Breath of the Wild fans are making expansive mods while waiting for the sequel

polygon.com:

After nearly a year since the last update for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s still-unnamed sequel, Nintendo recently announced it will delay the game’s release until spring 2023. Good things, it seems, come to those who wait.

And then there are Zelda fans who decide to make their own games instead.

Take, for example, Jannik Wagner, who goes by Waikuteru online. He and others have used their coding skills to embed mods in Breath of the Wild and share them with the Zelda community — with mods ranging from mechanic enhancements to outlandishly silly avatars. At first, making Breath of the Wild mods provided a way for Wagner to extend the enjoyment of his favorite game. But now, the modder’s work is gaining enough online attention to make him into something of a fan icon.

Second Wind, a hobbyist project that’s powered by Wagner and over 50 other Zelda fans, is the mother of all Breath of the Wild mods. Rivaling even Nintendo’s successful Champion’s Ballad DLC, this super-mod is meaty enough that Nintendo could sell it and fans wouldn’t bat an eye. It adds content including new difficulty settings, bosses, weapons, quests, and a never-before-seen town.

A close friend of Wagner’s approached him some time ago to help take the reins of the project, and Wagner led the charge in programming the camera work, game events, background music, and sound effects. Last year, he created a new mini-project in Second Wind, a potion shop with an NPC called Nancy. The shop allows players to buy elixirs (programmed as items) with rupees and materials. If the elixirs are purchased at night, their effects multiply. His other Second Wind mini-mod is a town called Ordon Village, complete with its own main and side quests.

While