Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity | Preview
Many of you have already seen the trailers released by Nintendo, so as they have already tried the large demo released a few weeks ago on the eShop, and for better or for worse, they will have an idea of what Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity is. An apparently essential production for anyone who has played, or will play, Breath Of The Wild, capable of stirring very strong emotions to anyone who has loved that universe and wants to know its sad genesis. The title, in fact, unlike what was seen with the main chapter, makes the narration one of its strengths. A factor that, we are sure, will make long-time fans of the genre turn up their noses, as it goes to carry out an in-depth work that has never before been done with the saga.
Hyrule Warriors The era of Calamity, in fact, begins right during the peak of the clash with the Ganon Calamity and sees a small, mysterious guardian traveling through a time portal until reaching the past, when still the kingdom of Hyrule stood majestically and verdant. Here he will accidentally meet Link, Impa and Zelda who, once brought to Pruna, will discover their future ... and the tragic fate that awaits them. This event will kick off the story that will see our heroes embark on a journey in search of the four champions and the iconic supreme sword. This is not the time to reveal to you if the expedient of time travel proved to be a winning choice or not but we can reassure you that, in the ten hours spent together with Hyrule Warriors The Age of Calamity, we have never experienced the strong difference in genre with its predecessor, finding ourselves in front of a title so different but at the same time capable of fitting perfectly into a narrative universe that opens up to different kinds of experiences.
The ferocious theme of war, in fact, well marries the Musou genre proposed by Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity. Between outposts to be conquered and hundreds of enemies to be pierced by the sword, the chaos of conflict would not have made the same way in an open world devoted to exploration. The important bet made by Nintendo and Omega Force, however, cannot be supported only on the redundant game mechanics of the genre and this is why the variety is offered not only by the peculiar game universe but, above all, by the contribution of Eiji Aonuma and his team. Thus, in the general confusion of the game action, secondary missions, secrets to be discovered and Kokiri hidden in unthinkable places begin to appear.
The exploration peeps out, albeit in a reduced form, in a genre that has never made one of its peculiarities and, in the end, the hordes of enemies to be mowed down become one of the tiles, albeit predominant, of a much more layered and satisfying mosaic. In Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity, in fact, materials are collected, ingredients are delivered and characters are enhanced. By performing secondary activities, you end up unlocking services to manage our equipment or cook, albeit in a much more basic version than the original chapter.
All this, however, always inside a Musou skeleton, where a quick and minimal combat system blends with a plethora of facets derived from Breath Of the Wild, which color it just enough to remove it from the such redundancy. In addition to the basic attacks of each character, which are made up of light, heavy and special canons, the Sheikah tablet is added that will change its powers, and its peculiarities, based on the character who uses it.
Identified with runes, in fact, the tablet will allow the various characters to use more offensive variants of its powers seen in Breath Of the Wild. The result, combined with the peculiarities of the various characters, allows the combat system to be decently varied, leading the player to make minimal strategic reasoning about what to use to eliminate the various bosses, and mini bosses, which will reveal themselves on the various battlefields.
If that's not enough, Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity also picks up on the mutations of the pitch seen in Breath Of the Wild, as well as the ability to use weapons lost by our opponents. Hence, throwing arrows of fire into tall grass generates fires that will prove to be excellent for controlling the battlefield, just as the magic wands will electrocute opponents, stunning them for a few seconds. Finally, if we add to all this small details such as the return of the famous paravela, which in this particular chaotic context works to make us gain a few seconds of tranquility suspended from the ground, you will understand well that Hyrule Warriors The era of Calamity proves in all ways to vary the formula of the Musou making it more similar to the story he wants to tell.
Yeah, because as we mentioned at the beginning, Hyrule Warriors The Age of Calamity really focuses a lot on the narrative. There are many cinematics present in the title and all of them do their utmost to fill the gaps, in terms of plot, of its predecessor. It goes without saying, therefore, that it is almost essential to know the events of Breath Of The Wild to fully enjoy all the details, hidden or not, present in the title. However, the effort made by the development team to propose a story that, until now, manages to stand up on its own, offering constant ideas to the user to intrigue him about discovering the continuation of the story, remains very appreciable.
Technically speaking, finally, it is still too early to launch into detailed analyzes but we can tell you that what we have seen so far has completely captivated us from the artistic side, while it has left us a lot of perplexity from the purely technical one. With regard to the latter, we cannot hide the fact that the technical limitations of Nintendo Switch are often revealed through constant pop-ups of enemies and conspicuous drops in frame rate when the animations on the screen become too numerous. Imperfections that, however, do not show themselves in the handheld version where a minor graphic detail manages to stabilize the entire technical sector more.
On the artistic side, however, Hyrule Warriors The era of Calamity is a constant celebration of Breath Of The Wild. Hyrule, still alive and verdant, is damn evocative and being able to know the stories of characters such as the Champions alone is worth the price of the ticket. Not to mention the multitude of easter eggs, quotes and references to the original game, scattered here and there by the developers. All that remains is to wait a few days to give you our complete opinion on a title that, most likely, will prove to be yet another center by Nintendo.
If you just wait until November 20th to return to Hyrule , you can pre-order Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity here.
