Hyrule Warriors Age Of Calamity

Platform: Nintendo Switch Pegi Rating:12

Hyrule Warriors Age Of Calamity, released 20th November 2020 was a game I knew I was going to love from the very first trailer. I saw so many possibilities within this game and I was pretty certain this game was going to be emotional and epic, especially since I loved the legend of zelda breath of the wild so much. Despite a few things I was a little disappointed about, I found the entire game to be satisfying, fun and interesting. I’ve never played a Hyrule Warriors game or a Dynasty Warriors game until this, so this is just a review from a big Zelda fan.

The first thing I realised was that this was going in a completely different direction than I was expecting. I thought it was going to be a direct prequel and I was pretty shocked to see that it wasn’t actually canon to the zelda series, plus technically set in a different dimension from botw. It was like the entire game was an idea. What if they’d had a warning about the events of botw?

Despite this, I actually found the game to be amazing, I found myself entirely rooting for the characters, even though it was pretty obvious that they were going to win.

The characters, I think, have better personalities in Hyrule warriors age of calamity than botw. Maybe this is because of the sheer amount of cutscenes there is in the game or the fact that the characters have more of a chance to shine in a game that’s all about the story, not the gameplay.

Obviously Urbosa was one of my top characters (who doesn’t love a bit of Urbosa?) but I was pretty surprised to find that Mipha quickly became one of my other favourite characters. I didn’t dislike Mipha or anything in botw, but I didn’t particularly find her interesting, but maybe that’s because I was more interested in Sidon, her brother, backstory. Yet, in this game, I found her to literally be one of my absolute favourites, she had great moves and she became way more interesting. She wasn’t just Link’s best friend and secret admirer, she was Mipha, Princess of the Zora and protector of her people. Plus her relationship with adult Sidon was just so charming cute!

I really loved the introduction of the villain Astor, he seemed to be really interesting, even though we didn’t learn much about him except he’s a sorcerer and he kind of hates everybody. Other than that, he’s just constantly there trying to destroy Hyrule, which is exciting the first time and then after that...... it just kind of feels repetitive. I think he had a lot more to give and I hope he might make an appearance again in hopefully, the botw sequel we Zelda fans are dying to witness.

I think my favourite level had to be chapter 2- Urbosa, the Gerudo Chief. It was great to have an introduction to Urbosa and it was a great twist having Master Kohga posing as Urbosa at the start of the level.

It gave us another great introduction to Master Kohga and definitely gave a big laugh. I really don’t know how he’s still the leader of the Yiga, but there we go. In addition, we also got a new Yiga member, Sooga, who I had to admit had some pretty awesome moves (why is he not playable and Master Kohga is?) despite being a pretty simple character. He just sort of stands around looking after Master Kohga but I feel like he too had more to offer, just like Astor.

The relationship between the champions and the future champions was definitely one of my favourite things about this game, I was literally screaming when adult Sidon jumped in and saved Mipha.

I think Riju and Urbosa had a sort of mother-daughter relationship which was really satisfying to watch, the way Urbosa built up Riju and Riju tried so hard to look after Urbosa. Yunobo and Daruk had an amazing relationship, even though Yunobo, as usual, was scared of his own shadow, Daruk was really patient with him and it lead to some funny and lovely cutscenes. Teba just seemed completely done with Revali but in all honesty.... so was I.

I feel like this game made me despise Revali more than I did in botw. I thought he was awful in botw but in this game..... they up their game. He’s so infuriating and annoying and selfish that I literally won’t play as him. That’s right, I don’t play as Revali unless absolutely necessary. I think Teba is a much better character. It’s nothing against the actual design of the character and it’s nothing against his gameplay or even Nintendo, I just really hate Revali as a Rito. Though, when Revali and Link battled it out at the end of Chapter 2- Revali, the Rito Warrior, I did really enjoy watching.

Terrako is definitely my absolute all time favourite guardian ever. Granted, there’s not much competition, but this little baby guardian literally made the game so much better for me. How dare Nintendo break my heart by killing him off then telling me I can rebuild him? You can’t play with people’s hearts like that.

The music was also great too, even though it was pretty much just botw music done slightly differently. It was still great to listen to.

Some things I was happy with:

1. Playable Urbosa. It was like all my dreams came true at once. One of my all time favourite characters became playable and I was ecstatic. She didn’t disappoint either, with her very flashy (pardon the pun) moves.

2. Terrako. My little baby guardian. I started calling him eggplant before I found out his real name and it’s just never gone away. He’s always going to be my little eggplant. I really like Terrako, ok?

3. Rebuilt Hyrule. Or original Hyrule. It was so much fun going around a Hyrule that wasn’t virtually destroyed except from Hateno Village. Hyrule Castle town and the great plateau were two of my favourite places to fight. Though you do basically end up with Hyrule in the same way at the end of the game, at least you know now that there’s people to rebuild it.

4. The entire story itself. It completely captivated me. When I was on it, I just wanted to know what happened next. When I wasn’t on it, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. It was so enthralling, I just couldn’t stop gaming!

Some things I was a little disappointed about:

1. Purah and Robbie not being playable, they were one of the big pulls for me for the game and I was kind of disappointed that I never got the chance to KO a bunch of bokoblins while hearing “SNAP” somewhere in the distance.

2. Nobody dying. Ok, that sounds morbid but I feel like the death of a character might have affected the game a little more. I cried buckets when I thought King Rhoam was dead and although I was relieved that he was alive, I couldn’t help feeling just a little disappointed that he’s still around..... and maybe a little embarrassed too. Although Terrako technically died, poor baby, he still can get rebuilt at the end which kind of ruins that gut wrenching feeling that he’s dead. Yes, I like stories that tear my heart apart, that’s why I have watched the hunger games a million times.

3. No actual character development for Astor. I’ve already written a little about this but it was something I feel pretty strong about. He has so much more to give and he needs more chance to be the villain we need. Although Ganondorf is a great villain, I do love the introduction of newer villains. It just means more cosplays for me to want to do but never actually doing.

4. No 2 player batting mode. No one has mentioned this and no where ever did it say it was going to involve this. However! I think Nintendo and Koei Tecmo have really missed an opportunity here. I’d love to battle others as Urbosa in one on one battles! It could be classed as a sort of training and it could be a really fun mini game to do with family and friends. Again, this wasn’t mentioned anywhere so technically it’s not something they’ve done wrong, it’s just something I feel they’ve missed.

So how would I rate it? Probably 9.5 stars, since it’s basically perfect in so many ways for me. It’s made me laugh, it’s made me cry and yes, it has made me so frustrated that I have considered throwing my Joy-Cons across the room in anger (second to last level guys, yeesh how many times can they respawn the enemies?). Though there are a few things I’m slightly disappointed about they’re not big things. It was fun and I’d happily play some more Hyrule Warriors Games (I’ve even gone out and bought Hyrule Warriors Definitive Edition for Switch because I enjoyed it so much!), if you’re reading this Nintendo, we need one for the events before ocarina of time, the legend of zelda civil war anyone?

Thank you for reading and I 100% recommend this game to any Zelda fan or anyone who has played botw.

Charlie