By this level, the Zelda timeline is such a convoluted tangle of alternate realities that if you happen to had been to attract it out, you’d find yourself with a London Underground map.
That’s why the Hyrule Warriors video games can provide a welcome slice of aid. Each the unique Hyrule Warriors on Wii U and its Swap sequel Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity are thought-about non-canon, with each messing round with time journey to create enjoyable ‘what if’ situations the place gamers can loosen up with out having to fret about whether or not it matches into the Fallen Hero Timeline, or the way it takes place in relation to The Minish Cap.
Whereas the third entry, Nintendo Swap 2‘s Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment, additionally offers with time journey, this time Nintendo and Koei Tecmo have determined it’s canon, primarily as a result of the time journey in query this time is the legit form which really occurred within the story – particularly, the bit in Tears of the Kingdom the place Zelda encounters Ganon, prompts her Secret Stone and by accident travels again in time to the creation of Hyrule.
It’s right here the place she meets Rauru and Sonia, the primary King and Queen of Hyrule, and witnesses first-hand the Imprisoning Struggle, the place Ganondorf makes an attempt his first assault and takeover of Hyrule Citadel. After all, if you happen to’ve already performed via Tears of the Kingdom and unlocked the 18 reminiscence cutscenes by discovering the Dragon’s Tear objects on the map, you’ll already know all this.
Get able to understand it once more, then, as a result of Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment is actually a ‘Director’s Lower’ of kinds of this plot, shedding extra gentle on Zelda’s time spent previously, the opposite characters she encounters there, and the way every part (in all probability) matches collectively within the general Legend of Zelda timeline.
Provided that the story was beforehand already advised in about 45 minutes’ price of Tears of the Kingdom cut-scenes, Age of Imprisonment additionally provides some side-plots which weren’t seen within the 2023 recreation however do finally contribute to the principle conclusion. Probably the most notable of those entails a brand new character referred to as Calamo – he’s a younger Korok who finds and befriends a personality identified solely because the Mysterious Assemble, a wierd automaton who seems to be partly manufactured from Zonai gadgets and may rework.
Calamo can initially be fairly annoying – he’s very a lot the comedian aid in Age of Imprisonment and if you happen to performed a ingesting recreation the place you took a shot each time he referred to the Mysterious Assemble as his “bud” you’d be getting your abdomen pumped earlier than you even attain the midway mark – however over time he does finally turn into some of the endearing characters within the recreation, and is all however assured a fanbase, mark my phrases.
When it comes to the precise gameplay itself, Age of Imprisonment is undoubtedly nonetheless a Warriors recreation – for the uninitiated, Koei Tecmo’s Dynasty Warriors sequence has had quite a few licensed spin-offs for the likes of One Piece, Dragon Quest, Hearth Emblem, Persona and these Zelda-themed Hyrule Warriors titles – nevertheless it additionally feels a bit like a recreation attempting much more than its predecessors to enchantment to these not all in favour of its hack-and-slash rules.
Whereas the sport’s missions are nonetheless undoubtedly stuffed with swarms of enemies a whole bunch deep, they nearly really feel arbitrary right here. Whereas gamers can nonetheless wade into them with screen-filling combos, popping dozens of unhealthy guys up into the air at a time, it’s additionally fairly simple – a minimum of within the recreation’s default issue – to only run previous them and head straight for the subsequent massive enemy you do really need to beat to proceed.
“Age of Imprisonment is undoubtedly nonetheless a Warriors recreation… nevertheless it additionally feels a bit like a recreation attempting much more than its predecessors to enchantment to these not all in favour of its hack-and-slash rules.”
If you do attain these bigger enemies, there’s fortunately extra depth to the fight than merely hammering the Y and X buttons to carry out varied combos till your Particular meter is constructed up and you may unleash a strong assault with the A button.
