The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2, the follow-up to Nintendo's critical hit, may be coming sooner than later. Sabi, one of the most reliable rumor sources and a writer for Spiel Times and Nintendo Soup, posted on his Twitter account on how Nintendo is planning to release Breath of the Wild 2 in 2020.
However, Sabi also warns readers that these are just current plans. He cautions them to take this with a grain of salt as Nintendo could still possibly change the highly anticipated game's release date. The game seems to be in inactive development as a job listing in Nintendo's website points to the game company looking for a Scenario Designer. Other than this, there seems to be little information regarding the game itself.
While Nintendo hasn't confirmed and denied anything as of the moment, this rumor runs contrary to the usual release schedule of The Legend of Zelda games.
A Timeline of Zelda Games
The time between the original Legend of Zelda game and its sequel, Zelda II: Adventure of Link, was around a year. The next title, A Link to the Past, released almost four years later. Link's Awakening, the fourth game in the series, would take less time at just two years between release date. It would take another five years until another main Zelda title would appear when the critically loved Ocarina of Time would launch on Nintendo's first 3D console, the Nintendo 64. A direct sequel, Majora's Mask, would be released two years later on the same system.
Nintendo would release a trio of titles on the Game Boy Color: twin games Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Time and a remake of A Link to the Past. The Wind Waker would be released on the Nintendo GameCube in 2002, the first game in the series to use cell-shaded graphics. Four Swords Adventure and The Minish Cap would both be released in 2004. Twilight Princess, Phantom Hourglass, and Spirit Tracks would be released in 2006, 2007, and 2009, respectively. Skyward Sword, the last console Zelda game to be released for quite some time, became available in 2011. Since then, Nintendo has developed two titles for the 3DS: A Link Between Worlds and Tri Force Heroes.
It would not be until 2017 when Breath of the Wild, six years after the last console released Zelda game, would become playable on both the Wii U and Nintendo's console-handheld hybrid Switch.
How Breath of the Wild stands out
Breath of the Wild is a break from the traditional Zelda formula the series is well known for. Eschewing the overworld-dungeon progression design of previous Zelda games, Breath of the Wild is the first game to be fully open right from the start, giving its players much more agency in deciding how to progress the story. With a myriad of tools and weaponry, there is no singular approach in clearing the challenging dungeons the game is most well known for. The game also features an expansive overworld with a myriad of creatures and landscapes. While fast traveling is available in the game, the design of the world discourages it and drives the player to explore the mysteries of the land itself.
