Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity

 Switch
User Score
8.0

Generally favorable reviews- based on 659 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 490 out of 659
  2. Mixed: 93 out of 659
  3. Negative: 76 out of 659
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  1. Preston_Kei
    Dec 9, 2020
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The gameplay is fun at first, but after the millionth horde of enemies I had enough. "Why is this Lynel still alive!?" were my last words before shutting off the console. It takes a million years to kill anything in the game unless you grind and level up. What's worse, they copped out of telling a dark and tragic story by putting a shoe horned happy ending. Big disappointment.… Expand
  2. YoppaChanDesu
    Dec 17, 2020
    8
    Story doesn't make too much sense at all. It's an overall improvement from the original Hyrule Warriors with some more streamlined mechanics (powering up the character and getting bonuses is all from one map). The game is pretty repetitive if you aren't a fan of Dynasty Warriors-style gameplay, but it's fun if that's your jam. The characters play differently from each other. I'm halfStory doesn't make too much sense at all. It's an overall improvement from the original Hyrule Warriors with some more streamlined mechanics (powering up the character and getting bonuses is all from one map). The game is pretty repetitive if you aren't a fan of Dynasty Warriors-style gameplay, but it's fun if that's your jam. The characters play differently from each other. I'm half expecting DLC to come out to this game and add even more content.… Expand
  3. onw81
    Dec 16, 2020
    5
    I suspect I would enjoy it if not constant fps drops. It's 2020 and we getting a fast-paced action game running 20-25 fps most of the time. 90s Nintendo would refuse granting a "Seal of Quality" to this game...
  4. TheSpecialKExp
    Dec 15, 2020
    7
    Age of calamity was very fun at times but the game blinded tf outta me and my twitch chat with the effects, camera angles were awful especially the last 2 chapters of the game, the switch was bout to explode cause the framerate was melting away, and imo it felt like some story was missing. The music and gameplay were great though but the other things hold the game back a decent bit.
  5. Sunshadow87
    Dec 14, 2020
    8
    No soy fan de los "warriors", pero seguramente este el mejor juego de este genero, especialmente para los que no les atraiga mucho. Eso sí, merece la pena jugar al botw antes de jugar a esto. El juego esta lleno de guiños y detalles al botw, así que lo disfrutaras mucho más si has jugado previamente, y no me refiero solo a la historia principal, si no también las secundarias, siendo laNo soy fan de los "warriors", pero seguramente este el mejor juego de este genero, especialmente para los que no les atraiga mucho. Eso sí, merece la pena jugar al botw antes de jugar a esto. El juego esta lleno de guiños y detalles al botw, así que lo disfrutaras mucho más si has jugado previamente, y no me refiero solo a la historia principal, si no también las secundarias, siendo la práctica totalidad referencias a cosas que nos cuentan que sucedieron a diversos personajes.
    El gameplay es repetitivo, pero adictivo, absorbiendo horas sin darte cuenta.
    ¿La historia es una precuela? Sí y no... este es el punto que mas dividirá a los fans, pero francamente no se ha hecho con la historia nada que no se haya hecho anteriormente (ocarina of time, skyward sword...). Realmente podríamos decir que es al mismo tiempo una precuela y una secuela, y deja abierta la puerta a terminar de explicar lo que sucede aquí en botw2 (lo hagan o no). Lo que es innegable es que la historia esta bellamente contada para saber que ocurrió en el cataclismo al menos hasta el 75% del juego (y lo que falta meterle imaginación que no es tanto).
    En última instancia, si os gusta la demo os gustara (os decepcione u os guste la historia), si no no.    … Expand
  6. pichuscute
    Dec 13, 2020
    2
    Sold as a prequel, but was FALSELY ADVERTISED. It does not preceed Botw and is a standalone, non-canon spinoff just like the previous Hyrule Warriors, only using less characters. As such, I cannot give it a positive rating.

