The most anticipated game of 2022 that probably won’t come until 2023

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is one of my favorite games of all time, so I’m looking forward to its sequel. But despite Nintendo announcing the game at E3 2019, I don’t think we’ll get to play it until 2023.

At E3 2021, Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma said that his team is targeting a 2022 release date. But he did not sound confident about that at all. And these days, even the most concrete release dates often get shoved back to give developers more time to polish up their projects. With that in mind, I’m fully expecting that we won’t get Breath of the Wild 2 until 2023.

And yet if you were to ask me what my most anticipated game of the next year is, I’d still answer Breath of the Wild 2. Because what if Nintendo does get it out next holiday? I mean, after all, how long can it possibly take? And Aonuma did say 2022, so maybe that means it could come out even earlier. Who says I won’t get to play the new Zelda in the summer? Or what about March — oh, god. I’m doing it. I’m getting my hopes up.

Well, if this is the only way that 2022 disappoints me, I’ll call that a win.