Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity announced - a Breath of the Wild Prequel

[Hiroshi Sotomura]

This is certainly welcome. And sudden!

Press release:

Spoiler:

<section class="bodytext"> <p align="left">REDMOND, Wash., Sept. 8, 2020 – A century before the events of the <em><a class="gp-autolink" href="https://www.zelda.com/breath-of-the-wild/" target="_blank">Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild</a></em> game, the Great Calamity occurred. Hyrule was plunged into darkness, devasted by an evil force which transformed the kingdom forever. While the Great Calamity is touched on in <em>The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild</em> for the <a class="gp-autolink" href="https://www.nintendo.com/switch/" target="_blank">Nintendo Switch</a> system, fans have never experienced what happened <em>before</em> that catastrophic event … until now.</p><p align="left">In the <em><a class="gp-autolink" href="https://www.zelda.com/hyrule-warriors/" target="_blank">Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity</a></em> game, which launches exclusively for Nintendo Switch on Nov. 20, players will be transported to the time before the Great Calamity happened, participating in epic battles against a backdrop of familiar locations in Hyrule before they were destroyed. The game stars recognizable characters from <em>The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild</em> like Link and Zelda, as well as other characters like the four Champions, who will be playable for the very first time in the <em>Hyrule Warriors</em> series.</p><p align="left">The debut trailer can be viewed by visiting <a class="gp-autolink" href="https://www.zelda.com/hyrule-warriors/" target="_blank">https://www.zelda.com/hyrule-warriors/</a>.</p><p align="left">"<em>Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity</em> is a must-play for fans of <em>The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild</em>," said Nick Chavez, Nintendo of America's Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing. "Roll up your blue tunic sleeves and get ready for a dramatic and surprising adventure through Hyrulean history this holiday season."</p><p align="left"><em>Hyrule Warriors: The Age of Calamity</em> features gameplay that will be familiar to fans of the <em><a class="gp-autolink" href="https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/hyrule-warriors-definitive-edition-switch/" target="_blank">Hyrule Warriors</a></em> and <em><a class="gp-autolink" href="https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/fire-emblem-warriors-switch/" target="_blank">Fire Emblem Warriors</a></em> games. Focused on performing combos and over-the-top special abilities, the action-heavy gameplay is fast-paced and strategic, perfect for players looking for an intense, non-stop action game with direct ties to <em>The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild</em>. In addition to all the action, the game is loaded with a robust story that depicts the events, relationships and dramatic moments of the Great Calamity in captivating detail.</p><p align="left"><em>Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity</em> finds plenty of inspiration from <em>The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild</em> – not just in its visual style. Many of the most popular and fan-favorite characters from <em>The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild</em> are playable, including Link and Zelda. In addition to hacking and slashing their way through swarms of enemies to defend Hyrule, players will also solve environmental puzzles, unlock weapons and skills, craft materials, visit shops to obtain items and use the power of the Sheikah Slate, which fans will recognize from <em>The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild</em>.</p><p align="left">To pre-order <em>Hyrule Warriors: The Age of Calamity</em> and learn more about the game, visit <a class="gp-autolink" href="https://www.zelda.com/hyrule-warriors/" target="_blank">https://www.zelda.com/hyrule-warriors/</a>.</p><p align="left">Remember that Nintendo Switch features <a class="gp-autolink" href="https://play.nintendo.com/parents/crash-courses/parental-controls/" target="_blank">parental controls</a> that let adults manage the content their children can access. For more information about other features, visit <a class="gp-autolink" href="https://www.nintendo.com/switch/" target="_blank">https://www.nintendo.com/switch/</a>.</p><p><strong>About Nintendo</strong>: The worldwide pioneer in the creation of interactive entertainment, Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets hardware and software for its Nintendo Switch^™ system and the Nintendo 3DS^™ family of portable systems. Since 1983, when it launched the Nintendo Entertainment System^™, Nintendo has sold more than 4.9 billion video games and more than 766 million hardware units globally, including Nintendo Switch and the Nintendo 3DS family of systems, as well as the Game Boy^™, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS^™ family of systems, Super NES^™, Nintendo 64^™, Nintendo GameCube^™, Wii^™ and Wii U^™ systems. It has also created industry icons that have become well-known, household names, such as Mario, Donkey Kong, Metroid, Zelda and Pokémon. A wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond, Wash., serves as headquarters for Nintendo's operations in the Americas. For more information about Nintendo, please visit the company's website at <a class="gp-autolink" href="https://www.nintendo.com/" target="_blank">https://www.nintendo.com/</a>.</p> </section>

 

[pkmin3033]

This is actually the best thing that could have ever happened to Breath of the Wild.

One of the reasons I hate Breath of the Wild is because they only alluded to the things that happened prior to the game's miserable excuse for a narrative, and those were the only things that were even slightly interesting. Now they are going to tell that story in the best way possible: letting you actually fight the battles by wading through thousands of enemies in another Hyrule Warriors title. I seriously cannot wait. Hyrule Warriors is one of my favourite games - to the point that I have bought it three times, and put 240 hours into clearing the Switch version - and even if this will probably only have 6 playable characters, BOTW's truly awful voice acting, and very little postgame content, I am very excited. I have high expectations of this.

This should be everything that Breath of the Wild was not: a good video game. Don't let me down, Koei Tecmo.

 

[ZachieBlade]

I am SO EXCITED for this! I love Zelda and I love Hyrule Warriors and just ahhhh. This is such a good way to do this.

 

[machomuu]

What a great fucking idea.

Like, sure obviously it makes sense from a marketing standpoint but to make a Reach-style narrative of characters we already know to some extent and know the legacies of, pretty 5head ngl. I'm interested.

 

[Crackin355]

I think this is a good idea and It's interesting that they worked closely with the zelda team to make it. It's not BotW 2 but I'll take it in the meantime. I don't think even the sequel could capture the magic that BotW produced for those first 10 or so hours but I think it has an amazing base to build off of so it could potentially be even greater as a whole. Can't wait to play as the little egg guardian on the boxart which will definitely be a character for sure guaranteed.