After a surprise announcement before Tokyo Game Show, the sequel to 2014's Hyrule Warriors and prequel to 2017's The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, is almost here. The third collaboration between Nintendo and Koei Tecmo, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity is set 100 years before the events of Breath of the Wild and follows Link, Zelda, and the Champions of Hyrule as they wage war with Calamity Ganon.
Age of Calamity follows the original Hyrule Warriors and the Fire Emblem spin-off Fire Emblem Warriors in blending the world of Nintendo's games with the gameplay elements of Koei Tecmo and Omega Force's Dynasty Warriors series. While the original Hyrule Warriors was well received as a cross-over between the Zelda franchise and the action game combat, this entry is far more ambitious as it acts as a prequel to the franchise's biggest entry in years and will likely be crucial to the events of Breath of the Wild's upcoming sequel.
Thankfully, early reviews have indicated that, minus some technical hurdles, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamityacts as a good sequel to the original game while also representing the elements exclusive to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild cleverly in the context of a Warriors game. The game is currently sitting at a score of 79 on both Metacritic and OpenCritic, respectively. Here's what reviewers are saying;
IGN (Cam Shea)
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity offers a welcome trip back to a world I’ve clocked hundreds of hours in. Its hugely varied roster of characters, solid combat mechanics, fun progression and clever adaptation of Breath of the Wild’s vision of Hyrule is a joy to play and discover. While there are some missed characterisation opportunities, Age of Calamity is still a blast from start to finish.
Score: 9/10
Screen Rant (Scott Baird)
Whether it's sleek combat, character development, or a scattershot but intriguing plot, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity is packed full of exciting content. It's exactly the type of thing that can hold over fans until the Breath of the Wild sequel is finally released and deserves a look even if its genre is a little more niche to some.
Score: 4/5
USgamer (Nadia Oxford)
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity isn't The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2, but it's a great musou game with a lot of content for starved fans of Breath of the Wild. Even if you're a Zelda fan who can take or leave musou games, Age of Calamity is worth taking. However, occasional slowdown and frame drops, especially in handheld mode on the Switch Lite, make it clear the Switch is aging quickly.
Score: 4/5
Game Informer (Ben Reeves)
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity looks a lot like Breath of the Wild, but it lacks the exploration and puzzle-solving elements that define the mainline Legend of Zelda series. Age of Calamity may not resemble a traditional Zelda game, but it’s not a bad time. The action is repetitive, but also relaxed and comfortable. It trades on your love for Nintendo’s classic franchise, and I was happy for the excuse to return to this version of Hyrule. I still feel like I'm chasing Breath of the Wild's high, and Age of Calamity is a small solace.
Score: 7.5/10
GameSpot (Suriel Vazquez)
The main reason I dove into Age of Calamity is because I love its world and the history it tries to remember. So for a game to retread them and proclaim to have something new to say when its inspiration's most striking moments come from what it leaves unsaid is a big ask. But my problem with Age of Calamity isn't that it fails to live up to that responsibility. It's that it doesn't even try. It doesn't have the courage to see things through.
Score: 6/10
Judging from these reviewer comments, while Hyrule Warriors' gameplay does not come close to matching the scope in or nuance of Breath of the Wild, the shift in genre leads the game to be one of the finer Warriors (or Musou) games to release in the past few years. Many reviewers have also pointed towards the game's story, a major selling point of Age of Calamity, as one of the game's weakest elements, with some shifts in narrative direction dividing critics. Thankfully fans will not have to wait long to judge the narrative for themselves as the game releases in just two days.
Dynasty Warriors is no stranger to franchise spin-offs, with Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers and One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4 preceding Age of Calamity in 2020 alone. The franchise has also crossed over with anime and manga properties such as Attack on Titan and Berserk in recent years. Most recently, Dynasty Warriors 9: Empires, a remaster based on the strategy mechanics of Dynasty Warriors 9, will be released in early 2021 for current-gen and next-gen platforms.
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity releases on November 20th 2020, exclusively for Nintendo Switch.
