Zelda: Breath of the Wild Has an Alternate Ending
By Weston Albert 22 January 2017
Veteran Nintendo producer Eiji Aonuma reveals that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will feature an alternate ending that players will have to unlock.
It is common for RPGs to have alternate endings to their narratives, allowing players to influence the events in a game based on their decisions. Games like The Witcher 3 can have multiple endings with sweeping differences, while others can lack impact, like Mass Effect 3’s endings. No matter how impactful they may feel, multiple endings are now an expectation when it comes to RPGs.
And it appears that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, as it is pushed more into the RPG genre, will also feature an alternate ending. Kotaku UK reports that, in an interview with IGN Portugal, famous producer and manger of The Legend of Zelda series Eiji Aonuma said that players of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild may find a unique ending in the game.
“There is an alternate ending if you meet certain criteria. If you do a few things, you may see a different ending.”
Obviously, with Breath of the Wild set to release on March 3rd, there’s currently no way to know what that alternate ending may be. And while fans have been able to decipher the game’s backstory, very little is known about the narrative, let alone what an alternate ending could include.
From Aonuma’s statement, it sounds as though there will be two endings in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – one main ending and one alternate. While it would be cool to see the series adopt the divergent story paths that exist in games like The Witcher and Fallout, fans can likely expect something more in line with Batman: Arkham Knight‘s true ending. In the case of Arkham Knight, if players completed all the side quests and collected all the Riddler Trophies, a true ending that built upon the normal ending was unlocked.
Aonuma said players would have to meet “certain criteria” to be able to see the ending, so it is safe to assume that some secrets will be sprinkled across the game’s massive version of Hyrule. It could be collecting enough of an item, completing a certain amount of tasks, or perhaps even activating specific objects or landmarks. But if there’s anything to be sure of, it’s that fans will work very hard to uncover all of the game’s hidden secrets.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild launches March 3rd on the Nintendo Switch and Wii U.
