The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was released on the Nintendo Switch in 2017, which caused massive hype and craze all over the world for the brand new installment to the mess that is the Zelda storyline. With games such as Skyward Sword, Majora’s Mask, Twilight Princess, Wind Waker not leaving gamers with disappointment, everyone had high expectations for this new game. However, the game exceeded expectations. So much so in fact that the new Zelda game was awarded Game of the Year. Everyone gave raving reviews on this game and it still continues to be a staple to players everywhere.

It follows the standard Zelda formula: Link is the hero, Hyrule needs to be saved, and Zelda still struggles with low self-esteem. The main villain of the Zelda series is Ganon, who appears in many different forms across all the games. (He mostly tries to take over Hyrule.) We get a huge glimpse of Ganon’s true power, with him being named “Calamity Ganon”. In the Breath of the Wild story, there were four Champions, each one from the major region of Hyrule entrusted with the duty of piloting mechanical wonders called Divine Beasts that were built thousands of years before by the Sheikah tribe. You have Divine Beast Vah Medoh, piloted by Rito Champion, Revali. You have Divine Beast Vah Ruta, piloted by Zora Champion Mipha. You have Divine Beast Vah Naboris, piloted by Chief Urbosa of the Gerudo. And finally, you have Divine Beast Vah Rudania, piloted by Goron Champion Daruk. Zelda entrusted these four with the Divine Beasts as a way to fully defeat Calamity Ganon. However, Zelda had the blood of the goddess Hylia running through her veins, so she has to awaken a special sealing power that would seal Calamity Ganon away. But Zelda decided to skip the tutorial or something, and she couldn’t awaken this power even with the support of her Champions or her personal knight, Link.

However on one fateful day and another failed attempt of Zelda attempting to awaken her sealing power, Calamity Ganon finally arose, and the Great Calamity started. The Champions fled to their Divine Beasts and prepared themselves for battle. During this, Calamity Ganon sent four blights to each Divine Beast to attack the four Champions piloting the beasts. The Champions fought and fought, but they were eventually killed by the blights. As a result, Ganon seized control of the beasts. Ganon seized control of other mechanical wonders called Guardians, which are these weird cyclops things that roam everywhere and shoot big lasers at everything that gets too close. Somehow, Link and Zelda survive this Calamity, and Zelda puts Link inside of the Shrine of Resurrection. One hundred years later, Link awakes and hears a voice inside his head guide him throughout the Great Plateau, and this is where the actual game starts. It’s now Link’s job to recover his memory, gain control of the Divine Beasts once more, and bring Hyrule back to peace and harmony. 

With this riveting plot and enjoyable gameplay, Breath of the Wild exceeded gamers’ expectations and provided an immersive experience that the Zelda enthusiasts will never stop talking about. 

Time skip to 2019, and everyone saw something that was totally unexpected. 

A teaser for a sequel to Breath of the Wild. 

A small 82-second trailer was released, showing Zelda and Link exploring a cave. We see a completely different approach to the new game. First off, Zelda’s hair is now short, and she is serving looks. Next, we see Link and Zelda in a way that is not just a princess and her knight, almost as if two friends who are exploring together. We also see the resurrection of a dark warrior. Ganon? Another Calamity? 

The game still keeps the same graphics as it did in Breath of the Wild, which is very nice to see that Nintendo still kept the modernity of the old game and gives gamers that sense of nostalgia from playing Breath of the Wild for the first time. We also may get to see Zelda a bit more, which is exciting. Zelda became a very beloved character of the series, and so seeing her in the trailer is refreshing. Is it possible Zelda will be a playable character? Hopefully! We also may get to see some backstory on Calamity Ganon and how he first came to power. But a downside is that this will add more to the insanity that is the Zelda lore.  Many players confused Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity as being a sequel to Breath of the Wild. However, alongside Age of Calamity being non-canon, it’s also just a prequel. So we can consider Breath of the Wild 2 the official sequel to the first game.

Breath of the Wild set the new standard for modern Zelda games. It brought a new vision in Link’s protagonist adventures, and it provided us with more personality and allowed the characters to become more lovable and less like NPCs. And Breath of the Wild 2 may surely bring us so much more as we continue to theorize and anticipate its release in 2022.