The new installment of the Dynasty Warriors spin off, set in the mystical kingdom of Hyrule, takes you back to just before the events of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and if you played the last game in the Zelda series, this will serve as a prequel of sorts.
You will watch a much deeper and more detailed story from Zelda's perspective (unlike TOTK where a lot is left unfinished), you will meet and fight alongside the first king of the kingdom of Hyrule, Rauru, along the way meet numerous new friends and comrades from famous regions, and fight against the Demon King, Ganondorf.
Development studio: Koei Tecmo
Publisher: Nintendo
Platforms: Nintendo Switch 2
Release date: 6. November 2025
Platform on which the game was tested: Nintendo Switch 2
Starting price: 69.99 euros (digital edition), 79.99 euros (physical edition)
So let's start in order.
If you are familiar with the gameplay of the Dynasty Warriors series, or have already played one of the Hyrule Warriors games, you know how it works. If you haven't, here's a quick course: As soon as you start, the game will throw you onto a huge map where numerous icons will appear. Some will represent battles crucial to the story, some will be side quests, on some you will be able to buy and sell, strengthen your weapons and upgrade your characters.
Active missions are marked in yellow.
The system is very simple: battles take place on predefined maps, where you will be given various tasks that you must complete in order to win. Hordes of enemies attack you (I'm not kidding, sometimes there are more than a thousand of them on the map), and the fight itself is done in the following way: with Y you fight with your chosen weapon, and with X you make stronger attacks. Considering how many times you press which of those two keys, you will make a certain combo attack (don't worry, in the first fight with new characters there will be a keylogger on the left side of the screen so you know what you pressed and what effect it had.
On the left side is a keylogger so you can easily track which combination you pressed
If you hold R, a menu of unique attacks that your character has will open up, and you can easily map them to 6 different keys. Using unique attacks is very important because you use them to make super strong counter attacks, so it is crucial that you practice them very well and use them at the right moment. For example, some are particularly effective against enemies who are just charging at you, some against those who are in a jump above you, I think you understand what I'm talking about. When you press R while fighting a stronger enemy, a symbol of the type of attack that is most effective against them will appear above their name, so you don't have to wander around much.
In addition to unique attacks, you also have the option of using Zonai devices that help a lot because they do elemental damage, for example, you can melt a Frost Bokoblin with a flamethrower, you can wash an enemy that is covered in mud with a hydrant and thus remove his protection, etc. There are many combinations, and I will leave some for you to discover. Every mini-boss and boss has a weak point gauge, so when you empty it with enough hits, you have the option to make a special strong attack that will take away most of his health, and often destroy him.
Mineru destroys one of the mini-bosses with the help of his machines
With B you avoid enemy attacks, so if you use it at the right moment, you will get a chance to deliver a large number of quick blows, the so-called flurry attack. When you attack, your special attack charges up, which when ready will clear most of the screen of enemies. Also, you're constantly charged with a sync attack, a synchronized attack in which you combine forces with one of your comrades for devastating effect. When you consider the amount of different characters available to you, the combos for synchronized attacks are countless.
Before each fight, you have the option of setting up a camp and using materials for special effects that you think will help you in the fight, for example more EXP; faster movement or faster charging of special attacks. You will get materials by destroying hordes of enemies or completing side quests.
Camps can also be set up after you clear certain parts of the maps, and are a good place to activate some effects in the middle of battle.
It is also important to upgrade your weapons with Zonaite steel in the Weapon Research Base. Zonaite steel sometimes has a special effect, and by combining various effects you can make one mega powerful sword. Or an onion. Or a spear. Because each character has one type of weapon they can use (except for one who can use all of them, but more on that later).
If you have more than one task on the map, you can send your comrades to go solve something without you, as the missions are sometimes time-limited.
Calamo may seem harmless, but believe me, many underestimated and regretted him
As you progress through the game and complete the main and secondary missions, you will unlock new characters, from the Zora, Goron, Rita tribes, and there will also be a cute Calamo, one of the small Koroks who fights alongside his partner, a mysterious construct that is practically an incarnation of Link, which due to the development of the story cannot be included in the game directly, a creature that always when innocents need to be saved and at the same time uses the entire arsenal of weapons, and can also transform into an aircraft, so you will appear in some missions do it in the style of a flying shooter by firing rockets and burning enemies with flamethrowers.
Some missions will make you think you are playing Star Fox
Through the story, you will learn more about what Zelda was doing while Link was saving the world in Tears of The Kingdom, and you will recognize some locations and events. They won't get too involved in the TOTK developments though, whether that's because they don't want to give away too many spoilers in case you play this before, or because they just wanted to flesh out this part of the timeline in more detail, I don't know.
Link couldn't exist in this timeline, so you got THIS!
If you're looking for puzzles, you won't find them here.
Never mind. Because the forte of the Hyrule Warriors games has always been to destroy hundreds of enemies in a variety of ways, based on researching weaknesses, strengthening weapons and cooperation between characters to make imaginative combo attacks, all in a beautifully designed Legend of Zelda world.
We've come a long way from that pixelated dragon from the original LOZ
Graphically, the game looks fantastic, with a constant 60fps, even when there are about a hundred enemies on the screen and you are doing a flashy combo attack with your partner. When you play split screen co-op, the framerate drops to about 30fps, but it's not even noticeable because there is no jerking. The UI is very clear, there are no hidden sub-menus, everything is done intuitively.
Even with hundreds of enemies on the screen at the same time, there is no performance drop
The soundtrack is excellent, the voice acting is impeccable, at least in English.
The game offers several multiplayer options: local Gameshare or through Gamechat, and couch co-op split screen. And here we come to perhaps my only complaint, the split screen is horizontal and cannot be changed, which is a shame considering the increasingly large televisions and screens we play on. It is commendable that the game is not too difficult, and when you finish the story, it has great replay value due to the additional levels of difficulty, numerous side quests and additional missions, and the great possibility of combining characters.
Conclusion: Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment is a beautiful, action-packed game, and honestly, my favorite game of its type (Dynasty Warriors and Persona 5 are close, but I still prefer the LOZ setup). They learned the material, took the best from Hyrule Warriors and HW:Age of Calamity, added more story, synchronized attacks, inserted Zonai devices, and combined everything to make a superbly balanced game.
★★★★ — "Very good"
A copy of the game for review purposes provided by the distributor CD Media
