A Link to the Past Wii U Review

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Cataclysm on Switch

After being thoroughly enthralled by Breath of the Wild when it start released for the Switch, I was eager for more Zelda content on Nintendo'due south new hybrid panel. The Link's Awakening remake was decent enough, simply non quite what I was looking for. The Wii U Hyrule Warriors game was even more of a far cry from what I wanted, and while I enjoyed my time with it, I apace lost interest. Then when Hyrule Warriors: Historic period of Calamity got announced, I was skeptical.

More musou-style gameplay where you lot'd take to grind levels and money in between chunks of missions? It didn't audio all that promising. But in sinking tens of hours into Age of Cataclysm, I finally effigy out what I was looking for: more Breath of the Wild content. Anything that would allow me to spend more than time in this rich globe.

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity serves as a prequel to the excellent Breath of the Wild. Information technology follows the story of Zelda and Link earlier their powers had awakened, and also shows usa how the four champions came to go pilots of the powerful Divine Beasts.

New characters and villains get introduced, and players will also exist accompanied past a new tiny Guardian that takes on a central role in the main mystery of the game.

To be perfectly frank, the story in Age of Cataclysm isn't specially engaging. I'd felt much the aforementioned way near the story in Breath of the Wild besides, only what Nintendo's washed and so well with these games is how its characters are presented.

The four champions only made brief appearances in Breath of the Wild, followed past a more all-encompassing look into their lives with the Champions' Ballad DLC, but Historic period of Cataclysm is completely centered effectually them. That's the best part of this game.

Revali, who continues to be my favorite champion, is unbearably smug and detestable. But he's complemented well by the easygoing Daruk, who'south never afraid to knock him down a peg whenever he becomes too much of a diva. Urbosa continues to play the role of the mature mentor to Zelda, while Mipha remains shy and soft-spoken, forever trying to hide her not-so-secret trounce on Link, who tin can't stop shoving food in his rima oris.

More characters join the main bandage, including Impa, and even possibly my favorite NPC from Jiff of the Wild: the maraca-shaking Hestu himself. The biggest force of Age of Calamity, and then, is the sheer liveliness of the main cast.

Whereas Jiff of the Wild thrived in the underlying loneliness of Link's journey to save Zelda in Hyrule Castle, Age of Calamity feels more similar a traditional JRPG with characters playing off each other's quirks and personalities.

It's fun, it's cute, and while the story never quite manages to print me in any meaningful way, I wanted to continue going.

Story elements aside, Hyrule Warriors: Historic period of Cataclysm serves up its gameplay mechanics and systems in droves. Like virtually musou-manner games these days, you don't have to worry about there being a dearth in content with this one.

There'south then much to do outside of the main story, so many shops to unlock, resource to farm, and characters and weapons to level up, that it'due south easy to feel overwhelmed in the first few hours.

The bones combat itself is pretty much what you would wait: hit Y for a light attack, hit X for a strong attack. When a lilliputian bar fills up in the peak left corner, hit A for a special AoE attack. Standard musou-style stuff, right? Aye, until the game starts hitting you lot with the extra bells and whistles to brand this feel more similar Jiff of the Wild.

Some familiar mechanics make a return here, including the ability to dodge an assault at just the right moment so you tin can execute a flurry rush to break an enemy'due south shield, and allow you to follow-up with a powerful attack. All characters also have access to a paraglider and Sheikah Slate powers, which means yous can utilize Stasis, Cryonis, Bombs, and Magnesis in gainsay.

All of these extra abilities are meant to serve the same purpose: breaking the enemy's shield then you can use a weak indicate nail to deal an insane amount of damage. Throughout my time with Historic period of Cataclysm, I found that I was way less reliant on but spamming the same combos over and over like I would with other musou-style games, and was instead trying to be a little more tactical by dodging attacks and waiting for openings so I could hit them with that weak indicate blast.

