Review of Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity: A meritorious prequel

Nintendo has once again requested Omega Force to bring its Musou-style hack-and-slash action to the franchise in order to pique everyone's interest in the impending The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild sequel. This time, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity tries to be a fitting Breath of the Wild companion piece, and it mostly succeeds in that regard rather than being a celebration of every game in one bundle.

A little guardian goes 100 years into the past in this Breath of the Wild prequel as monsters assault Hyrule Castle. While a swarm of Bokoblins pursues Impa during the fight, Link stumbles across her. The little guardian wakes and hurls a gadget in Link's direction, causing a massive tower to erupt violently from the earth. Princess Zelda examines the little guardian before she and Link and Impa go in search of the four heroes who can use the Divine Beasts to battle the troops of the dormant Calamity Ganon.

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity does a surprisingly decent job of setting the scene as a prequel, and I like how much more attention it pays to the individual backstories of each champion. It's a rather epic story overall, however at times it may be a little overly theatrical, especially when it comes to Zelda's fears around the halfway point.

It's a really nice presentation all around. The Age of Calamity soundtrack is more symphonic and expansive in scope, with less focus on power chords. Even yet, after playing for many hundred hours, I started to really miss the guitars in almost every other Omega Force Musou game, but I still value the change of pace. However, the way the English voice acting was inserted into the scenes confused me. Sometimes there are lengthy, drawn-out gaps in discussions that make them seem awkward.

But in terms of gameplay and graphic design, Age of Calamity emulates Breath of the Wild significantly more well. The figures, who seem a little washed out, give the setting a bright, clean vibe. Additionally, every goal and challenge is laden with enemies that cleverly use Nintendo's iconic designs. Age of Calamity's user interface is simple and shows just the information that is necessary; it probably wouldn't have worked to have it as minimalistic as it was in Breath of the Wild.

The basic framework of each mission is the same as you would expect from a Musou game: go to a point, take control of the outposts, kill the boss monster, and then repeat the process. It may be a bit annoying when adversaries suddenly materialise out of nowhere, but the concept has been successful for decades, and there's nothing quite like taking on legions of enemies even when you are far outnumbered.

Similar: Our Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity characters guide introduces you to the cast.

Combat is where Age of Calamity shines, or at least it does depending on the character you choose. You may execute special combos to destroy weaker opponents by mixing light and heavy assaults. In that you can quickly swap between characters, it's not too unlike from Hyrule Warriors. While there are still many monsters whose composure must be broken before you can defeat them, Breath of the Wild is homaged well when you use magic and the Sheikah Slate skills to locate weak spots.

A standout feature are the bosses, who call for strategies and abilities more often seen in 3D Zelda games than in Dynasty Warriors. After sending thousands-strong hordes of monsters exploding into clouds of smoke, they're a refreshing change of pace.

Certain characters may be played in different ways, so you're not limited to always employing the same attacks. Link is the best live illustration of this, as he may use one of three distinct weapon kinds in combat, each having a unique combo string. I was able to understand how each of the roster's various attack techniques for the most part, although sometimes I had trouble maximising a character's abilities.

An Impa, Revali, and Zelda had problems for every Link, Urbosa, and Mipha whose combinations were easier to use for the most amount of harm. While Revali and Zelda are initially ineffective, Impa breaks up the flow of fight by relying on clones to deliver the greatest damage. Thankfully, except from a few attainable tasks, Age of Calamity doesn't really care which characters you select.

In some missions in Age of Calamity, you may take command of a Divine Beast. These exist as dreams of power. In a single volley, any titan in the game is capable of dealing hundreds of opponents with sheer brutality. That's not to suggest adversaries don't try to fight back. But when they launch fireballs or other explosive bric-a-brac only to have a shield foil their goals, their attempts seem, at worst, weak. Playing these feels fantastic at first, but after some thought, I thought the wins in these sections weren't justified.

While I like the fighting generally, I felt that Age of Calamity fell short in a major sense when it came to the execution of the action scenes. Age of Calamity struggles to maintain a consistent frame rate, dropping to single digits when the action becomes too intense for the Switch to handle, regardless of whether the Switch is docked or in handheld mode. This is a dismal performance when you take into account that Age of Calamity seems to have a basic frame rate of thirty.

There are a tonne of side objectives and tasks to do outside of missions, and Age of Calamity isn't afraid to throw everything at you at once. At least 10 side tasks and a few challenges will become visible after finishing a mission, much like when a bad boss dumps a large stack of documents on your desk at work. A good chunk of the side activities in the game are basically pointless filler, but that's mostly because there are times when I have to grind for things that don't always show up, like the last Hinox toenail.

Similar: View our Guide to Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity quests .

Most of the unlockables in these missions and challenges are concealed. Every character has a variety of upgrades, including combo extenders, extra lives, and special bars. As you finish tasks by turning in resources and equipment, shops and other establishments will also open, giving you more challenges and goodies along the route. Though there isn't much variation in the task circumstances, there are an astonishing number of missions and difficulties overall. I would contend that achieving 100% in Age of Calamity may be even more laborious than in Hyrule Warriors, contrary to what some may have thought.

Overall, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity is a really good game, severely hindered only by its performance issues and the way it incorporates voice translations. But, the closer you examine, the more apparent the flaw is. From the outside, it seems to be a solid Musou spectacle that meets all the requirements for fighting and does a much better job than Hyrule Warriors at emulating the look of a prior Legend of Zelda game. If you want to see everything, there may still be too much to accomplish; you probably won't be done by the time Breath of the Wild 2 comes out.