Zelda: Breath of the Wild's director returns, and Aonuma explains why they're making a direct sequel
We're hungry for any information we can get about the sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
The reveal at the end of Nintendo's E3 Direct that a direct sequel to Breath of the Wild is in active development was a surprise and a delight, and while Nintendo doesn't have anything to show beyond this one trailer, a few little morsels of information have come out.
Yesterday we learned that the younger members of the team have been inspired by Red Dead Redemption 2. Today we've learned, thanks to Game Informer's interview with designer Eiji Aonuma, that Breath of the Wild director Hidemaro Fujibayashi is once again at the helm, and we've gotten some insight into why Breath of the Wild is getting a direct sequel.
Zelda games have gotten sequels before, but rarely have they been 'traditional' sequels. Majora's Mask, the most popular Zelda sequel, shuffles Link off to a new world in the opening cutscene, but the BOTW sequel will remain in Hyrule.
"One of the reasons we wanted to create a continuation was because I wanted to revisit that Hyrule again and use that world again, while incorporating new gameplay and new story," Aonuma told Game Informer.
In the same interview, he says that he likes the idea of DLC coming after the main game, and that it's a possibility for this sequel, as was the case with the original Breath of the Wild.
Elsewhere, there have been rumblings of the sequel featuring co-op, which Aonuma hasn't quite firmly confirmed or denied. When IGN asked him about the possibility of Link and Zelda teaming up and both being playable, he responded that "to go straight" to this notion based on what little footage we've seen is "interesting to (him)".
He also would not say outright that you can't play as Zelda to Kotaku. We wouldn't hold our breath for co-op, necessarily, but it's a bit of fun to see how hard they're working to withhold information from us.
This new Zelda game does not have a date, or even a proper name, established yet. Expect to have to wait before we find out much more about it.