There’s been a veritable cornucopia of Dynasty Warriors spin-offs through the years, together with anime variations like Gundam, Berserk, and One Piece and online game collaborations with Persona and Hearth Emblem. The 2014 collab Hyrule Warriors and its sequel, Age of Calamity, are maybe essentially the most warmly acquired of all of them, owing to their mix of Omega Power’s overblown hack-and-slash motion with The Legend of Zelda’s iconic characters, places, and enemies.
With Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment, the 2 long-running sequence are extra intertwined than ever, to the purpose the place it feels extra like a brand-new Zelda launch than simply one other musou spin-off. It is not with out its faults and is unlikely to transform anybody unconvinced by this model of sport already, however Age of Imprisonment improves upon its predecessors in quite a few methods.
The sport’s story is the obvious facet the place the 2 sequence are aligned. In contrast to Age of Calamity and its alternate timeline concepts, Age of Imprisonment is taken into account canon by Nintendo, increasing on the fragments of data proven in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom to disclose the complete extent of Hyrule’s founding, Ganondorf’s rise because the Demon King, and the following Imprisonment Warfare. In the event you’ve performed Tears of the Kingdom, there aren’t many surprises to be discovered right here. Its most vital story beats have already been lined, so a part of the sport includes revisiting these inciting incidents and exploring their aftermath.
From Zelda awakening prior to now, to Ganondorf’s treacherous homicide of Queen Sonia, and an ending that leads straight into Tears of the Kingdom, Age of Imprisonment fleshes out characters like King Rauru and Mineru, however does not inform essentially the most attention-grabbing story to fill within the blanks between these moments. It is high-quality for essentially the most half; the multi-pronged ultimate battle is thrilling, pitting Hyrule’s mixed forces in opposition to Ganondorf and his military of monsters, whereas the bittersweet ending packs a good punch–deploying The Legend of Zelda theme to nice impact. But, regardless of these late excessive factors, the narrative does not do sufficient to really feel like a obligatory addition to the story informed in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. It is not a prerequisite that Age of Imprisonment fill in all the small print lacking from these tales, nevertheless it’s notable that its most memorable moments already occurred in one other sport.
Admittedly, the writing is restricted considerably by Age of Imprisonment’s style. Lots of the cutscenes revolve round making alliances and discussing battlefield techniques within the battle in opposition to Ganondorf, since you’ll spend most of your time preventing on battlefields with those self same allies. On this sense, Age of Imprisonment builds upon its predecessors, iterating on the traditional musou gameplay loop to create the deepest and most satisfying fight within the sequence so far.
Dynasty Warriors and its ilk are designed across the energy fantasy of 1 vs. 1000 battles. You are an overpowered killing machine, in a position to take down complete armies by yourself as you slice by way of hordes of hapless peons like a knife by way of butter. And Age of Imprisonment’s new roster of playable characters shines by doing precisely this. Legend of Zelda protagonist Hyperlink could be out of the image on account of the entire time-travel factor launched in Tears of the Kingdom, however the sequence’ deuteragonist, Zelda, takes up the mantle of the balanced all-rounder with aplomb. By ditching the object-summoning Sheikah Slate for a Zonaite sword, she’s in a position to cleave by way of enemies with a combination of melee strikes and magical mild projectiles that reach the vary of her assaults, recalling her sword because it dances by way of the air and slicing swathes by way of Bokoblins, Lizalfros, and swarms of Keese.
Mineru, in the meantime, instructions quite a lot of Zonai contraptions in an ode to Tears of the Kingdom’s constructing mechanics. You possibly can experience atop an enormous spiky two-wheeler to plow by way of enemy crowds, summon a spinning paddle to thwack large orbs into your foes, and unleash a weak level assault that conjures a gaggle of spear-wielding Constructs to combat in your behalf.
Then there’s Qia, the Zora queen, who instructions the tides, creating whirlpools and highly effective jets of water to dispatch her foes. And the Goron chief Agraston, a wrecking ball who rolls by way of the battlefield and summons flames from beneath the earth. Or my private favourite, Calamo, a tiny Korok who makes use of Hyrule’s numerous fruits to deal elemental harm. Every character feels distinctive, whether or not you are alternating between common and robust assault combos, weak level smashes, or flashy area-of-effect particular assaults; the roster ensures that selection is a necessary ingredient in its traditional musou gameplay, as you ship tons of of our bodies careening by way of the air with every assault.
It is not with out its faults and is unlikely to transform anybody unconvinced by this model of sport already, however Age of Imprisonment improves upon its predecessors in quite a few methods
Whereas Mineru is the one warrior in a position to summon advanced creations, each character can deploy a variety of Zonai units, corresponding to flame and frost emitters, time bombs, rockets, followers, and extra. There is a tactical aspect to utilizing every machine, since they run on batteries that solely final for a short while, and there are a number of alternative ways to make the most of them, too. You possibly can whip out a flame emitter and burn by way of teams of Chuchus, or set the machine right down to constantly harm your foes whilst you flank across the different facet. Followers can deflect projectiles again to the place they got here, and there are enemy weaknesses to think about as effectively. Utilizing a water hydrant will wash away the protecting sludge masking some enemies, whereas a Frost Talus will endure better harm from any fire-based assaults. Some enemy sorts even preserve the identical weak factors from Tears of the Kingdom, making time bombs notably helpful in opposition to a Frox and its wide-open gullet.
