Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity Reviews
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity is a Breath of the Wild prequel that offers some of the best Warriors gameplay we have seen so far. However, the game is not flawless as it suffers from some frustrating controls and framerate issues. However, if you are willing to look past that, enormous fun and adrenaline-driven experience remain.
Review in Dutch | Read full review
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity engaging combat system holds the experience together amidst a half-hearted attempt at a prequel.
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity is a ton of fun, but handicaps itself with the occasionally abysmal frame pacing, wonky camera, and design of later missions. Still, it's the perfect accompaniment to Breath of the Wild and well worth your time.
The action is tedious, but cutting through swaths of Bokoblins and single-handedly clearing a battlefield is still rewarding
Great Musou in terms of gameplay, that tells the story before Breath of the Wild, but also has to struggle with technical problems.
Review in German | Read full review
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity is a perfect game to use to revisit the land of Hyrule. Combat additions make this one of the most exciting and interesting Warriors games to play, but the performance can hold it back. It's a great romp that'll keep you engaged for hours, but don't come in expecting great things from the next chapter of a canon Zelda story.
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity bridges the time until the release of Breath of the Wild 2, but unfortunately only briefly. While the environment and enemy types may seem varied at first, you become dulled as the game progresses. However, the search for crogs or the prey hunt for special items and weapons remains particularly motivated. There are more than enough side tasks to complete. Besides the simple booty hunts, you can also sit down in the huge colossuses to defeat even more enemies in a short time. But especially when a lot of enemies appear on the screen, the performance of the Switch can reach its limits. All in all Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity is a decently made Warriors game that you will have fun with if you are a fan of such Musou titles.
Review in German | Read full review
As one of the better Musou spin-off games out there, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity is a welcome treat for Breath of the Wild fans. Its gameplay remains expectedly repetitive but there's still a ton of fun to be had with its variety of combat abilities.
Beyond its technical limits, Age of Calamity is a welcome addition to the Legend of Zelda lore, even if it adds more timeline questions than it answers. The story's branching history will surely upset some timeline purists, but the game mitigates those concerns with a well-told story. Fans are finally given a version of Zelda they've wanted to see for years, and playing at the capable princess is a gift I will never forget. The story's emotional tale is one that I am eager to explore again, and it has reinvigorated my interest to replay Breath of the Wild. This works out perfectly for Nintendo given how the company is currently developing a sequel to the original. And if that follow-up puts as much care into its characters as Age of Calamity does, then fans are in for a delightful treat.
Age of Calamity seemingly fixes all those niggling little qualms that people had with Breath of the Wild, first and foremost there is no weapon degradation. It was without a doubt one of the most frustrating parts of the game, constantly having to find a new sword halfway through a battle. While you still collect numerous items, food and weaponry in Age of Calamity you really only address that between missions where you can sell or even fuse loose weapons together. Even frustrating enemies from the original game like Lynels have been essentially neutered here to the point that you can easily defeat them,a lot of aspects from Breath of the Wild have been brought over here including Flurry Rush, Paraglider, even the freaking Koroks.
While it’s not without its faults, I enjoyed nearly every moment of my 50+ hours spent on the frantic battlefields of Hyrule playing Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity. With a strong story, copious amounts of fan-service, and a wealth of unique and balanced musou gameplay, it succeeds wildly both as a worthy sequel to Hyrule Warriors, and a semi-prequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. While your mileage will vary depending on how much you enjoy musou games and how willing you are to tolerate performance issues (and, to a certain extent, repetition), I give this one a very strong recommendation.
"Calm before the storm."
Review in Finnish | Read full review
Overall though, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity is a fun, engaging hack-and-slash take on the world and characters of Breath of the Wild, and I very much enjoyed my time with the game, sans fighting with the camera. While the restrictions placed on exploration and travel did occasionally make me long for the freedom of the game’s more open world counterpart, it was still beautiful in its own right, with a wonderful soundtrack, fun, memorable characters, and a predictable but sometimes surprisingly moving story. I will always be happy when I get to see Zelda’s struggles and accomplishments, and this game provided that in a delightful package.
Weird ending aside, Age of Calamity is one of the best Musou crossover games ever made. This game really does capture the visuals and sound that made Breath of the Wild special, it just lacks the somber tone that defined a generation.
The franchise’s dumb, bland protagonist may be a familiar staple, but it’s also a link to the past Zelda ought to have left behind by now.
As most fans of musuo style games can agree, there is one glaring issue with Age of Calamity, and that is the issues with framerate. Look, it is understandable that a game with an active battlefield can run into problems. When I found myself fighting against smaller groups of enemies, I would not have any issues whatsoever.
I loved my time with Age of Calamity despite some of its issues. It's a memorable journey with a compelling story and fun, but flawed, gameplay. And a great game for fans of the Zelda series, while we wait for the Breath of the Wild sequel.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
„Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity” takes musou genre into new quality. It’s a remarkable example of game done right. Cooking, searching for Koroks, fighting aboard Divine Beasts…from the beginning until the end there was always something fresh and surprising. Good job, Omega Force!
Review in Polish | Read full review
I suppose it sort of feels like Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity is a dream game. It’s the ideal of what people might want to happen in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s world. You’re given free rein over multiple characters from this installment, each with their own sort of playstyle and capabilities.