Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment Review
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment
Publisher: Nintendo
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The Dynasty Warriors franchise has never been one that I gravitated towards, but when the first Hyrule Warriors launched, I realized I quite enjoyed the various mechanics and the hack-and-slash nature of the gameplay. A few Warriors games later – including more Hyrule Warriors – and I now consider myself a fan. I got to play Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment at a Nintendo of Canada holiday event, and I was quite impressed then. I’m more impressed now.
Princess Zelda has landed in the past, and while there are a lot of uncertainties about where she went, why she went there, and how she is going to get back, one thing is for sure: she is still in Hyrule, and is now conversing with her ancient ancestors looking to not only help them in their time of need, but to unravel mysteries plaguing Hyrule for generations. It might not be the most clever of stories, but as the game unfolds, I think fans of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom are going to find more reasons than just the gameplay to dive deeper and deeper into this experience. That said, the high story points aren’t likely to come as a surprise to those who have finished Tears of the Kingdom; revisiting these key story elements does provide a bit more information around them, which is sure to delight fans.
Story aside, this game is a Warrior’s game through and through. You’ll move through maps defeating waves of enemies, knocking out mid-fight bosses, capturing locations on the map for more troops to arrive, using items and so much more. Just this time, it all gets that Legend of Zelda flair. Those familiar with the Warriors franchise will have no problem getting up to speed here, although I did find that some level of The Legend of Zelda knowledge not only helped while I was playing, but made me realize one thing: unless you love The Legend of Zelda, or at least have a solid appreciation and understanding of the franchise, I’m not sure there is enough here to pull you in as opposed to just grabbing the next Warriors game.
The game’s introduction felt longer than it needed to be, but gave me a solid footing for what was to come. All of the game’s main features were laid out, both those I knew from the Warriors franchise and those that were added to this release. What I can confirm is that although this game does have a higher learning curve than many others, this really only applies if you play on harder difficulty levels. On easy, you could almost ignore all your special powers and abilities and still make your way through the entire experience mashing buttons and hoping for success. I love that playing on ‘Easy” is an option, and should draw more people into the experience because of it.
What has impressed me so much about this The Legend of Zelda spinoff series is that each release gets better, which means yes, Age of Imprisonment, despite its issues, is a better experience than Age of Calamity. When companies are constantly improving, that bodes well for the franchise as a whole.
This is likely my favourite Dynasty Warriors type game to release so far. Combat has been expanded just a bit, probably thanks to the addition of Zonaite weapons and gadgets. When used properly, they can make a huge difference in battle. My favourite, and early gadget, is the Zonaite device that blows fire. Not only can you walk around and hold it like a flamethrower, but you can place it down on the ground as well, and continue the fight with your sword, while maintaining the damage dealt by the device! Other elements you’ve come to expect in these games are present here again – you can upgrade weapons with materials you find, and you’ll quickly realize how important those upgrades are.
The team you take into battle has never felt more like a team until now. Each user has special abilities they can use, and these abilities can also interrupt powerful attacks from enemies. They are on cool down timers, though, so swapping between characters to stop a formidable foe from unleashing a powerful attack is paramount to success. The way your team is set up, and who is along for the ride feels so much more important here than in past games. This applies to the new Sync Strikes as well, where two team members come together to unleash a powerful attack.
Despite some new ideas – flight battles are pretty interesting here, and something we haven’t really seen before – Age of Imprisonment still suffers from what most Dynasty Warriors games do – repetition. Not only will mowing down waves and waves of enemies get dull after a while, but you will return to areas you have already visited time and time again to find items and more. For review purposes, I had to push along at a steady pace and found myself saying one too many times, “Is this fight over yet?” This might be a symptom of running through the game at a breakneck speed, or a wider problem other players will experience a few days into their experience.
Overall, though, my romp through ancient Hyrule was memorable, and this was only made better by solid performance in most situations. There were a few moments of enemy pop-in from time-to-time, and a few – emphasis on few – frame rate drops, but it is obvious the more powerful Nintendo Switch 2 has made this a much better performing game than its two Hyrule Warriors predecessors. If you are looking to dive into more The Legend of Zelda content, Age of Imprisonment is one worth investing time into.
Article By Adam
