With the recent release of a new Hyrule Warriors title, speculation has started going wild for what Nintendo has planned with Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2. While it’s still unclear how Age of Calamity will influence the next Zelda title exactly, looking back at some of the details of the original could show how the developer could push the envelope when moving forward.
One key feature from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild that the next title should take into consideration, and make significant changes to, is the horse mounting and stable system that lets Link collect specific mounts. However, while the original stayed relatively sane when it came to which of these mounts players could hold onto and call from stables at a later date, the DLC has shown how strange the series can go.
Specifically, what Nintendo should do while moving forward on the Breath of the Wild series is allow for a wider variety of mounts that can be kept at the stables. The original game has a number of creatures that can be temporarily mounted, even allowing Link to keep them indefinitely as long as the player never moves through a load screen while not mounted. Some of these mounts even show Legend of Zelda at its goofiest, but the game simply won’t let players hang onto them for longer than the few minutes before moving onto the next mission.
The second DLC pack to come to Breath of the Wild brought with it a whole new storyline, alongside one of the best mounts available in the game, the Fifth Divine Beast. This new addition from Champion’s Ballad brought the new mount in the form of a motorcycle that eats raw materials in order to run, giving players a mount with a higher speed and tighter control than any horse in the game. Not only is the Fifth Divine Beast a terrific mount, it’s just as silly as some of the other strange monsters and animals that Link can otherwise “tame” throughout Breath of the Wild.
A ridiculous motorcycle isn’t even the only way that the DLC packs improved the mounts in Breath of the Wild, with the original set of updates bringing the Ancient Saddle that lets Link summon his horse to his location. Between these two additions, one being a much needed quality of life update, the DLC has already completely revamped the way that mounts work in the version of Hyrule that arguably needs them the most. However, there is still another step that Breath of the Wild 2 can take to use existing features in the original and make the next title really stand out.
One of the more obvious choices of mounts that players may want to keep after obtaining is the Lord of the Mountain, a difficult to find and tame spiritual being that has a higher speed and stamina than any horse in the game. The special horse himself, also named Satori, is one of the most notorious Easter Eggs in Breath of the Wild, but anytime a player tries to take them to the stable, the game won’t allow Link to keep the mount indefinitely. This means that every time a player wants to take the Lord of the Mountain around for a ride, they need to wait for the right time of day, in the right weather, in a very specific spot on the map.
Of course, there are other things that can be mounted that can’t be stabled as well, including bears, stalhorses, and deer, none of which are able to be kept permanently. The in-universe explanation for why players can’t keep dangerous creatures and other alternate mounts is perfectly acceptable, and the helps make the stablemaster a more fun character to interact with. Still, adding variety to different ways that players can explore Breath of the Wild‘s Hyrule could help establish the sequel as its own improvement on the series worth calling itself a totally new experience.
In terms of improving the series, this could also be a chance to evolve the lives of the many characters from Breath of the Wild, with the owner of the Monster Shop’s continued storyline possibly being one of the most interesting. Kilton, the Monster Parts Merchant, has a very small roll in the original game, seeming to act more as a reference to the happy mask salesman than anything else. However, taking this character to the logical next step could be exactly the solution Nintendo needs in order to make some of the mounts a permanent fixture in Link’s arsenal in the next title.
This would be the best way to both take the character forward and give players who invested in Kilton a reward that carries over into Breath of the Wild 2. Specifically, Nintendo should keep his mysterious, travelling mechanics where he travels around in a giant balloon, but expand the shop from a small tent that lifts into the air to a massive stable that pushes the original humor even further. From there, this would be the perfect character to take care of Link’s most dangerous mounts, ignoring the curse of the Lord of the Mountain and having the knowhow necessary to keep a stalhorse alive during the day in his shaded tent.
The biggest ask from Nintendo of all of these demands for new mounts that players can keep and call to their side at any time would be to give Link a way to connect with Lynels. Fans of the series quickly recognized Breath of the Wild‘s Lynels when they first came across the monsters as an enemy that Link has fought against since the very first Legend of Zelda. So, when players were first given the opportunity to mount these creatures, it seemed to be preparing for a newly defining moment in the new era of Zelda that Breath of the Wild has been setting up for.
This may be a difficult wish to grant, especially considering how intelligent the monsters seem to be with the fact that they hunt with special arrows, can arc shots to rain down on Link, and aren’t completely fooled by monster masks. However, given that the enemies can already be mounted, it could be possible that Link, or Zelda, could make an arrangement with the monsters by either feeding it or talking two it, in order to come to an aligned arrangement. Furthermore, it would just be awesome to ride across Hyrule Field on the back of a Golden Lynel in Breath of the Wild 2 during some epic battle against Ganon and his forces.
Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 is reportedly in development for Switch.
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