Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity

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Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity
I think you are now ready. Ready to hear what happened 100 years ago.
Protagonist(s): Link
Zelda
Genre(s): Hack and slash
Platform(s): Nintendo Switch
Release Date: November 20, 2020
Developer(s): Omega Force
Publisher(s): WW: Nintendo
JP: Koei Tecmo
Series: The Legend of Zelda
Dynasty Warriors
Predecessor: Hyrule Warriors (by release date)
Successor: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Alternate Timeline)

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity is a hack and slash game developed by Omega Force and published by Nintendo and Koei Tecmo for the Nintendo Switch and was released on November 20, 2020. It takes place 100 years before the events of the critically acclaimed The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild in an alternate timeline.

Plot

Taking place 100 years before the events of Breath of the Wild, a small Guardian is activated when Princess Zelda awakened her powers for the first-time protecting Link from a Guardian Stalker. It then travels back in time on a mission to protect the princess and to change the fate of Hyrule.

Why It's Anything but Calamity

  1. It's the first spin-off to be canon to the Zelda series. While it takes place before the events of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, the ending possibly creates a timeline that's separate from Breath of the Wild's timeline where Calamity Ganon is successfully sealed away, and the Great Calamity is prevented. Not to mention that the characters who have lost their lives during these events have actually survived thanks to the time-traveling Diminutive Guardian.
  2. There are a variety of characters you get to play as such as Link, Zelda, Impa, Champions Daruk, Mipha, Revali and Urbosa, Hestu, Sidon, Teba, Riju, Yunobo, Master Kohga, the Great Fairies, Terrako, and even Calamity Ganon himself. The DLC adds more characters in the roster which you need to unlock after certain conditions are completed; the first one, EX Pulse of the Ancients introduced the Battle-Tested Guardian, and the second one, EX Guardian of Remembrance brings the duo, Purah & Robbie and even Sooga into the roster. All of these characters offer different play styles, attacks and combos that makes each of them different from the other each other.
    • You can even get to play as the Divine Beasts at some points in the game.
  3. It implements many features from BOTW into this game that makes it feel like it takes place 100 years before said game, such as the ability to change the outfits that Link wears or being able to use the Sheikah Runes for your attacks (see Bad Quality #1).
    • You can also find Koroks and obtain seeds that will be used to increase your weapon inventory just like said game.
    • It fortunately ditches the weapon durability and stamina wheel features.
    • Killing a Blupee rewards you with 100 rupees.
  4. You can change difficulties at any time.
  5. All of the voice actors from BOTW reprise their roles here as their respective characters. Additionally, their performances actually had some improvement from the previous game.
  6. The new character, the Diminutive Guardian/Terrako, is adorable.
  7. Sooga is a well-written character, when he was a young man who was starving, he was saved when Master Kohga gave him a Mighty Banana to save his life and allowed him to join the Yiga Clan. He eventually became his second in-command and is the most active when the Yiga Clan are present. He's proven to be very intelligent and strategic; finding ways to lure his targets out, so he can eliminate them, and with the Yiga Clan at his command he managed to block off roads and disable furnaces when he learns that activating the Sheikah Towers could potentially give away the Yiga Clan Hideout. More than that, Sooga is also the voice of the Yiga Clan in a way; he knows better than any other Zelda villain, and he brings a nod to the previous Zelda games when he is aware that Ganon can't be controlled by mortals, which never ended well with previous Zelda villains that tried to do so. The scene where Astor betrays them by sacrificing the footsoldiers to revive the Blights reveals how loyal Sooga is to Master Kohga which helps to humanize him. Their interactions made their comradeship believable.
  8. A lot of humorous moments, such as Link eating a Prime Rock Roast that Daruk gives him with a straight face, the snark-to-snark combat between Daruk and Revali, The Yiga Clan running away in fear of a Molduga and later from a Guardian at Akkala Citadel which activated and quickly malfunctioned once they were out of the building, Mipha panicking when she almost lets slip of her feelings for Link right in front of the latter, and there is also the fight between Terrako and Impa which is amusing to watch especially when they annoyed Revali to the point where he flies away.
  9. There are a lot of things that we get to see in this game that none of the flashback cutscenes in BOTW didn't show us, such as certain events like Hyrule's last stand at Akkala Citadel and the battle at Hyrule Castle.
    • We also get to see what Impa, Robbie, and Purah looked like when they were younger.
    • We get to learn more about the characters, especially the Champions, Robbie, Purah, and Impa.
  10. Doing various tasks around Hyrule can cause your characters to have their level raised, or give them a new combo, or more health.
