‘Breath of the Wild 2’ job postings hint at fresh new look for the sequel

Nintendo hasn’t offered up any more details about the greatly anticipated sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild since it first confirmed the title was in development at E3 2019. But the company has been quietly ramping up production for BotW 2, and even hinted at a big facelift coming to the franchise in the six months since its spooky trailer was first revealed.

Nintendo Japan recently announced it’s looking for new talent to join the BotW 2 team as terrain and level designers, to name a few. Monolith Soft, a Nintendo-owned developer has just put out a new crop of freelance openings at its new Tokyo studio.

Monolith assisted Nintendo in the development of the original Breath of the Wild, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, and Splatoon 2 over the past three years. The developer is looking for character modelers, concept artists, scenario planners, and map modelers for what is likely BotW 2.

What do these new jobs say about BotW 2?

These new positions suggest that Nintendo is rather far along in the development process for BotW 2 and has tapped its network of studios to help bring the final product together. The listings also hint that the sequel could feature all-new enemies, more dungeons, and an additional playable character.

Two previous Nintendo job openings mentioned the company was looking for terrain designers to create “field dungeons” and hidden bosses in the upcoming sequel. There is some overlap in the roles Nintendo and Monolith Soft are hiring for, which could be a sign that Nintendo is hiring senior staff to lead the design, while Monolith will work to make that vision a reality.

The game’s trailer seemed to take inspiration from past Legend of Zelda installments, like Majora’s Mask and A Link Between Worlds, which also saw Hyrule engulfed by a dark and twisted dimension. We could see Link traverse a corrupted version of the world from the original game. BotW 2 has also been rumored to be the first game in the franchise to include Zelda as a playable character.

Nintendo producer Eiji Aonuma has answered cryptically when asked about the potential for co-op play in BotW 2. He told Kotaku he couldn’t confirm how many playable characters would be in the game, but didn’t rule out the possibility in a subsequent interview with IGN.

When could BotW 2 be released?

The BotW 2 release date remains elusive as fans await Nintendo’s next update. The original Breath of the Wild took 300 developers nearly five years to build. Nintendo first announced the game in 2013, four years before it came out. BotW 2 might be done a little earlier, since it’s expected to run on the same Switch hardware and the graphics seen in the trailer are almost identical to the original.

March 3 will be the third anniversary of the first game, which would make a perfect time for a release date announcement. In other words, a new BotW 2 reveal could be right around the corner.

Breath of the Wild 2 is currently under development and coming to the Nintendo Switch … eventually.