The Legend of Zelda: Breath of Wild 2 is in development, and will continue the story of the last game using the same basic map of Hyrule established in Breath of the Wild. Keeping the old map feeling fresh will likely be a big challenge, especially with so much of the first game’s focus being on exploration, and it's unclear how exactly Nintendo plans to tackle this problem.
At the start of Breath of the Wild, Link awakens in a Sheikah Shrine after remaining in stasis for one hundred years after the forces of Hyrule failed to destroy Calamity Ganon. Since the original game already established that both Zelda and Link could survive through magic or technology for more than a century, Breath of the Wild 2 should utilize another time jump to help solve its map problem once and for all.
Hyrule's Map
Breath of the Wild 2 originated from a planned DLC for Breath of the Wild before gaining enough traction at Nintendo that it was decided that it should be released as a full sequel to the best-selling Switch title. However, there’s a major challenge posed by setting another Breath of the Wild game in the Hyrule of the first game.
Much of Breath of the Wild was about exploration, which was explicitly encouraged by the game’s mechanics. To gain more health or stamina points, the player had to explore to find Sheikah Shrines in order to complete their challenges. In order to expand inventory space, players had to find the many Korok challenges throughout the map and complete them in order to get Korok seeds for Hestu. These were often well-hidden in the game as parts of the natural landscape, such as small rock circles with missing stones where, if the final stone was placed in the circle, a Korok would appear and gift the player a seed.
Similarly, players could often expect to find temples and Korok Seeds if they explored more extreme areas. Many mountain tops, for example, allowed players to see Sheikah Shrines but was also often have Korok challenges at the top. This makes it harder to figure out how Nintendo plans to shake up the map for Breath of the Wild 2, because while the challenges could be moved to different locations, the natural landscape itself provided so many hints.
The Time Jump
Breath of the Wild 2 should utilize another time jump to allow for as much change as possible to have taken place across the Hyrule map. Perhaps after the events of the Breath of the Wild 2 trailer Link and Zelda are somehow thrown forward in time, and explore a Hyrule which has now long been ruled over by the Ganon seen in the trailer for some time. The trailer’s music also sounds like audio rewinding, which could imply that Breath of the Wild 2 will take place in Hyrule’s past.
Either way, a time jump poses the best opportunity for Breath of the Wild 2 to ask players to explore the same basic map again without it feeling tedious. Maybe when Hyrule Castle begins to lift off at the end of the trailer it arrives over Hyrule as ruled by the Sheikah people themselves, allowing players to see a totally new and long-buried civilization despite the same broad structure of the map. How exactly Nintendo plans to handle it remains to be seen, but a time jump could be one way to keep Breath of the Wild 2 as exciting and beloved as the first game.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2Â is in development.
