Zelda Breath of the Wild 2 – predicted release date, news, rumours and more

Wonder no more – Zelda Breath of the Wild 2 now has an official title: The Legend of Zelda – Tears of the Kingdom.

We’ve got a new hub with the game’s new title – which is also now been dated for a May 12, 2023 release. Check it out to read everything we’ve got so far.

In the meantime, we’ll leave the original hub here for posterity – and so you can see how we eventually got to the new name.

NOW READ: The Last of Us: Part I Review

Here’s what we know about The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 so far.

Zelda Breath of the Wild 2 – latest news & Nintendo Direct

13/09/22:

A Nintendo Direct has been confirmed for this afternoon by Nintendo themselves. We’ve been promised 40 minutes of info “mostly focused on games releasing on Nintendo Switch this Winter”.

Though this seems to almost (but not quite) rule out a Zelda Breath of the Wild 2 update, there’s still the yet-to-be-debunked rumours of those Switch LoZ Wind Waker/Twilight Princess ports.

Of course, “mostly focused” does give enough leeway for them to drop a title for Zelda Breath of the Wild 2. We’ll have to wait and see what comes of the show, but be assured we’ll report back if and when we do.

01/09/22:

It’s being reported that Nintendo may be planning a Zelda-focused Nintendo Direct later this month. The news comes via GamesBeat’s Mike Minotti and GiantBomb’s Jeff Grubb.

As spotted by Video Games Chronicle, the two were speaking on the latter’s Game Mess podcast, where they brought up the subject of Nintendo potentially holding the event on the week beginning September 12th, citing “a pretty good source”.

“To be clear guys,” said Mike Minotti. “The one thing we are very, very sure is getting announced at this Direct are those Wind Waker/Twilight Princess ports for Switch.”

“Listen,” added Grubb. “I think there’s going to be a lot of Zelda stuff at this thing. I think this going to be like a Zelda blowout for Nintendo.”

At the moment, there’s been no confirmation from Nintendo on this Direct, so take with the required pinch of salt for now. However, should we hear official word we will, of course, let you know.

Zelda Breath of the Wild 2 – release date, rumours and more

Zelda Breath of the Wild 2 has been teased in some form since E3 2019’s Nintendo Direct. It kept things very mysterious, but confirming to fans the sequel was in development.

Since then, Nintendo went dark about the game until E3 2021. Then, we got our first gameplay trailer, which revealed the title would take inspiration from 2011’s The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword on the Wii. To that end, we saw Link soaring high above the clouds above Hyrule, skydiving below. At the time, Nintendo also gave the sequel a release window of 2022.

(It was almost certainly no coincidence that Nintendo would release a new HD version of Skyward Sword on the Switch a few months later.)

However, things went a little quiet once more until March of 2022. There, series producer Eiji Aonuma revealed the game wouldn’t make it out this year after all. Instead, as it stands, Zelda Breath of the Wild 2 will now release on the Nintendo Switch in Spring 2023.

It’s also worth noting that, in all this time, Nintendo hasn’t given the new game a formal name. It’s always referred to Zelda Breath of the Wild 2 as ‘Untitled The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild sequel‘. Presumably, it’ll have to call it something official soon, and we’ll let you know when it does.

NOW READ: Here’s what we want to see in the next Zelda game

Until then, the game’s voice actors may have let slip a few details about the plot of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2. You can read about those – but beware potential spoilers – just over here.

What would we like to see in the next Zelda?

The last game was a masterpiece, so any sequel will have its work cut out to better it. That being said, there are still a few areas we’d like to see improved or tweaked.

We’ve done a detailed look into seven things we want to see in the new Zelda right here, but below is an abridged version, highlighting the two biggest areas in our view.

More varied Shrines

It’s a no brainer to assume these will come back for the sequel. The first game had a whopping 120 of them, but in the spirit of going bigger for the follow up, we’d not be opposed to more, at least a nice round 200 sounds good.

Let us fix weapons!

Weapon degradation was a key feature of Breath of the Wild – which basically gave every weapon in the game had a sort of health bar.

I think most people would agree, it could be a little overzealous and left you with a tree branch to your name a little too often.

There’s not too much to change here, but certainly some rebalancing wouldn’t go amiss. And an incredibly obvious-in-hindsight fix: give us the option of repairing our weapons when they’re damaged!

More Zelda

The first Breath of the Wild saw Zelda take more of backseat role. She didn’t see a huge amount of action outside of cutscenes.

In the sequel, we’d love to see more of her – perhaps actually having her as a playable character for the first time in the main series.

She could have a different move set to Link, which would mix things up and add a new dimension to the gameplay.

More modes of travel

The trailer made it clear that Link would not just be exploring the land, but the skies above.

The Master Cycle Zero was a badass bike you could use to traverse Hyrule. Acting as a sort of replacement for your horse, Link could even engage in mounted combat while riding it. It was great fun and we’d love to see it return!

We’d love to see something similar but for the air in Breath of the Wild 2.

Zelda Breath of the Wild 2: Graphics breakdown

The trailer gave us the first look of the game in action – and we’re very impressed. It looks as though it’s running on the same custom base engine used to power the original game – although it’s certainly been tweaked and improved if the visuals are anything to go by.

As mentioned earlier, there are rumours the trailer footage could be running on something more powerful than a standard Nintendo Switch – although these are just rumours.

In our view, despite what look like volumetric clouds, impressive draw distances and impressive lighting, it’s not beyond realms of possibility that the footage is taken from a standard Nintendo Switch.

Remember, this is a console that successfully runs The Witcher 3 and Doom, two traditionally graphically-intensive games, that look and run brilliantly on the Switch. Having played the latter extensively on both a high-powered PC and on Nintendo’s handheld, Doom was a technical marvel – especially in the indoor sections – demonstrating motion blur and a smooth framerate beyond what many thought the Switch was capable

Price wise, BOT2 will likely retail for the same price BOTW was at launch, which will be about the £59.99 /$59.99 mark – although nothing has been confirmed.

BOTW 2 FAQs

Is Breath of the Wild 2 coming?

Yes.  Zelda Breath of the Wild 2 was teased in some form since E3 2019’s Nintendo Direct, where Nintendo confirmed to fans the sequel was in development. Nintendo then went quiet until E3 2021, where they showed off glimpses of gameplay.

What month is Botw 2 coming out?

We don’t know yet when Breath of the Wild 2 is coming out, other than a window – Spring 2023, which was confirmed during the gameplay trailer in 2021.

BUY NOW: Pre-order Zelda Breath of the Wild 2 from Best Buy

Will Zelda Breath of the Wild 2 have better graphics?

Despite the trailer being more than a year old, we are still very impressed with the game’s visuals, which looked improved on the 2017 game. It’s likely using the same engine, albeit a tweaked version, with – what looked like – volumetric clouds and improved lighting shining in the gameplay trailer.

Will BOTW2 come out in 2022?

No, Nintendo confirmed that while a 2022 release date was one the cards at one stage, the game will release in Spring 2023.

How much will BOTW2 cost?

Price wise, BOT2 will likely retail for the same price BOTW was at launch – around the £59.99 /$59.99 mark – although nothing has been confirmed and we need to wait for official pricing.

Play the first Breath of the Wild instalment again

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