    If you understand that going forward, here's some other miscellaneous notes. - The gameplay is a bit faster paced than the first Hyrule Warriors, but this also    Sold as a prequel, but was FALSELY ADVERTISED. It does not preceed Botw and is a standalone, non-canon spinoff just like the previous Hyrule Warriors, only using less characters. As such, I cannot give it a positive rating.

    If you understand that going forward, here's some other miscellaneous notes.

    - The gameplay is a bit faster paced than the first Hyrule Warriors, but this also makes the game more confusing and overwhelming as a result (because they need to put more on-screen to compensate).
    - The framerate, pop-in, and resolution are seriously poor. The game does not run smoothly or look good in general gameplay. This is especially noticeable in handheld mode. This is very damning for an action game, especially a faster paced one.
    - The button layout is really awkward and differs from the previous Hyrule Warriors. Special moves are weirdly convoluted to pull off and dodging is on what I'd consider to be the wrong button. It makes everything feel needlessly clunky and not very fun.
    - The BotW mechanics feel very shoehorned, and in addition, dumb down the Musou gameplay rather than mesh with it. This means you're getting less Hyrule Warriors than before, which is a damn shame.

    That said, the characters, acting, and writing are still solid. The BotW charm is still there, even if there's no direct relation to that game. The music is better than a Musou has ever been. And you still get a portion of the appeal that any Musou would have. But it's not one I can particularly recommend and it's one Zelda fans should steer well clear of.

    If you are looking for a Musou of quality, I'd recommend Dragon Quest Heroes 2 or the first Hyrule Warriors instead.    … Expand
  7. David1991
    Dec 13, 2020
    10
    Incredible story, graphics and fun addictive gameplay. I love playing this game on Co-op.
  8. GlazeStelar
    Dec 12, 2020
    3
    Terrible mindless gameplay with a terrible frame rate. Sloppy character writing. The amazing characters from Breath of the Wild were reduced to 1 dimensional cardboard cutouts of their former selves. The story was abysmal. Why was this marketed as a prequel when the story is unrecognizable when compared to the original game. This is the worst game I've played all year. It's practically shovelware.
  9. timothy17
    Dec 12, 2020
    9
    First Warriors game I finished and I love it from start to finish. Technical issues aside, it's a fun-filled action game with colorful casts that you'll learn to love even more ever since meeting them in Breath of the Wild.
  10. spencerplewe
    Dec 11, 2020
    9
    A more-than-satisfying tie-over to “Breath of the Wild”’s sequel, this companion game sacrifices BOTW’s exploration for beefed up storytelling that challenges what a prequel could be, and the Warriors gameplay has been refined to fit the Zelda-style presentation and is an addicting experience.
  11. c_victor_hugo
    Dec 11, 2020
    10
    La historia del juego y su conexión al universo de Breath of the Wild, hacen de Age of Calamity una joya de la saga Zelda. Su jugabilidad es muy atrayente y queda perfecto con la temática que se vive en Hyrule en esa época.
  12. smith7ba
    Dec 11, 2020
    2
    I want to start this off by saying that BOTW was and IS one of my top 3 games I've ever played, so when Nintendo released this game that LOOKS like BOTW i was excited, maybe too exited...Just a few bullet points to highlight how bad this game is:

    -The game itself feels half-baked; this is a cheaply made hack-and-slash. -The story line from the get go is bad, and feels like a cheap    I want to start this off by saying that BOTW was and IS one of my top 3 games I've ever played, so when Nintendo released this game that LOOKS like BOTW i was excited, maybe too exited...Just a few bullet points to highlight how bad this game is:

    -The game itself feels half-baked; this is a cheaply made hack-and-slash.

    -The story line from the get go is bad, and feels like a cheap attempt to pander to the Star Wars universe by inserting a Hyrulian version of "R2D2" or "BB-8" and it clashes hard with the BOTW storyline feel.

    -The controls feel extremely clunky. For example when you press the stick forward, the character you are controlling begins a light jog then after a couple seconds the character breaks into an all-out Usain Bolt sprint that is difficult to control. Any slight input causes the character to violently turn in that direction causing the person playing to counteract and just end up in some wild zig-zag with the character.

