Smooth Sailing Below Hyrule

I had two problems with Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity when I first picked it up back in 2020: the version I bought in Japan didn’t have an English option, and the game ran incredibly poorly on the Nintendo Switch. I still managed to pretty much 100% complete it because I’m a big Zelda fan, enjoyed learning the movesets of the 19 different characters, and thought it might even be good for Japanese reading practice.

It wasn’t. It just gave me a headache.

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Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment’s story is considered canon.

Anyway, at the Tokyo Game Show, Koei Tecmo had the sequel Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment flanked by Ninja Gaiden 4 and Nioh 3 in one of the massive halls, and—praise Hylia—an English version for me to play. More importantly, this Nintendo Switch 2 game ran with no discernible drops in framerate in docked mode which was the only mode available. I was so traumatized by the original that I kept expecting it to stutter and lag but it never did.

Let’s back up a bit and walk through what exactly I played: the demo began with Zelda, Rauru, and Mineru traveling to the Depths where Mineru speaks of a workshop she set up. It’s Zelda’s first time down there, and given that this game is canon unlike its predecessor, I look forward to seeing the story massively expand upon the flashback scenes in Tears of the Kingdom, though there were no revelations to be had at TGS.

A little tutorial taught me how to use Zonai Devices in battle before thrusting a few waves of baby Frox enemies at the trio. I began as Zelda, using a Zonai-like sword of light to attack close up and switching to a bow of light to hit enemies at range. In true Musou/Hyrule Warriors fashion, the combos were simple and flashy. Rauru spoke quite a bit about powering up Zelda’s abilities, making me think they’re down there to uncover some secrets about her bloodline.

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Zelda can attack with a Bow of Light, among other moves.

The other staples from the first game are there: light and heavy attacks, flurry rushes, and so on. Other than that, Zelda could use a couple of different special abilities or one of two equipped Zonai devices. The Flame Emitter absolutely decimated the baby Frox I went up against, so I have reason to believe they’ll be a powerful tool and not just a situational one. Further supporting this is the fact that they require battery power to use, meaning you can’t just spam them. However, I witnessed another player after my time concluded drop a Flame Emitter on the ground while she continued attacking from a different angle—a genius move I didn’t even think to try myself.

There’s also new specific counter moves to hit enemies either dashing toward you or leaping at you. These attacks can be used at the end of combos on their own; however, they’re greatly effective at taking down enemies that aren’t just your standard mobs. However, it was a lot to take in with so much action on screen that I didn’t quite get used to this mechanic yet. Regardless, it seems like there’s a lot of new mechanics here for fans of the original that’ll keep it feeling fresh, even with repeat characters like Zelda.

Anyway, it wasn’t long before the tutorial signified I could switch between all three characters. Rauru attacked with a spear and some light magic, while Mineru stole the show by summoning cobbled together Zonai device builds to destroy foes over a wide area. These included vehicles she’d briefly ride to shooting out Zonai Wheels to run down enemies. Her run animation even has her hop atop one of those wheels to get around rather than walk. All around, I found her the most interesting of the three characters.

The trio also took down some Soldier Constructs while they explored, frequently using Sync Strikes to attack together when their special gauges were full. Zelda and Rauru, for instance, both shoot a beam of light from one of their hands that I controlled with the left and right joystick respectively. Rauru and Mineru, on the other hand, combined light magic and Zonai weaponry to create crowd-clearing spinning blades.

This is quite the difference from Age of Calamity, where the heroes were spread apart on the map rather than teaming up together to deal out massive damage, and it’s a change I’m happy to see. I didn’t experience it myself but curiosity got the best of me: I hung around until I saw someone else trigger Zelda and Mineru’s combined attack, which saw the latter hop on top of a Zonai golem to pummel foes with massive fists. As such, I am very curious to see how big the roster is and how they interact with one another.

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Zonai Devices play a big role in combat.

The demo ended with a fight against a massive Frox enemy that took quite a while to take down, even with three characters to switch between that have powerful movesets, devices, counter attacks, and Sync strikes to utilize. Along with the large Frox, I only really faced three unique foes in the demo: small Froxes, a large Frox, and some Constructs. I worry that the enemy variety will not match the enemy quantity in quality, much the same way Tears of the Kingdom lacked unique foes to pummel.

We’ll have to wait and see if it introduces unique enemies into the mix. Once I did take down the big ‘ol ugly Frox, I came away convinced that Age of Imprisonment improves upon Age of Calamity in several ways that matter: the story is canon, so the revelations will hit a little bit harder. The framerate in the demo was stable despite dozens of enemies on screen and flashy moves. The characters themselves have interesting, fresh movesets. And most importantly: there was an English option.

Regardless, I’m going to pick up a digital copy of Age of Imprisonment from the Canadian e-Shop when it releases on November 8th this year instead of from my local Japanese game store—just to be safe.