Daily Debate: Should There Be Underwater Swimming in Breath of the Wild 2?
Posted on January 25 2021 by Charles Xavier
If you asked me what my favorite transformation mask is from Majora’s Mask, I’d respond that it’s the Zora’s Mask, hands down. What really made me enjoy it was the underwater swimming in the original version of the game. I would spend hours swimming at high speeds through Great Bay with no real objective in mind, and it was a lot of fun! From that point on I always wanted future 3D Zelda games to have underwater exploration. But besides Majora’s Mask, only Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword went on to feature underwater swimming. Breath of the Wild could have been the best representation visually of underwater exploration, but it was noticeably missing. Its upcoming sequel could rectify this, but would it work out well?
The issues with underwater segments in past Zelda games was not only the lack of visual awe, but also how sporadic rewards were found to make the dive worthwhile. Breath of the Wild was great with keeping its world engaging, so I could imagine underwater exploration in the sequel to be the best version of it in any Zelda game, weaving a nice balance of diving simply for the scenic atmosphere, as well as for some type of reward.
Would you like to see underwater swimming in Breath of the Wild 2? Would it be a worthwhile addition to a game where there will likely be hundreds of hours worth of content without the addition of explorable areas underwater? Let us know in the comments below!
Featured Image: v-0-3
Charles is a Senior Editor at Zelda Dungeon. He is a Visual Development artist focused on enviroments and pitch paintings. Check out his Instagram and Twitter to see his latest artworks, a lot of which is Zelda fan art! His favorite candy is Skittles – he feels the world should know this.
