Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity looks to act as an action-packed prequel to the widely acclaimed Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Taking the notorious 1 vs 100 gameplay style that made Dynasty Warriors such a hit, the new game is canon to the Zelda timeline and sees players take on the role of the Champions as they try to protect Hyrule prior to the events of Breath of the Wild.
It seems the idea for the new Hyrule Warriors to act as a precursor to the most recent mainline Zelda game wasn't made on the fly, however. According to an interview between Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma and IGN, Breath of the Wild's director, Hidemaro Fujibayashi, personally pitched the project.
"It was Fujibayashi-san, the director of [Breath of the Wild], who initially came up with the concept," Aonuma tells IGN when asked who first envisioned Age of Calamity. According to the producer, Fujibayashi believed that "telling the untold story of the Great Calamity... would only be possible with a system like Warriors where players could come together to fight against vast armies." He allegedly prepared a proposal for Anonuma who went on to discuss the concept with Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity's producer Yosuke Hayashi. Before long, the plans had been laid out, and the newest game in the Hyrule Warriors series was put into production.
For those who played Breath of the Wild, it's clear why Fujibayashi felt there was a lot of potential in an action-packed narrative precursor. The apocalyptic events that lead to the deserted world presented in the RPG are hard to explore through flashbacks alone, with a lot of players wondering how and why the Champions were defeated so decisively by Ganon and his minions. Age of Calamity investigates that part of the timeline while also offering the large-scale battles often referenced during Breath of the Wild's campaign, making it a fitting exploration of the game's lore.
Of course, Age of Calamity is far from the only release set in the Breath of the Wild timeline for fans to look forward to. Breath of the Wild 2 is currently in the works, with the trailer hinting that it'll likely be a much darker take on the series than its 2017 predecessor. Information about the game is currently pretty scarce, with Nintendo hinting it could be some time until fans know more about Link and Zelda's newest adventure. Until then, however, players can get their hands on Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity right now, allowing them to uncover the events leading up to Breath of the Wild's epic campaign.
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity is out now on Nintendo Switch.
Source: IGN
