We haven’t seen a lot of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s still-unnamed sequel, but at E3 2021, Nintendo did show off a gameplay trailer for it. It was a pretty brief one at under two minutes long, but it was also packed with several interesting glimpses at new gameplay mechanics. Now, newly discovered patents filed by Nintendo, as reported by Gamereactor, may have shed new light on what these new mechanics will be.
The three patents detail mechanics for phasing upwards through lofted terrain, a rewind mechanic, and expanded free-falling. The first describes the ability to free travel upwards from the ground and phase through a lofted platform or suspended terrain directly above, as seen in the E3 trailer. The second patent a rewind function, which allows players to target specific objects and reverse their motion backwards through time- we saw Link doing this to a big, spiky ball rolling down a hill in the trailer as well.
Meanwhile, the third patent focuses on free-falling, which was another mechanic that the E3 trailer focused on quite a bit. If the patent is anything to go by, there will be several kinds of free-fall, including normal falls, diving, low-velocity falls, and high-velocity falls. Interestingly, the diagram also shows the player jumping backward through the air, facing upward. Meanwhile, it also looks like shooting your bow while you fall through the air will also be possible, in several different positions.
You can check out diagrams from each of the three patents below.
These all largely fall in line with what brief glimpses we saw of Breath of the Wild 2 in its E3 trailer, and if these mechanics are in the game as their patents describe them, we’ll probably be looking at some pretty interesting new twists in terms of both traversal and puzzle design, among other things- and that, after all, is something Nintendo has said it is aiming to do with the sequel.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s sequel is currently targeting a 2022 launch. As for when we’ll be seeing the game next, rumours have suggested that that won’t happen until at least E3 2022.