You'll still be spamming your way through hordes of moblins and other weaker enemies of course, just the captains and bosses require you lot to be a little more conscientious, which is a really dainty alter of pace. I don't think I've ever enjoyed the combat in a musou-fashion game as much as I have Age of Calamity'southward.

It certainly helps that all of the characters experience extremely unique and distinct as well. Link plays like a regular swordsman, making him the perfect beginner grapheme to start with. Only the rest of the cast feels very different.

Zelda uses her Sheikah Slate to fight, and her attacks are oftentimes ranged and varied. She can too activate bombs and ice blocks with the correct combos to deal a lot of AoE damage. Revali is quick on his feet and his combos often end with him flying up in the air to unleash a volley of arrows at his enemies, while Urbosa can shop lightning in her sword and unleash it in her strong attacks.

Hestu… well, Hestu does his own matter with the maracas and can summon Koroks to assist him in boxing. If you loved the "YAHAHA!" sound effects from Breath of the Wild, you'll dear playing as Hestu. I love it, and I tin't get enough of information technology.

Aside from getting to know the champions themselves, y'all'll also finally accept the chance to pilot the Divine Beasts. Some story missions job you with eliminating large amounts of enemies or reaching a target area while piloting a Divine Animate being, and these can be played with motion controls besides.

These missions are… okay. They serve as a prissy break from the usual hack-and-slash affairs but moving the Beasts themselves always feels clunky, which makes sense considering you're in a huge ass automobile, merely it's just non as fun as zipping effectually a map, cutting up enemies like a badass.

Outside of the story missions, you'll have challenge missions to do, which are nifty for leveling up your characters and getting money and materials. These are shorter missions with special conditions similar time limits, using specific weapon types, killing a certain number of enemies, or immigration a mission without getting hit once.

Resources are gained from mission completion or just general exploration in a level, and they can be turned in under the Quests tab of your menu. These quests reward you with longer combo strings for individual characters, new shops and services, and cosmetic items for Link.

Because most of your bodily graphic symbol progression is tied to quest completion, that's a strong incentive to keep buying and farming for materials to stop up those quests.

The quests are also divided up by region, much like in Breath of the Wild, and completing plenty quests in a specific region will level information technology up, rewarding you with an fifty-fifty greater compensation of materials to put towards other quests. It's an extremely compelling loop that keeps me coming back.

It's incredibly satisfying to encounter then many orangish icons on my map turn blue as I complete more quests, become more materials, and strengthen my characters even further.

In that location are recipes to collect, which let y'all cook meals for feel boosts and other bonuses for your missions, forth with a fairly basic weapon fusion system, which lets y'all strengthen your favorite weapons and add some new perks to them likewise.

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity is a lot to take in. In that location are so many systems in play hither, but somehow they all come together to course a solid, cohesive feel that makes this game and so damn hard to put downward. Throw in a cast of extremely likeable characters, and set it in the rich world of Breath of the Wild, and you lot get one of the best musou-manner games that Koei Tecmo and Omega Forcefulness have ever put out. If you just want more Breath of the Wild content, don't pass up on this one.

Review Cake

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity

Reviewer: Zhiqing Wan | Award: Editor's Selection | Copy provided past Publisher.

Pros

• Combat is much more tactical than you might expect, and feels a fleck less spammy than your typical musou-style game.
  
• The characters are absolutely charming and likeable.
  
• The quests system provides a compelling gameplay loop that makes information technology hard to put downwards.

Cons

• The story is merely alright.
  
• I could do without the Divine Beast missions.
  
• The mission construction is still what you'd expect from a musou-style game: kill thousands of enemies, capture outposts, etc.

Release Engagement
Nov 20, 2020

Programmer
Koei Tecmo, Omega Strength

Publisher
Nintendo

Consoles
Switch

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Source: https://twinfinite.net/2020/11/hyrule-warriors-age-of-calamity-review-link-to-the-past/