Those who watched this morning's E3 2019 Nintendo Direct know that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild's newly announced sequel is going to some dark places. The game's teaser trailer introduced what appeared to be the corpse of Ganondorf hidden within or below Hyrule Castle. The corpse, through some sort of magic, comes back to life, leading to what appears to be Hyrule Castle beginning to float. What Link and Zelda have gotten themselves into this time stirs the imagination.

Needless to say, the trailer is very dark. Dark to the point of being spooky. The Legend of Zelda hasn't shied away from horror elements in the past, of course. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time's ReDead enemies left their mark upon many a young player. And of course, Ocarina of Time's own sequel Majora's Mask was entrenched in horror themes. With the moon plummeting towards the surface of the world, promising apocalypse, some dark themes should be expected.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild's sequel reveal trailer is already drawing comparison's to Majora's Mask, even prompting comments from Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma. Speaking to IGN, Aonuma clarified that despite the dark atmosphere of the reveal trailer, Breath of the Wild's sequel won't be related to Majora's Mask. He even says that the sequel may not even be inspired by Majora's Mask. However, he does acknowledge how dark the reveal trailer is, even going so far as saying it's probably "a little darker" than Majora's Mask.

That's not to say that the full game of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild's sequel will be entirely darker than Majora's Mask. But it's clearly going to visit some darker places along the way. Who knows where Ganondorf, or whoever is in control, is taking Hyrule Castle as shown at the end of the trailer.

What's perhaps most exciting about The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild's sequel reveal isn't necessarily that it's doing some horror-related things, but that it's stretching out of the comfort zone of the original game already. Breath of the Wild received some criticism for being somewhat safe, with a relatively thin story, simple dungeons, and a monotone adventurous attitude throughout the entire game. A sequel that takes some risks and challenges the player with ideas rare in The Legend of Zelda is an exciting prospect.

With just a reveal trailer behind it, however, what the sequel truly embodies remains a grand mystery. Nintendo has plenty of time left to share more, given the game doesn't yet have a release window. New information may be a very long ways off, a dark prospect indeed.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 is coming to the Nintendo Switch.

Source: IGN