Hyrule Warriors returns in new Zelda spinoff Age of Calamity
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild remains not only one of the finest games on the Nintendo Switch, but one of the greatest games in the Zelda franchise. The glorious open-world adventure began with the hero, Link, awakening from a decades-long slumber, before charging players with travelling the length and breadth of the ruined Kingdom of Hyrule to uncover what had caused the downfall of the once-vibrant land.
While Breath of the Wild offers up some answers along the way, players will now be able to live through the fall of Hyrule themselves, with the surprise announcement of Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity.
Set 100 years before Breath of the Wild, it will depict the rise of Calamity Ganon and the efforts of Hyrule’s forces to hold it back. These events were touched on in flashback in the core game, but Age of Calamity will mark the first time players will be able to live out this slice of Zelda history.
The game will be developed by Koei Tecmo, the studio behind the Dynasty Warriors series and the previous Hyrule Warriors instalments. For the unfamiliar, the long-running franchise typically sees one legendary fighter mowing down hordes of enemies single handedly.
While earlier entries have leaned more into the button-bashing school of gameplay, allowing players to cathartically swat away enemies, Nintendo says that in Age of Calamity, “not only will players hack and slash their way through swarms of enemies to defend Hyrule, they will also solve environmental puzzles, unlock weapons and skills, craft with gathered materials, visit shops to obtain items and use the power of the Sheikah Slate, which fans will recognise from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.”
While a fully playable list of characters has not yet been revealed, it appears an armoured Link, Princess Zelda herself, and the four Champions players met in Breath of the Wild – Urbosa, Revali, Daruk, and Mipha – will be featured. Unlike the earlier Hyrule Warriors, which opted for a more traditional Zelda aesthetic, Age of Calamity keeps the same beautiful cel-shaded look as the base game.
Koei Tecmo also worked more closely with Nintendo to create this entry. “Unlike the previous Hyrule Warriors games, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity was developed by working closely with the Zelda team in every step of the process, including gameplay direction, graphics, world, and all dialogue,” said Yosuke Hayashi, Warriors producer at Koei Tecmo Games.
“While we maintained the distinct gameplay of the Warriors series with exciting ‘1 versus 1000’ battles and a wide variety of playable characters,” Hayashi continued, “this will be the only game that lets you experience the world 100 years prior to the events of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild first hand.”
Anyone hoping for news on the direct sequel to Breath of the Wild – originally announced in 2019 – may be disappointed though. Development has been slow, and in the announcement video for Age of Calamity, Eiji Aonuma – series producer for The Legend of Zelda – said “in order to make the vast world you enjoyed exploring in the original game even more impressive, the team is working hard on its development, so you’ll have to wait a bit longer before we can provide more updates.”
Age of Calamity is shaping up as a narratively important chapter in the Zelda universe, then, and perhaps the closest fans will get to a new entry in the Breath of the Wild saga for a while. The game will be coming to Nintendo Switch on 20 November, and players who pre-order the game on the Nintendo eShop will receive a unique bonus weapon for Link – the ‘Lucky Ladle’, allowing you to beat down enemies with a soup spoon.
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