Zelda: Breath Of The Wild 2

Last year Nintendo coasted to recordbreaking Switch sales, largely off the back of Animal Crossing: New Horizons becoming the quintessential lockdown game. Yet the COVID pandemic otherwise contributed to surely its weakest software lineup in many a year, as it struggled to adjust its traditional methods of operation to accommodate working from home. Not that any Breath Of The Wild sequel was ever seriously likely to be released before the end of the year (though, decent as it may have been, a new Hyrule Warriors can’t have been its original strategy to deal with the twin threat of fresh, attention-grabbing hardware from Microsoft and Sony).

While at the time of writing Nintendo has yet to show its hand for 2021, there are a couple of certainties: that it has games in reserve, and that it will happily revisit older ones to fill any gaps caused by delays. Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury, due a fortnight after this magazine hits store shelves, is the latest of those, and there’s even a suggestion we could get a Skyward Sword remake – though that game’s motion controls would naturally need a total overhaul in order for it to work on Switch. With all this in mind, plus Monster Hunter: Rise’s March release sure to shift units in Japan, there’s no need to rush here.

Given that and the undoubtedly enormous pressure of delivering the sequel to one of the best and most influential games of recent times, a lateyear release seems most likely for what producer Eiji Aonuma has hinted will be the darkest game in the Zelda series to date. We’re happy to wait.