There are plenty of questions up in the air regardingThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2. Nintendo has kept a lot of details close to the chest about this upcoming sequel, includingBreath of the Wild 2’s official title, to avoid spoilers. However, even the details that have been revealed via its trailers at E3 2019 and 2021 leave much of the game open to interpretation. One big question is which elements from the largely open-endedBreath of the Wildwill be considered canon.
A major selling point forBreath of the Wildis its freedom of exploration; players can run straight to the final boss after completing the Great Plateau tutorial, circumventing an open world full of plot-progressing content and side quests. Yet the sequel’s trailers imply certain “optional” quests are now canon, as for example Link is seen wielding the Master Sword that has to be discovered in Hyrule’s Lost Woods. Still, there are ways Nintendo could adhere to the first game’s freedom and make every choice canon, notably by stealing from the playbook of developers such as BioWare and CD Projekt Red.
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Save Data Transfer and Episodic Games
Before the misfire that wasAnthem, developer BioWare was primarily known for two series:Mass EffectandDragon Age. Both share a similar conceit of giving players a wide range of choices that can be carried forward into future games, thus ensuring no two players' experiences are likely the same. Across the original threeMass Effectgames, recentlyreleased together asMass Effect: Legendary Edition, players can retain the same Captain Shepard, their relationships with crewmates aboard the Normandy, and even plot-altering events such as major character deaths.
Every decision has ramifications that are accounted for by each game down the line, which is an impressive feat of video game writing and engineering. However, as unwieldy as the idea may seem, BioWare is not the only developer to try it. CD Projekt Red lets playerstransfer save data throughThe Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, once again ensuring decisions made by each player’s take on Geralt of Rivia have effects down the line.
One more common example of such save data transfer comes via episodic games. Developer Telltale became a household name following the release ofThe Walking Deadin 2012. Ultimately four “seasons” of the game released through 2019, each containing multiple chapters of an overarching point-and-click adventure. Decisions like who a player trusts with certain information or which characters they let die are “remembered” by others, fueling a formula that inspired plenty more Telltale projects and others such as Dontnod Entertainment’sLife is Strange.
How Breath of the Wild 2 Can Utilize Save Data Transfer
DespiteThe Legend of Zeldabeing a narrative-driven adventure game series, there is rarely a direct throughline for different games. An overallZeldatimeline exists that places each version of Link at different points along the same branching continuity, yet a given Link typically doesn’t carry over from one game to the next. That said, there are exceptions such asOcarina of Time’s Link returning inMajora’s Mask- and later becoming theHero’s Shade that teachesTwilight Princess' Linka bevy of new techniques.
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Breath of the Wild 2finds itself in a unique position. The same Link and Zelda fromBreath of the Wildare together again shortly after the events of the first game, and they explore the same Hyrule affected by a new dark force that creates floating islands and other unique obstacles. However, as previously mentioned,Breath of the Wildwas built around the kind of freedom that does not ensure every player saw the same things on their first go-around, making it a vastly different kind ofcontinuity thanMetroid’s 2D platformers.
Adopting the same kind of save transfer system as in games likeMass EffectandThe Witcheris a lot of work, but it’s easy to see how that work would be appreciated by fans. On one hand, it would help explain whyBreath of the Wild’s sequel has taken so long to develop despite reusing many elements (COVID-19 restrictions aside). On the other, it means everyone’s decisions would have an effect to justify playing the original game beforeBreath of the Wild 2.
Though this isn’t a common strategy utilized by Nintendo, it wouldn’t be entirely unique - including withinThe Legend of Zeldafranchise.The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of AgesandOracle of Seasons, developed by Capcom subsidiary Flagship and released on Game Boy Color in 2001, are technically two halves of the same game. After completing one of the top-downZeldaadventures, players can transfer data to the other using a password or Link Cable to see an alternate version of events reflecting one’s journey thus far.
Breath of the Wild 2can make far better use of this idea by nature of its nonlinear story.The Master Sword is a perfect example: While Nintendo shows Link wielding this legendary blade in trailers, perhaps there are alternate versions of the same cutscene to reflect save data in which Link skipped out. Alternatively, there could be lines of dialogue that change to reflect whether Link got the sword during or afterBreath of the Wild, though this is a less exciting option given the prior indicates Lost Woods will still be an important locale.
Plenty of other player choices could similarly change Hyrule in the sequel. IfLink skipped a Divine Beast, he will not have met any of the citizens in their respective realm, and thus they might be indifferent toward him compared to a varient where players 100 percent completed the first game. It doesn’t seem likely Nintendo will go through the effort of making this branching narrative web possible, but ifMass Effectcan accomplish it and become a critical darling there’s certainly potential to be mined.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2releases in 2022 for the Nintendo Switch.
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