With its mixture of high technology and decaying Hylian ruins, it’s obvious that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild takes place in some kind of post-apocalyptic future, and many fans believe it should replace Zelda II: The Adventure of Link as the chronologically last game in the official timeline. But while Nintendo has previously been mum about where the game sits on the timeline, this theory gained some considerable support earlier this week when Game Rant spoke with Breath of the Wild’s Director, Hidemaro Fujibayashi.
In a short interview, Fujibayashi confirmed that Breath of the Wild does indeed take place “long after” the other games in the franchise:
It takes place in an age long, long after any of the titles released to date. It is the most recent age. And because of this we believe players will be able to easily immerse themselves in the game. Of course, regardless of the time period, the story does unfold in Hyrule so for those who’ve played other titles in the series there will be a lot of recognizable places to enjoy.
Fujibayashi’s comments confirm what many fans already believe, but it’s also important to remember that the franchise’s chronology splits into three distinct branches after the events of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. So while we now know that Breath of the Wild is set “long after” the rest of the games in the series, we still have no idea which branch it sits on.
So we got an answer… but we also got more questions. At this point, I expect nothing less from Nintendo.
