Okay, it’s been over a week now and we’re just about done screaming in excitement over the latest Breath of the Wild 2 trailer. It’s coming next year, and we couldn’t be more excited. About most things, that is. While Link’s latest outing isn’t likely to give up its smugly held seat in our list of favorite games ever for quite some time, we’ll admit it: not everything about Breath of the Wild is perfect. Yes, we may have spent the years since release claiming that Nintendo’s open-world immersive sim is the pinnacle of gaming glory, but here are the 10 small changes we secretly really need in Breath of the Wild 2.
10 changes we need in Breath of the Wild 2
© Nintendo
1. A recipe book
Cooking in Breath of the Wild is bloody brilliant. The huge range of recipes, the explorative approach to discovering them, and that little jingle that plays as you create something new – it all adds up to an immensely satisfying process. What isn’t so gratifying, however, is attempting to remember which ingredients, specifically, you need for the best recipes.
Unless you keep a copy of each dish in your inventory, it’s impossible to check how to craft meals, even if you’ve made them several times already. Please Link, take a lesson from Zelda and bring a notebook to jot down those successful recipes this time. Surely someone will have updated the Sheikah Slate firmware for this purpose by the time the sequel arrives.
2. Let us undo individual item holds
© Nintendo
While we’re on the topic of whipping up tasty treats, please for the love of Hylia, let us deselect individual items. There’s nothing worse than plopping four of the necessary ingredients for a delicious Seafood Paella into Link’s hands, only to misclick and chuck a pile of wood on top.
Because Link is a man who apparently won’t ever accept that he’s made a mistake, the only courses of action available in Breath of the Wild are to commit to serving yourself splinter-packed seafood or drop everything and start all over again. Please Nintendo, teach Link some humility and let us undo an item selection in Breath of the Wild 2. And maybe let us cook multiple copies of a dish at once.
3. A weapon/power wheel
© Nintendo
Forget weapon degradation, the change we'd love to see regarding Breath of the Wild 2’s deadly tools is an overhaul of the quick select menu. Improvisation is a core tenet of BotW’s philosophy, but swapping between swords, bombs, and arrows while legging it from a lynel is a clunky procedure. It’s all too easy to bungle in a panic, leaving Link reaching for an absent shield as a fireball hurtles towards his soon-to-be-crispy face.
Weapon wheels have become a staple in gaming, and for good reason – they’re a much faster, more efficient way of swapping between our tools. Even if our full selection of swords won't fit on a single ring, allow us to tag a few early slots to for easy access.
4. More elemental/environmental reactions
Some of the best smiles BotW put on our faces weren’t from beating down a white Lynel or completing a fiendish shrine. No, it was the simple but unexpected stuff like accidentally creating an updraft by setting a grassland alight, or realizing that we could kill an enemy with lightning if we tricked them into grabbing a metal weapon.
We’d love to see more of this in Breath of the Wild 2, with effects expanded to include more elemental reactions or effects when we overlap fire, electricity, and ice. The Chuu Jellies which explode when shot could even make for elemental grenades, with Link tossing them from afar to create a surface of his choosing. The more opportunities we have to take down bokoblins in ingenious methods, the better.
5. Weapon exchange
Dah, nah, nuh, naah! Congrats on opening that chest! By the way, you haven’t got room in those pockets to hold a Great Flamesword. We’ll just shut it again, shall we? Come on back later when your pockets have space. It’s a small thing, but letting us quickly compare and swap a newly acquired weapon for one in our inventory would save an awful lot of menu hassle. Obviously I’d like the giant, flaming sword instead of that fifth Bokoblin Arm, thank you!
6. Even more Kass
© Nintendo
If this guy and his accordion don’t show up in Breath of the Wild 2, we’re rioting.
7. Waving farewell to tilt controls
The only thing tilt controls achieved in Breath of the Wild was tilting the player as they watched a ball bounce awkwardly out of a shrine puzzle for the fifteenth time in a row. We don't know what video gaming's obsession with ball puzzles is, but it needs to stop. No matter how improved the Joy-Cons gyro functions may be, please don't force us to roll any more balls around using them.
8. Less impactful rain
© Nintendo
We know we asked for more elemental interactions, but this is one we could do with a bit less of. Whether it’s through an outfit that mitigates slipping, an overall reduction in rock sliding, or even less rain in general, we just want to spend less time scrabbling slowly up cliff sides just because the gods of Hyrule needed a toilet break.
9. More mounts and mount armor
© Nintendo
Breath of the Wild let you mount bears, deer, skeleton horses, and – if brave enough – even Lynels. However, only the humble horse could find a home at the stables. Nintendo clearly enjoyed offering several transport options though, as the shield-surfing sand seals of the Gerudo desert demonstrated. We’d love to see more permanent mounts in the sequel. Given a large portion appears to take place in the sky, is it too much to ask for a flying mount? Probably, but we can dream.
If we do have to settle for equine companions only, our one request is for more horse armors. Decking your ride out in pompous, royal gear was a delight, but there were far too few options to realistically play around with. Give our ponies some pizzazz, Breath of the Wild 2!
10. Playable Zelda
© Nintendo
It’s just a small request. Come on, Nintendo.
What are your must-have tweaks for Breath of the Wild 2? Let us know in the comments section below.
