Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment review

I’ve been patiently waiting for another Hyrule Warriors game since I absolutely ate through the Age of Calamity. Sure, it wasn’t the smoothest experience on the original Nintendo Switch, but the lore and characters were excellent. When Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment got a reveal, I was very excited – and now I’m knee deep in the region’s past, while bashing bokoblins left and right.

Age of Imprisonment takes it back to the ancient era of Hyrule, where Rauru ruled as king, and he had to face the Imprisoning War. If you haven’t played Tears of the Kingdom, I recommend you do that first before jumping into this game. There are spoilers for TOTK in it, and it might not make huge amounts of sense. Also, this review has spoilers for it, so… continue at your own risk.

During Tears of the Kingdom, we see Link and Zelda explore beneath Hyrule Castle, discovering old murals and an imprisoned beast. It awakens, unfortunately, and while Link gets to remain in the current time period, Zelda is shot back in time thanks to a secret stone. Here, she meets King Rauru and Queen Sonia and starts to live alongside them. But as we all know, ol’ Ganondorf was around back then, too, causing havoc.

We know him as the big bad in most Zelda games, but in terms of the Switch-based timeline, this is where he first appears, chronologically. He was the only male Gerudo born within 100 years and was appointed Chieftain. He, unfortunately, has huge delusions of grandeur, which leads to the consistent and almost total destruction of Hyrule.

It’s up to Rauru, his construct-wielding sister Mineru, back-in-time Zelda, and a host of other fighters to turn the tide and beat back thousands upon thousands of Hyrulean beasts in musou-style gameplay. It’s what creator Koei Tecmo is famous for – waves of monsters that are fairly easy to beat, gathering around capturable outposts, and rallying behind bosses. The sheer amount of enemies in each battle is probably quite realistic to every war that’s waged in Hyrule.

As for who you get to play as, there’s a diverse roster to fit your every fighting need. If you like sword-based combat, then there’s Calamo, the brave korok, or the Mysterious Construct armed with a blue-glowing blade. Qia, the Zora’s Water Sage, has a polearm, as does King Rauru, for sweeping attacks with a longer range. You could go for an archer like the Rito Raphica, or stick with Mineru’s contraption-heavy moveset to break out the vehicles, robots, and more. There’s also, of course, Zelda with her light-wielding capabilities. You can freely switch between teammates in each level and make the most of their different strengths.

Each character has a fairly long list of abilities. You have your normal attacks, special attacks, follow-ups, team-ups, weak point smashes – moves to break shields, moves to rush enemies, moves to jump and then smack down… the list goes on. I recommend keeping the quick guide on screen so you can see which buttons do what at all times, though if you stick to a few characters, it’s easier to remember what they do.

One of the most interesting additions here is Calamo. He’s a roaming korok that meets the Mysterious Construct and travels with it. Thing is, he doesn’t have the usual ‘ya ha ha’ type voice – he’s got a full-on American accent. How and why does he speak? What happened to the korok’s speech in later years? Who knows.

Speaking of that construct… I think we all know who it resembles. It wouldn’t be a Zelda game without some form of overpowered swordsman, even if this one starts you off as Zelda herself. The construct is the only character that can make use of different weapon types – which conveniently have the same sound effects as the weapons in BOTW and TOTK – and has stages where you need to glide and attack with projectiles.

The great powers of Hyrule prohibit me from commenting too much on the story, but know that it’s packed with lore, spends time introducing a fun cast, and gives us a look into what’s alluded to in Tears of the Kingdom. The voice acting here is really good – I happened to notice the unmistakable tone of Joe Zieja (Genshin Impact’s Wriothesley) joining the cast, which includes Chris Hackney and Matt Mercer. There’s plenty to keep you amused in the ancient land, rest assured.

It’s not quite all battles and bloodshed – though, let’s be honest, that’s the focus. During some fights, you can pick up Poes to spend at a long-lost relative of Kilton’s stall, specializing in monster-related produce. You can use certain monster drops with the Mysterious Construct by fusing it to its weapon for some fun effects. Zonaite Steel is another very handy drop, which you use at a forge to level up your character’s weapons. I implore you not to forget to do this, as it does make a difference, even if it does drain your rupees.

Don’t forget to set up the available camps and training areas, and supply items to those who request them to unlock moves and extra hearts. These can be found on the maps’ three areas – just like Tears of the Kingdom, you can venture to the Depths and into the sky as well as the surface.

But now I need to address the elephant in the room. Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity didn’t perform that well on Nintendo Switch. It was fine, but it got very choppy and didn’t look fantastic in battle scenes, which is, you know, most of the game. As a Switch 2 exclusive, Age of Imprisonment massively improves upon the first game’s performance.

The only remotely noticeable issue I faced was in the snowy Rito area missions, while using Raphica as he fired multiple arrows at different targets. I say noticeable, but to me, it didn’t impede gameplay at all. Another thing this improves on is that the first game branched the timeline and isn’t considered canon. This one is, as it goes over the history introduced in Tears of the Kingdom.

Age of Imprisonment is mainly a musou fighting game, with a lot to take in. If you’re not a fan of heavy combat or learning combo moves, this may not be the best pick for you. However, there are difficulty settings, so you can keep the game on easy and smash your way through. If you want to dive deeper into Hyrule’s ancient lore, I do highly recommend you play this game. The combat can get a little samey, but each level and mission feels different and introduces new enemies.

If you need to brush up on your Zelda knowledge, you can find a rundown of the timelines – our guide lists all Zelda games in order. Then, see which the best Switch games are for you to pick up next.