I’ve been a big fan of Dynasty Warriors for a long time, but it’s actually the Musou games based on different properties I enjoy the most. The very first Warriors game I ever fell madly in love with was Dynasty Warriors Gundam 2, so much so that it also got me obsessed with a beloved mecha anime. Since then I’ve enjoyed One Piece and Fire Emblem themed takes on the Musou genre, but the absolute best Musou rebranding is Hyrule Warriors. I played hundreds and hundreds of hours of the original Hyrule Warriors on the Wii U, and wish I could say the same about its sequel Age of Calamity. Unfortunately the technical limitations of the original Switch made it a tough game to enjoy, despite having some seriously exciting gameplay. Now moving onto the new Switch 2 hardware the series is back, with a return to form in Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment.
Age of Imprisonment is an interesting concept for a Zelda themed Musou game, because it follows a part of the Tears of the Kingdom story we didn’t get to see in that mainline Zelda game. With Zelda taking the starring role, you’ll be following her side of that game’s story. Our princess has gone back in time to the age of the first king of Hyrule, and is trapped in this distant past. While there she meets up with the king and queen, and aids them in trying to bring the different races of Hyrule together. You’d better believe a hunky hulk of a Gerudo fella is going to try and put a stop to that though, and as war rages it falls on you to control loads of different characters and help save the day.
If you’ve played a Musou game before you’ll be very familiar with how this game works, but for all you other poor souls here’s a very brief summary. Battles in Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment feature thousands of enemies, which for the most part will be pretty much harmless. You’ll clear out dozens of these in single combos, where you’ll use a number of light attacks followed by a heavy attack to do something ridiculously flashy like fire sweeping laser beams or create a vortex of water. It’s incredibly cathartic and utterly ridiculous, and once you’re hooked you’ll never want to stop.
Now the baddies aren’t all just pushovers in Hyrule Warriors. Enemy commanders will happily take loads of hearts off you, and require more than just mashing combos to kill. The main way to take them down is by depleting their weak point gauge, which is revealed after they unleash an attack. Dodging and blocking until the coast is clear is one way to cope against these tougher foes, but only one way.
You see enemies all have weaknesses you can exploit, which will also entirely stop their powerful attacks from hitting you. These will often involve using special attacks a character has access to at a specific time, for example using an aerial attack when an enemy is about to strike from above. Other times you’ll want to use an elemental attack on a commander, and that’s where the Zonai parts come in.
Those who played Tears of the Kingdom will remember these as the blocks you used to construct vehicles and problem solving devices, but here they’re used to fight Moblins and the like. The basic fire spitting device will burn foes making their weak point show incredibly quickly, whereas the fan can be used to blow projectiles back at enemies – and this is just the tip of the iceberg. You’ll gain access to loads of this Zonai technology, and the ways they’re used in battle is seriously clever.
Despite all these different systems at play, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment is still a Warriors game at heart. This means that in battles you’ll race around a map capturing outposts and completing objectives in a full blown war, just one that features Bokoblins and Keese instead of samurai. In the vast majority of these you’ll have a few characters to order around or switch into, and I’d happily spend all day going from battle to battle with various Gorons and Zoras.
The best Musou games feature plenty of different characters with different fighting styles to experiment with, and Age of Imprisonment is no exception to this. Every Zelda race you can think of is represented here, from Rito with arrow based attacks to a Korok who throws elemental bombs like he’s auditioning for a Bomberman reboot. I have too many favourites to list here, but Mineru and her combos based on auto building (which basically means she rides makeshift vehicles into enemies) definitely deserves a special mention.
When you aren’t launching lasers at thousands of foes, you’ll be on the world map deciding what chunk of Hyrule to reclaim next. The world map is full of icons indicating different quests, from full scale battles to just requests for some of your materials. Completing these will grant you anything from new moves to new characters, and this isn’t the only way you’ll get stronger on this overworld. There’s also a blacksmith you’ll be able to use to upgrade weapons using metal you find, as long as you’ve got the Rupees anyway. It’s a nice loop where you’ll constantly be getting stronger, and it really kept me gripped for the entire runtime.
While I wanted to play Age of Imprisonment because of my love of Musou games, many will be here for the Zelda side of the game. Thankfully there’s loads of Zelda DNA in this adventure, from cooking on campfires to gain various buffs to finding copious amounts of Korok seeds. Even locations like The Depths just scream Tears of the Kingdom, and the audio tracks and jingles add to that. Thanks to the Switch 2 hardware all these familiar landscapes look better than ever too, which will likely get people particularly excited for the next mainline Zelda game.
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment is one of the best Musou games I’ve played in a long time, but it does also feature a few annoyances. A big one of these for me were the slow paced cutscenes, which all too often aren’t particularly interesting and drag on. It doesn’t help that I find the Breath of the Wild version of Zelda particularly grating as a character, and her being the focus of the game had me struggling. I also think the world map is a rather dull and clinical way to go from mission to mission, and clearing out the quests on it isn’t quite as satisfying as it should be.
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment is an incredible Warriors spinoff, with delightfully moreish battles, loads of exciting characters, and a lovely Zelda theming. With elements like the weak point system and Zonai weapons mixed in this is Musou combat at its finest, and being able to switch characters mid mission allows for some wonderful variety on top of that. Age of Imprisonment is undoubtedly one of the best reasons to turn on your Switch 2 right now, so why not play a new Zelda game on your new Nintendo console already.