Every character has their very own expertise, which can be utilized when a bigger enemy performs a strong assault to counter them. These assaults are telegraphed with crimson vitality, and will come as a splash, an aerial assault, a protect block, or a projectile assault. When the transfer begins, you must maintain R – which briefly freezes time – and determine which of your distinctive expertise is the fitting one to counter their assault, gorgeous them.
You can even gather and use Zonai gadgets whereas battling. A few of these have related results to the distinctive expertise, that means in case your character doesn’t have a ability that, for instance, can cope with shields, you should utilize a bomb as a substitute. Zonai gadgets deplete a battery meter, so you must prime that up whereas combating.
On prime of all that, the Mysterious Assemble (and sure different characters) may use Fuse Assaults, the place you may briefly fuse collected supplies to his weapon for a greater diversity of assaults. Add to this the Sync Strikes – the place every mixture of characters has their very own distinctive tag-team particular transfer in the event that they each construct up a sync meter – and there’s a variety of selection right here.
It’s particularly pleasing throughout bigger battles whenever you’re swapping between 4 characters, making use of all their completely different expertise and teaming them up when wanted. This additionally goes some option to making up for the truth that, to be frank, this has the least thrilling roster of the three Hyrule Warriors video games.
In a means, that’s comprehensible – as a result of Age of Imprisonment is definitely canon and set through the basis of Hyrule, Koei Tecmo can’t simply chuck Tingle in there for amusing. The primary roster consists of King Rauru and his six sages – Zelda, Rauru’s sister Mineru, Rito elder Raphica, Goron chief Agraston, Zora queen Qia and Gerudo warrior Ardi – in addition to the aforementioned Mysterious Assemble and his Korok ‘bud’ Calamo.
“If you do attain these bigger enemies, there’s fortunately extra depth to the fight than merely hammering the Y and X buttons to carry out varied combos till your Particular meter is constructed up”
Because it’s set throughout a time when there aren’t many different distinctive characters round, nonetheless, the usually massive Warriors roster all through the principle story is padded out with a number of Rito, Zora, Goron, Gerudo, and Hylian fighters, nearly all of whom are met right here for the primary time and forgotten nearly as rapidly.
Given the primary recreation’s time-travelling silliness had gamers combating because the likes of Midna from Twilight Princess, Younger Hyperlink from Ocarina of Time, Fi from Skyward Sword, Cranium Child from Majora’s Masks and splendidly unusual inclusions like a Cucco (the Zelda universe’s rooster equal) and Hyperlink’s feminine alter-ego Linkle, to now have a moderately conservative roster of a number of members of the standard Hyrule races is a bit underwhelming.
Hyperlink’s not even in right here, although it’s clear that the Mysterious Assemble, with its related swordfighting capacity, has been added in an try to make up for this. The Assemble’s capacity to rework additionally provides some selection to proceedings, most notably within the kind of some particular flying levels, which rework the sport into an on-rails shoot ‘em up rapidly.
It’s additionally price noting that whereas there are some new subplots right here that actually broaden the lore and train gamers extra concerning the earliest days of Hyrule, a variety of this story might be acquainted to Zelda followers who’ve already performed Tears of the Kingdom. Plenty of cutscenes – together with arguably essentially the most pivotal of the lot – are virtually equivalent to among the reminiscence cutscenes from Tears of the Kingdom.
So long as you’re okay with a Hyrule Warriors recreation which is a bit more restrained and takes its dealing with of the supply materials extra critically than its predecessors, there’s nonetheless a good time available right here. The fight is the most effective within the Hyrule Warriors sequence thus far, and when you’ve reached the credit, about 18-20 hours in, there’s nonetheless a hell of quite a bit to do due to a big map crammed with side-quests, unlockable characters, and different missions.
The tweaks to its gameplay may nonetheless not be sufficient to utterly convert gamers who simply can’t get together with the Warriors ‘ hack-and-slash mentality, however gamers who click on with the fight will discover a wealth to do right here, each throughout and after the principle story.
