At the moment, there are a couple big The Legend of Zelda games on their way. The first one is The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD, a remaster of the Wii classic with a few new quality of life features. Players will be able to return to Skyloft and re-experience the first chronological game in the series, currently only predated by a short manga piece included with the Hyrule Historia. Link, Zelda, and the ancient curse that bore Ganondorf all feature in this game, as well as a sky-and-land gameplay loop that, until the next upcoming Zelda game, was mostly concentrated in Skyward Sword.
That upcoming game is none other than The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2. Breath of the Wild 2 has been known about for a couple years now, but nothing came of it until this past E3. The show ended on a short trailer that was light on solid details, but was full of promise and ideas for fans to mull over. Until the 2022 release date draws near, there’s not going to be a lot of solid details on what exactly the various things teased in the trailer are. However, it seems like the decision to bring Skyward Sword back before Breath of the Wild 2 was no idle decision; the games seem to share a lot of the same DNA.
Two Zelda Games With A Focus on The Sky
One of the most obvious elements shared between Skyward Sword and Breath of the Wild 2 are their focus on ground and aerial exploration. Breath of the Wild was always known for its massive focus on verticality, and it owes that foundation to Skyward Sword. The Wii title first introduced enhanced stamina movement and brought limited paragliding back from The Wind Waker.
Breath of the Wild added climbing and more controlled flight elements, and Breath of the Wild 2 looks to synthesize all of that by making the open air navigable by Link himself. No longer stuck on a Loftwing, it seems Link can sail and skydive in Hyrule’s skies to his heart's content. This is a fascinating return to the Skyloft concept, and could be done a lot better now thanks to BotW’s preference for making its open world feel full.
There’s a lot that could, and most likely will, return from Skyward Sword on this front. Skydiving from the air to the earth, teleporting from the earth to the sky, and exploring the aerial islands on various wind currents will all probably make a return. At least one aerial town is likely, judging by Breath of the Wild 2's trailer, though whether it was lifted up alongside the rest of Hyrule or there the whole time is another matter. Aerial dungeons weren’t in Skyward Sword, but there was technically an aerial boss in the form of Levias’ parasite. Breath of the Wild 2 could easily have dragons roaming between sky and earth, which would definitely give players a fright.
Does Breath of the Wild 2 Have A Time Travel Plot?
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2’s reveal trailer had an air of mystery around it. Fans couldn’t help but notice that it seemed like Link had an extremely different design at some points in the trailer. It almost looks like the ancient mural display of a red-haired hero fighting Calamity Ganon in the past that has been prominent in BotW lore. While Link is still blond and doesn’t have waist-length hair like this figure (the Ganondorf-like mummy monster seems to fit the bill more), he is wearing the same clothes and general hairstyle.
Fans have also noticed that in the new trailer, Link is in his old get-up while exploring a Hyrule conspicuously devoid of floating islands. It may be that Hyrule Castle is the only area floating in present times, and to solve that, Link needs to take on the role of an ancient hero in the ancient skies.
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is no stranger to time travel, and features quite a lot of it in one specific area. The Lanayru Desert is full of time travelling opportunities thanks to the Timeshift Stones that dot the region, allowing Link to visit a surprisingly mechanized version of the past. In parallel to Breath of the Wild 2 possibly letting players sail the skies in its ancient past, Skyward Sword gave players the chance to sail through an ancient sea.
Timeshift stones on vehicles could be used to turn sandy areas back into water, and enable the mechanisms that allowed old vessels to sail the sea. There's also the memorable ending sequence, which also takes place in the past. It’s not clear how Link can travel through time and space in Breath of the Wild 2, but the answer probably lies in some ancient pieces of tech interfacing with his new arm and shooting him into the sky.
Themed Dungeons Like Skyward Sword’s Could Return in Breath of the Wild 2
One major feature everyone wants to see back in Breath of the Wild 2 is the themed dungeons of 3D Zelda’s past. These were largely absent from Breath of the Wild, being replaced with the aesthetically similar Divine Beasts and Sheikah Shrines. Apart from these, there were the three labyrinths, Eventide Island, and Hyrule Castle. Nothing else was quite as grand as a typical Zelda dungeon, and even the shrines and Beasts became repetitive.
While Skyward Sword lacked dungeons in the sky, it did have some of the strongest ones in the series by fan reckoning. These include the beautiful, Buddhist myth-based Ancient Cistern, the interesting Timeshift Stone-focused Lanayru Mining Facility, and the incredibly cool time-travelling Sandship. It remains to be seen whether Breath of the Wild 2 can match any of these incredibly strong dungeons, but with the sky and seemingly beneath the earth open to it now, the upcoming open world Zelda can give players plenty of interesting places to explore.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 is due out for Nintendo Switch in 2022.