All Articles: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

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.

With The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild continuing to burn up sales charts around the world, Nintendo is also hard at work on two downloadable expansions for the massive open world adventure. Late last night, the consolemaker revealed more information about the first of these add-ons, The Master Trials, which will be available this Summer.

The expansion will add a handful of new features to the game, including a horde mode (“Trial of the Sword”), a more challenging Hard Mode, a new map tracker (“Hero’s Path Mode”), costumes and equipment inspired by earlier games in the series (including the snazzy “Tingle’s Outfit” seen above), and more:

New Features in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – The Master Trials
Trial of the Sword: By accessing this location, players can challenge the new Trial of the Sword (previously known as “Cave of Trials Challenge”), where enemies appear one after another. Link starts without any armor or weapons, and if he defeats all of the enemies in the room he can proceed to the next area. Trial of the Sword will include around 45 total rooms for players to complete. When Link clears all of the trials, the true power of the Master Sword will awaken and always be in its glowing powered-up state.

Hard Mode: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is already considered one of the most thrilling games in The Legend of Zelda series, and fans looking for a challenge are in for a treat with the new Hard Mode. In Hard Mode, the “ranks” of enemies in the game are increased (i.e. Red Bokoblins change to Blue), and players might even encounter higher-ranking enemies they wouldn’t find through normal play. Enemies will also slowly recover health in battle, forcing you to defeat them more quickly. They will also more easily spot Link as he approaches them, making these enemies tougher to sneak up on. In addition, floating planks held aloft by balloons will be scattered around Hyrule. By successfully reaching these planks, players can battle enemies and collect treasure.

Hero’s Path Mode: Exploring Hyrule is exciting, but with such a large world it’s sometimes hard for players to remember where they’ve been. To help with tracking progress, the new Hero’s Path Mode will document every step players take, and mark their path in green on the map. The route taken will be tracked for the player’s last 200 hours of play time, with an included slider to track footsteps on a timeline. This even works retroactively, so players that have already put many hours into the game will be able to see where they have traveled. This feature will help in identifying the locations they haven’t visited in this vast world, and may help players find those Shrines they haven’t encountered yet.

Travel Medallion: There will be a new treasure chest somewhere in the game world which contains the Travel Medallion. With the Travel Medallion, players can create a temporary new travel point on the map where they are currently standing. Link can then transport himself to that point at any time. Only one travel point can be registered on the map at a time.

Korok Mask: By finding the new Korok Mask, players will have a much easier time finding Korok locations in the game. When equipped, the mask will shake, indicating that a Korok is hidden somewhere nearby.

New Equipment: Eight new pieces of equipment inspired by previous characters and games in the series will be added to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild after downloading the first DLC pack. Once discovered by the player, they will yield equipment themed after fan-favorite games and characters such as Midna, Tingle, Phantom, and Majora’s Mask.

Nintendo has bundled together both expansions to Breath of the Wild as the Expansion Pass, which is now available through the Nintendo eShop for $19.99 on the Switch and the Wii U. Unfortunately, there’s no way for players to purchase each expansion separately.

We’ll learn more about the untitled second expansion, which will be available this Fall, at a later date.