  11. Since they now have a larger role in the plot, the Yiga Clan have become more of a genuine threat instead of a minor nuisance that they were previously.
  12. The boss battles are a huge improvement from Breath of the Wild, especially with Master Kohga and the Blight Ganons; the latter having redesigns that make them more diverse and stronger than they were previously. Calamity Ganon is a special mention as well; previously Link was restricted to riding on horseback and using the Bow of Light at the targets on Dark Beast Ganon's body. In this game, because Ganon was able to reincarnate successfully through absorbing another menacing villain, Astor, it takes on a humanoid form and uses new and different attacks. Even better, you are not limited to just using the Bow of Light, instead you can now use any attack.
  13. Beautiful graphics for the Nintendo Switch standards. Unsurprisingly, it also shares the same art-style as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
  14. The music is absolutely amazing. It's worth noting that the song that plays when on the title screen when you load up the game or when you observe the map of Hyrule changes depending on how far you are in the game to match the current state Hyrule is in.
  15. The developers did so much with the characters and put lots of depth into their personalities.
    • This is probably most apparent with Sooga and Master Kohga; just hearing a few of their lines makes you know they're best buddies and willing to lay down their lives to protect each other. In Guardian of Remembrance, there was a tense moment where Kohga was all emotional when he has to leave Sooga behind which is understandable and helps to win over the sympathy from the players.
  16. The second DLC Guardian of Remembrance, not only filled in a couple of plot holes, but it added more depth to the story as well as the characters and a lot of them range from bittersweet to heartwarming:
    • How Terrako became inactive upon arrival is given more details, it was defeated, but not destroyed, by Harbinger Ganon in its first encounter and left behind until it was found and taken two Bokoblins. Once they saw Link, they panicked and accidentally hurled it to a rock where Link would later discover it.
    • We actually get to see the infant Sidon and an adult Sidon meet each other. The younger Sidon willingly standing in between his sister Mipha and an electric Moblin to protect the former, which follows with his adult self, saving his infant counterpart and Mipha. In addition, the bond between them is very cute.
    • Daruk and Yunobo's relationship deserve a mention. After the battle at Kakariko Village, Yunobo starts to refuse to take credit for their victory and admits that he was always scared of everything until he met a certain friend who helped him find courage until Daruk expresses pride in him for how far he's come and dubs him the Champion of the Future. And the friend who helped him to be braver? It was Link from Breath of the Wild!
    • Revali is especially lovable here. He was an arrogant, abrasive character who struggles with his insecurities from the start; but we actually learn that he also has a warm gentle spot when it comes to children onscreen. He was concerned about a missing young Rito child lost in Korok Forest that he never saw before and joins forces with Teba to go all out to tear their way through monsters to save that child, who happens to be Tulin, Teba's only son. The cutscene where they were interacting with each other are so adorable; Revali genuinely praised him for getting them out and Tulin's excitable personality and idolizing of Revali actually made the latter laugh for the very first time. While Teba may not have been too pleased with Revali's harshness with Link, but Tulin's bringing out the best in him had a positive impact on Teba's opinion on Revali and saw him as a person.
    • Urbosa's bond with Riju isn't too different than her bond with Zelda, she often reassures Riju in her moments of self-doubt throughout the game. In the DLC, when Kohga steals the Thunder Helm from Riju and gloats that Urbosa's lightning won't hit him, Urbosa know the helm and managed to shock him anyway to get it back and stands up to him. Additionally, her arrival with the other Gerudo soldiers to save King Rhoam from a group of Moblins is nothing short of awesome, and the fact she later assures Rhoam that his daughter is doing well is a special mention since Rhoam still regrets his harsh treatment of Zelda and has a chance to reconcile with her.

Bad Qualities

  1. Some continuity errors, such as:
    • The characters are able to use the Bomb, Stasis, Magnesis, and Cryonis runes from the Sheikah Slate in this game, even though in Breath of the Wild, the aforementioned runes weren't discovered by Purah until after Calamity Ganon awakens and Link is sent to the Shrine of Resurrection.
    • When Calamity Ganon awakens in the middle of the game, Link and Zelda are at Hyrule Castle while the Champions are all at their native regions respective, even though in BOTW, they were all at the entrance to Mount Lanayru when Ganon appears.
  2. There are some nasty framerate drops, specifically in docked mode, where the game is 720p and 25fps.
  3. The game can be repetitive as expected of Dynasty Warriors type games.
  4. Advertisements for this game strongly implied that Age of Calamity is a prequel of Breath of the Wild, even though the events as well as the ending don't connect with BOTW.

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