Every character additionally has entry to various Distinctive Expertise, together with highly effective dashing and vertical assaults. You should utilize these everytime you’d prefer to carve by way of enemy hordes, however they’re handiest at countering the talents of the extra formidable enemies you may often face, together with Moblins, Hinoxes, and Lynels. If an opponent just like the Assemble is lunging in direction of you, as an illustration, utilizing your individual dashing skill will interrupt their assault and depart them susceptible, at which level you possibly can observe up with further strikes to hack away at their weak-point gauge. With the ability to anticipate and shut down a tough foe with a spectacular assault of your individual is immensely rewarding and ties right into a renewed effort to make your allies really feel extra current within the warmth of battle.
Distinctive Expertise are ruled by a cooldown meter, however when you’re preventing alongside a fellow Hyrule warrior and the enemy triggers a capability whereas yours are nonetheless inactive, you possibly can let your ally step in and help with a Distinctive Ability of their very own. Not solely are these moments usually cinematic, however additionally they promote the sensation that you simply’re a part of a crack group working collectively. That is additional emphasised by the brand new Sync Strikes, which see two characters combining to unload dramatic and highly effective strikes distinctive to every pairing. When Zelda and Qia sync up, the latter drops water bubbles from the sky you could burst with Zelda’s arrows to deal extra harm over a wider space. Elsewhere, pairing Ardi and Raphica creates electrified tornadoes, whereas Zelda and Rauru fireplace twin beams of sunshine you could intention independently with every thumbstick.
These harmonious assaults look cool, and I loved each single time I used to be in a position to unleash them, however they haven’t any strategic impression. The very nature of musou video games requires you to divide and conquer, spreading your allies out on the map to seize outposts and defeat powerful enemies, earlier than bringing them again collectively when the time is correct. Sync Strikes alter that considering, since having two or extra characters working collectively is a extra dependable method of clearing the battlefield. But the sport’s lack of mission selection means you hardly ever ever must strategize or rethink the place to ship items.
Clearing a mission usually requires you to easily defeat essentially the most formidable enemies, and the maps are laid out so you possibly can rapidly transfer from one to the following. Repetition is baked into the style, however its zen-like nature is stripped away within the latter elements of Age of Imprisonment’s marketing campaign as you are pressured to replay the identical kinds of missions time and again.
The one departure from this formulation comes within the form of Flight Mode battles. Like Tears of the Kingdom, Age of Imprisonment incorporates each Hyrule’s Depths and its Sky Islands, although not in a method you may anticipate. Somewhat than setting foot on the latter’s floating platforms, you are in a position to soar between them because the Mysterious Assemble, a brand new character who can rework right into a small plane. These missions are Star Fox-esque, thrusting you into on-rails dogfights as you dodge incoming projectiles and fireplace rocket salvos.
Flight Mode is gratifying sufficient and offers an efficient palette cleanser, nevertheless it’s disappointing that the Sky Islands and Depths are underutilized. There aren’t many Flight Mode missions, and only a few story missions happen beneath Hyrule’s rolling inexperienced hills. There’s aesthetic range elsewhere, from preventing within the ominous shadow of Dying Mountain, electrocuting enemies within the waters of the Lanayru Wetlands, and traversing the scorching sands of the Gerudo Desert, however I anticipated extra from two of Tears of the Kingdom’s most vital places.
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Thankfully, the efficiency points that plagued Age of Calamity–such as an inconsistent body rate–are nearly fully absent right here, irrespective of the place you are preventing. Age of Imprisonment leverages the Change 2’s elevated horsepower to ship a marked enchancment over its predecessor. Not solely are there extra enemies on display screen at anybody time, nevertheless it maintains a gradual 60 frames per second all through. There could be rare body price drops when the motion will get notably hectic, however that is not one thing I actually observed, whether or not I used to be enjoying handheld or with the Change 2 docked. There’s nonetheless some enemy pop-in, and it is clearly scaled down in comparison with a sport like Dynasty Warriors: Origins, however that is nonetheless a much-needed turnaround.
With none technical hiccups getting in the best way, fight remains to be the star of Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment. Distinctive Expertise and Sync Strikes carry elevated depth to its hack-and-slash histrionics, whereas parts of Tears of the Kingdom are neatly tailored to suit the musou style. The story does not really feel important sufficient to fulfill pure Zelda followers, however by ironing out its predecessor’s efficiency points and introducing a various roster of rewarding characters, Age of Imprisonment marks a excessive level for the spin-off sequence up to now.