The moment every Nintendo fan was praying to the goddesses for finally came to light to wrap up Nintendo’s exceptional E3 2021 Direct showcase – and it blew things sky high!
The currently unnamed Breath of the Wild sequel came as the cherry on top of a whole dessert tray of delicious Zelda goodies and certainly tasted sweetest of all. As if the news of Hyrule Warrior DLC and a gorgeous Game and Watch unit weren’t enough, we were treated to both in-game and cutscene clips from Link’s upcoming quest.
Looking Majora’s Mask-levels of menacing, the new teaser trailer opens with Link’s arm being consumed by an evil red aura – an eerie entity that was introduced in the game’s inaugural reveal almost 2 years ago at E3 2019. Whether this is the same Malice from the original game is unclear, but it certainly bears quite the resemblance. Following this, Zelda seemingly falls helplessly into a yawning black abyss…
And we have to wait until 2022 to find out more, you say?!
Taking place two years after the events of Breath of the Wild, the trailer reveals that much of the sequel will take place above the beloved Hyrule from the original Switch title. Seemingly leaning heavily on Skyward Sword-like landscapes, Link can be seen falling and gliding across the stunning skylines of the overworld, now dotted with enormous land masses held aloft above the map.
Breath of the Wild’s trademark visuals are back in full, eye-watering wonder, which fans of the franchise will no doubt be very pleased about. Alongside the usual suspects of Bokoblins and Stone Taluses (now working together in a hilarious mobile guard tower team-up), we see some brand-new baddies posing problems for our pointy-eared protagonist, too. From a mechanical totem similar to Skyward Sword’s Beamos bad boi, to some ungodly underground worm-looking wacko, the new title doesn’t look to just be recycling its nearest and dearest.
But perhaps most noteworthy of all is the small detail of what appears to be time going in reverse – a pool of water rewinding into an upwards-falling droplet of water before we witness Link seemingly phasing through a solid land mass.
Where to even begin with these mouth-watering moments?
Though we only get to see the reversal of the falling water droplet and an enemy’s attack thrown back at them up a hill, the notion of a Prince of Persia-adjacent power-up for Link’s Sheikah Slate offers not only the obvious boon to battling, but will no doubt play an ingenious part in solving some of the game’s puzzles, too. This could be an expansion on Link’s stasis power from the first game, but details are unclear (yet altogether very exciting indeed!) at this time.
As for the phasing, there seems to be a few hints towards some untoward powers afforded to Link as a result of the aforementioned Malice that enters his arm. Another moment in the trailer sees this very same arm glowing, so there’ll be plenty more to unveil about this new-fangled phantom glow as we come closer to the game’s launch.
The teaser closes on some unsettling, reversed music more akin to Twilight Princess than Breath of the Wild, and a spine-tingling roar coming from the shadowy underbelly beneath Hyrule Castle, now held high in the sky as well. As Zelda’s Lullaby echoes out into the trailer’s fade to black, the game’s release date – 2022 – is revealed.
Judging by the way Eijo Aonuma was speaking to conclude the presentation, we’ll likely be looking at the latter half of 2022, no doubt releasing for the holiday season as Zelda titles usually do. It’ll certainly be on my Christmas list – but what are your thoughts on this scintillating second look at Breath of the Wild’s successor? Let us know in the comments below.
Not played the original Breath of the Wild yet? Now’s the time, hero…
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