I had a blast with Hyrule Warriors and Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity. I loved taking down hordes of enemies with a few button presses and dominating a battlefield with well-timed attacks. Dynasty Warriors fans have known about this addictive gameplay loop for years, but I’ve only recently discovered it through the Hyrule Warriors games. So I was ecstatic when Nintendo revealed a new Hyrule Warriors game, and it was a sequel to Age of Calamity. Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment has been one of my most anticipated games of the year, so you just know that I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to try out the game at PAX Aus 2025.
Age of Imprisonment is different to Age of Calamity in the story department because this game is a direct prequel to Tears of the Kingdom. You follow Zelda after she’s been transported to the past, and has to team up with new allies to defeat a growing evil. That’s about the most of the plot I got from the demo because I was skipping all dialogue and cutscenes to get straight into the action, and I had a lot of fun. The gameplay is the same as previous Hyrule Warriors/Dynasty Warriors entries, but they’ve added a few things that make it feel more dynamic. The first is the addition of team-up moves that trigger after certain conditions are met. This will involve two characters performing a joint attack that causes massive damage (and is really flashy).
The other big change I found was that the game felt a lot more linear than previous entries, which leads me to believe that this game will be more story-focused. I’m not against this change, as it could add more agency to the gameplay, rather than just destroying hordes of enemies for funsies. In hindsight, I wish I hadn’t skipped every bit of dialogue, but there were bosses that had to be beaten, and a demo is only so long (I’ll make sure to pay attention in the full game).
Age of Imprisonment is a very pretty game with an art style similar to Tears of the Kingdom, but better. The area I was in was a giant cave, and all the different plants, structures, and enemies were beautiful to look at (even if it was a death trap). The cave wasn’t the most vibrant location, but I can see the potential in this art style to be one of the best-looking games on the Switch 2.
The main thing I was hoping to see in this demo was big attacks that looked flashy as all hell, and I wasn’t disappointed. Aside from the team-up attacks, even normal combos have a certain flair to them that makes them so satisfying to watch. Zelda, in particular, uses a beam of light that can transform into various weapons, and her combos were my favourite to watch decimate enemies. The other characters (whose names I’ve forgotten) had moves just as flashy, with one of them being able to pull a chariot out of nowhere and run over all the monsters (which was quite fun).
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment is looking to be everything I wanted and more. The flashy combos, beautiful visuals, and a larger focus on the story are all major green flags, and have me looking forward even more to this game's release in November this year.
Are you going to play Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment? Have you played previous games? Are you interested at all? Let us know in the comments where we can talk all things Zelda.
