The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 gameplay trailer debuted at the Nintendo Direct during E3 2021 today, which seemingly answered the question: “Is Zelda a playable character in Breath of the Wild 2?” With the new footage being shown, the decision seems clear on whether or not Link or Zelda is the hero this time around. Let’s take a look.
Is Zelda a playable character in BotW 2?
Link is the protagonist of The Legend of Zelda: A Breath of the Wild 2. This means that Zelda does not appear to be the hero of the story, which will seemingly mean that she isn’t a playable character, given the series’ tradition of focusing on one hero.
Link is featured in all of the gameplay footage from the BotW 2 E3 2021 trailer, which indicates that he will once again be the star of the show. Zelda does make an appearance in the trailer, though she appears to be fitting into her regular — and regularly criticized — “damsel in distress” role, shown falling into nothingness with Link presumably then setting out on an adventure to save her.
While there could be a last-minute switcheroo in terms of who the story focuses on, or Zelda could be a playable character in some elements of the story, this seems unlikely given Nintendo’s track record. The most likely outcome is that the Breath of the Wild sequel will continue Link’s story, with Zelda also appearing as an NPC.
Though the original Breath of the Wild was critically acclaimed, some fans requested that Zelda should be made a playable character in its successor. It seems that Nintendo decided to keep to its original idea and instead reintroduce Link, albeit a Link with longer hair (though who continues to wear the same clothes). We’ll have to wait until the game’s 2022 release date to see if that’s officially the case, though.
In other news, Smash Ultimate revealed a brand new character lifted straight from Tekken. It was also revealed that Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy skins would be free and that they won’t be microtransactions.
