Yesterday, Nintendo came out swinging with its E3 presentation, showing off a trailer for the long-anticipated Breath of the Wild 2. But amidst the explosion of new fan art and fan speculation, you might have noticed that Nintendo isn’t calling this game BotW 2 like everyone else is.
In an interview with IGN, Nintendo Treehouse’s Bill Trinen said Nintendo’s keeping the name a secret for now.
“As for why we’re holding back on the name, you’ll just have to stay tuned because, obviously, Zelda names are kind of important,” he said to IGN. “Those subtitles…they start to give little bits of hints about maybe what’s going to happen.”
Read More: Breath Of The Wild 2 Looks A Lot Like Skyward Sword, Huh?
Though the Legend of Zelda is filled with direct sequels, the popular action RPG series hasn’t had a numbered sequel title since 1987’s Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. Since then, the Zelda series has relied on subtitles rather than numbers to name its games. Wind Waker, Majora’s Mask, Skyward Sword, and more all do a decent job of hinting at what kind of themes to expect. It makes sense then that Nintendo’s keeping BotW 2’s real name under wraps to preserve its mystery for a little while longer.
After the BotW 2 E3 2021trailer released, fans dissected the video, speculating that perhaps BotW 2 might involve time travel. There’s also reason to believe that the person we see in some of the shots isn’t Link but the eponymous Zelda herself. Perhaps the subtitle Nintendo wants to hide has something to do with those theories.
For now, Nintendo says BotW 2 will suffice. “It’s natural for people to want to find a shorthand way to frame it,” Trinen said. Officially, Nintendo calls the game “The Sequel To Breath of the Wild,” but that’s too much of a mouthful to say casually. Maybe we’ll get the real (and hopefully shorter) name soon.