Hyrule is in chaos in the wake of Calamity. We’d like to see Link and Zelda work together to rebuild and repopulate various towns around Hyrule. One of Breath of the Wild’s most entertaining side missions was rebuilding Tarry Town. It would be interesting to see this mechanic spread more through Breath of the Wild 2. Perhaps this could work as some resource-gathering mechanic? The more Link fixes and repopulates a town, the more it can produce. One town aids in rebuilding another; the dominoes fall, and eventually, Link has restored Hyrule to its former glory.

We want Navi back!

Hey! Listen! We want Link’s faithful companion to make a return in Breath of the Wild 2. Navi wouldn’t necessarily add any revolutionary elements to the game, but she would undoubtedly put a nostalgic smile on the faces of long-time fans. There are plenty of ways to make Navi useful, though. Perhaps she could prompt Link when they are passing by a particular point of interest or collectible item? This would work similarly to the Golden Birds in Ghost of Tsushima or your dog in the Fable series.

We want Age of Calamity elements

Age of Calamity wasn’t a true sequel to Breath of the Wild, but it gave players a glimpse into what Breath of the Wild 2 might be able to pull off. We understand that technology is limited. The game’s engine can only support so many enemies at once while still maintaining an open-world aesthetic. However, we’d like to see more large-scale Age of Calamity-like battles spread through Breath of the Wild 2. It would also be interesting to switch between different characters depending on where we are in the story. Age of Calamity allowed us to control the characters we’ve gotten to know over the years. It would be a shame if that were the only glimpse we got.

We want an expanded cooking mechanic

This is one tiny request that would make our lives a lot easier. In Breath of the Wild, the only way to cook meals was to gather the necessary resources and hopefully stumble upon a cooking pot. While this is relatively easy when in populated areas, cooking pots are hard to come by while exploring the wild. When we do find them, they’re surrounded by enemies. Making meals can restore Link’s health and buff his overall abilities. Link can construct his own fire pit, and his pockets are deep. So why can’t he have his own personal cooking pot to carry around and use? It could be unlocked via a secret side quest or just something he can craft himself. Furthermore, merchants will sell elixirs as an alternative to Link crafting them himself, so why can’t they sell ready-cooked meals?

10 things we want in Breath of the Wild 2