Breath of the Wild 2: Release window, trailer, pre-orders and latest news

Breath of the Wild 2 will likely follow on from Breath of the Wild

(Image credit: Nintendo)

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 might be the most heady game for the Switch since the original one. It remains more often than not shrouded in mystery, but thanks to a Nintendo Direct at E3 2022, we now have a few solid details about it, including a release window. The sequel to the best video game of the last decade will come up out in 2022, and feature temples in the sky for Link to explore.

Bated from that, nosotros know that Breath of the Wild'south iterations of Link and Zelda are back, we know that the story will selection upward where the starting time game left off, and we know that the game will come up out for the Nintendo Switch.

Read on to learn everything we know about BotW2 so far — although for such a highly anticipated game, there's precious little information to go around.

Breath of the Wild ii release date window

At the E3 2022 Nintendo Direct, Nintendo gave us a release window for Jiff of the Wild ii: 2022. A 12-month window is absolutely pretty big, merely information technology's at least more specific than what nosotros had before (which wasn't much).

Historically speaking, nosotros've seen new Zelda games come up out in March, June, November — there'due south no specific pattern. Since the original Jiff of the Wild came out in March, it's nice to think that BotW2 might follow suit. But simply about every major game suffered development setbacks due to 2022'due south public wellness crunch, so late 2022 might be more realistic.

Nintendo's recent financial results came with an accompanying listing of software the company expects to release in 2022, and Breath of the Wild 2 fabricated the cut. This would propose that the game is notwithstanding on runway for a release this year, and the whispers of a delay into 2023 are wide of the mark (for now at least).

Jiff of the Wild 2 pre-orders

You read that correctly: Breath of the Wild 2, a game we don't even have an official title for yet, is bachelor to pre-social club from Amazon U.S. and Best Buy. Both stores just have placeholder fine art and release dates for now, but if yous desire to go your $60 locked in early for a copy, you are free to do so.

Jiff of the Wild ii trailer

The first Jiff of the Wild ii trailer debuted at E3 2022. Here information technology is, in case you haven't seen it:

As of June 2022, there'due south now a newer, much more than detailed trailer to picket every bit well. This i covers some of the same territory, simply also shows off detailed gameplay features, including a new traversal mechanic that volition let Link travel to airborne locations.

Breath of the Wild 2 story

While Nintendo hasn't provided whatever additional context for the Breath of the Wild 2 trailers, we exercise know a few important things from them. Get-go, this volition be a direct sequel to Jiff of the Wild, starring the same iterations of Link and Zelda. This is a relative rarity for Zelda games, which tend to reimagine Link, Zelda and Ganon for each new major installment. Information technology's not totally unheard-of, though; Zelda II and Majora's Mask did the same thing.

We likewise know that Link and Zelda will investigate some kind of strange spirit energy, which can apparently reanimate the expressionless. A placid shot of Hyrule with an ominous rumbling suggests that this spirit energy may corrupt the bright lands of Hyrule and turn them into a night mirror of themselves. Traversing lite and nighttime worlds is onetime chapeau for the Zelda franchise, in everything from A Link to the Past to Twilight Princess.

The setup, then, would seem to exist that Link and Zelda set off on a new journey after Breath of the Wild, every bit they promised to practice in the epilogue. They make a strange discovery, and this evil power threatens all of Hyrule. The only question is whether Zelda will be an active player for the bulk of the story, as in Wind Waker, or whether she'll need rescuing right away, equally in the first Breath of the Wild.

If you want to learn more than about the world of Jiff of the Wild in the meantime, a prequel called Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity tin can respond your questions. The game debuted in November, and it'due south a lengthy, substantial game — albeit a hack-and-slash activeness title, not an open-world adventure. It's not Breath of the Wild 2, but information technology's some other run a risk to immerse yourself in the same setting.

While Nintendo has been tight-lipped nearly Jiff of the Wild ii in general, wait to see some updates earlier the end of the year. Later on all, information technology'southward even so Zelda's 35th Anniversary, which means now is the perfect fourth dimension for Nintendo to go on us in the loop nearly our favorite Hylian warrior.

Marshall Honorof is a senior editor for Tom'southward Guide, overseeing the site'southward coverage of gaming hardware and software. He comes from a science writing background, having studied paleomammalogy, biological anthropology, and the history of science and technology. After hours, you tin detect him practicing taekwondo or doing deep dives on classic sci-fi.