There’s been a veritable cornucopia of Dynasty Warriors spin-offs over time, together with anime variations like Gundam, Berserk, and One Piece and online game collaborations with Persona and Fire Emblem. The 2014 collab Hyrule Warriors and its sequel, Age of Calamity, are maybe probably the most warmly obtained of all of them, owing to their mix of Omega Force’s overblown hack-and-slash motion with The Legend of Zelda’s iconic characters, areas, and enemies.With Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment, the 2 long-running collection 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’s not with out its faults and is unlikely to transform anybody unconvinced by this type of recreation already, however Age of Imprisonment improves upon its predecessors in quite a few methods.
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Now Playing: Hyrule Warriors: Age Of Imprisonment Everything To Know
The recreation’s story is the obvious side the place the 2 collection are aligned. Unlike 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 total extent of Hyrule’s founding, Ganondorf’s rise because the Demon King, and the next Imprisonment War. If you’ve got 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 immediately into Tears of the Kingdom, Age of Imprisonment fleshes out characters like King Rauru and Mineru, however does not inform probably the most fascinating story to fill within the blanks between these moments. It’s high-quality for probably the most half; the multi-pronged closing battle is thrilling, pitting Hyrule’s mixed forces towards Ganondorf and his military of monsters, whereas the bittersweet ending packs a good punch–deploying The Legend of Zelda theme to nice impact. Yet, regardless of these late excessive factors, the narrative does not do sufficient to really feel like a obligatory addition to the story advised in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. It’s not a prerequisite that Age of Imprisonment fill in all the main points lacking from these tales, but it surely’s notable that its most memorable moments already occurred in one other recreation.Admittedly, the writing is restricted considerably by Age of Imprisonment’s style. Many of the cutscenes revolve round making alliances and discussing battlefield ways within the conflict towards Ganondorf, since you’ll spend most of your time combating on battlefields with those self same allies. In this sense, Age of Imprisonment builds upon its predecessors, iterating on the basic musou gameplay loop to create the deepest and most satisfying fight within the collection so far.Dynasty Warriors and its ilk are designed across the energy fantasy of 1 vs. 1000 battles. You’re an overpowered killing machine, capable of take down total armies by yourself as you slice by hordes of hapless peons like a knife by butter. And Age of Imprisonment’s new roster of playable characters shines by doing precisely this. Legend of Zelda protagonist Link is likely to be out of the image on account of the entire time-travel factor launched in Tears of the Kingdom, however the collection’ 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 capable of cleave by enemies with a mix of melee strikes and magical mild projectiles that reach the vary of her assaults, recalling her sword because it dances by the air and chopping swathes by Bokoblins, Lizalfros, and swarms of Keese.Mineru, in the meantime, instructions a wide range of Zonai contraptions in an ode to Tears of the Kingdom’s constructing mechanics. You can experience atop a large spiky two-wheeler to plow by 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 the battlefield and summons flames from beneath the earth. Or my private favourite, Calamo, a tiny Korok who makes use of Hyrule’s varied fruits to deal elemental harm. Each 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 basic musou gameplay, as you ship a whole bunch of our bodies careening by the air with every assault.It’s not with out its faults and is unlikely to transform anybody unconvinced by this type of recreation already, however Age of Imprisonment improves upon its predecessors in quite a few waysWhile Mineru is the one warrior capable of summon advanced creations, each character can deploy a variety of Zonai units, similar to flame and frost emitters, time bombs, rockets, followers, and extra. There’s a tactical ingredient to utilizing every system, since they run on batteries that solely final for a short while, and there are a number of other ways to make the most of them, too. You can whip out a flame emitter and burn by teams of Chuchus, or set the system all the way down to repeatedly harm your foes when you flank across the different facet. Fans can deflect projectiles again to the place they got here, and there are enemy weaknesses to contemplate as effectively. Using a water hydrant will wash away the protecting sludge overlaying some enemies, whereas a Frost Talus will undergo larger harm from any fire-based assaults. Some enemy varieties even preserve the identical weak factors from Tears of the Kingdom, making time bombs notably helpful towards a Frox and its wide-open gullet.Each character additionally has entry to quite a lot of Unique Skills, together with highly effective dashing and vertical assaults. You can use these everytime you’d prefer to carve by enemy hordes, however they’re only at countering the skills of the extra formidable enemies you may repeatedly face, together with Moblins, Hinoxes, and Lynels. If an opponent just like the Construct is lunging in the direction of you, as an illustration, utilizing your personal dashing skill will interrupt their assault and depart them weak, at which level you may observe up with further strikes to hack away at their weak-point gauge. Being capable of anticipate and shut down a difficult foe with a spectacular assault of your personal is immensely rewarding and ties right into a renewed effort to make your allies really feel extra current within the warmth of battle.Unique Skills are ruled by a cooldown meter, however when you’re combating alongside a fellow Hyrule warrior and the enemy triggers a capability whereas yours are nonetheless inactive, you may let your ally step in and help with a Unique Skill 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 crew working collectively. This 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 can 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 can purpose independently with every thumbstick.These harmonious assaults look cool, and I loved each single time I used to be capable of unleash them, however they haven’t any strategic affect. 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 true. Sync Strikes alter that considering, since having two or extra characters working collectively is a extra dependable approach of clearing the battlefield. Yet the sport’s lack of mission selection means you hardly ever ever have to strategize or rethink the place to ship items.Clearing a mission usually requires you to easily defeat probably the most formidable enemies, and the maps are laid out so you may shortly transfer from one to the following. Repetition is baked into the style, however its zen-like nature is stripped away within the latter components of Age of Imprisonment’s marketing campaign as you are compelled to replay the identical types of missions time and again.The solely departure from this method 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 approach you would possibly count on. Rather than setting foot on the latter’s floating platforms, you are capable of soar between them because the Mysterious Construct, 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 pleasant sufficient and gives an efficient palette cleanser, but it surely’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 combating within the ominous shadow of Death 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 areas.Gallery Fortunately, the efficiency points that plagued Age of Calamity–such as an inconsistent body rate–are virtually utterly absent right here, regardless of the place you are combating. Age of Imprisonment leverages the Switch 2’s elevated horsepower to ship a marked enchancment over its predecessor. Not solely are there extra enemies on display at anybody time, but it surely maintains a gradual 60 frames per second all through. There is likely to be rare body fee drops when the motion will get notably hectic, however that is not one thing I actually seen, whether or not I used to be taking part in handheld or with the Switch 2 docked. There’s nonetheless some enemy pop-in, and it is clearly scaled down in comparison with a recreation like Dynasty Warriors: Origins, however that is nonetheless a much-needed turnaround.Without any technical hiccups getting in the way in which, fight remains to be the star of Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment. Unique Skills and Sync Strikes deliver elevated depth to its hack-and-slash histrionics, whereas components of Tears of the Kingdom are well 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 collection so far.