    -Also since the game departs hard from the BOTW tact and fighting style, the combat controls become comically bad, one swipe of Links sword the entire group of 15 or so Bokoblins you are currently fighting go careening into the air. There is no skill required- B to dodge and keep spamming X or Y and any enemy is easily dealt with.

    -The FPS drops off QUICKLY in any sort of combat scenario and the game becomes very jittery and almost unplayable. After about 4 hours it was a HARD PASS, called Nintendo and was issued a refund.    … Expand
  13. pyosboss
    Dec 11, 2020
    6
    Addictive gameplay, vast variety of available characters, nice throwbacks to BotW, this is a very good game on its core. However, poor performance (especially in co-op mode) and questionable storyline for a game that was advertised as a BotW prequel makes the experience much more frustrating that it could have been.
  14. SileSixEcho
    Dec 9, 2020
    8
    Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity is a suprisingly great game. Even if it doesn't add a lot to the already great story and lore of "Breath of the Wild", it packs gameplay that is fun in this great world and brings a credible and (in my opinion) well-written prologue story. Sure, the gameplay mechanics wear off after a while and the game could be "braver" in exploring that time before BOTW,Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity is a suprisingly great game. Even if it doesn't add a lot to the already great story and lore of "Breath of the Wild", it packs gameplay that is fun in this great world and brings a credible and (in my opinion) well-written prologue story. Sure, the gameplay mechanics wear off after a while and the game could be "braver" in exploring that time before BOTW, but it is a fun and enjoyable experience through and through. If you are a fan, you can add 0.5-1 to the score.… Expand
  15. Yimro83
    Dec 7, 2020
    9
    A great game, I just would like to get an improvement on the FPS also the camera gets a little crazy some times but I think is the best mosou I have ever play
  16. Tsunowa
    Dec 7, 2020
    6
    I don't like musou game, so I just played this because of the storytelling and know that happens before BOTW. The combat is not good and the divine beats combate is horrible. Only recommend to a zelda fan that wants to know more about BOTW.
  17. Borisbell
    Dec 6, 2020
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Fan service game that disappoints all BOTW fans by spoiling the plot with the time travelling twist only for the sake of happy ending. And glitches and bugs just make it worse. Totally overpriced, get it secondhand or on sale or don't get it at all… Expand
  18. BlackFang
    Dec 6, 2020
    9
    I'm talking here about the gameplay itself, not including the storyline or lore. Obviously as a hack and slash type of game it has the basics like ultimate ability and attack combos, I was expecting that. Here's the positives. Each heroes feel unique with their own moves you can distinguish from others, the combo is smooth and animation are great. It feels so great to just play as one ofI'm talking here about the gameplay itself, not including the storyline or lore. Obviously as a hack and slash type of game it has the basics like ultimate ability and attack combos, I was expecting that. Here's the positives. Each heroes feel unique with their own moves you can distinguish from others, the combo is smooth and animation are great. It feels so great to just play as one of the beast, just to stop and crush your enemies like godzilla. The negative, you cannot command allies to move to an area with a different elevation. In the game, some areas have different terrain levels, like up a mountain, you cannot command an ally to move to a different level than what you already on. You also cannot give your allies specific commands, like go here to attack or defend, you can only order them to set location and the ai wil just chill around or attack nearby eneimes, that's it, and even after you take control and lets said move to a different area, the ai will still remember the pervious command even after completing the command. Something I think the Fire Emblem Warriors did better in. The game focus extremely on depleting your opponent's defense meter either by hitting them with a wand, using your runes or dodging, it makes combat easier but it gets repetitive real fast as its really the only way to kill strong enemies fast. I have play quite a few, this, Fire Emblem Warriors, One piece pirate Warrior 3 and 4, as well as many of the Dynasty warriors games. This game is pretty solid but needs work to improve mainly the map interaction with ai allies mostly.… Expand
  19. doodlerman
    Dec 5, 2020
    8
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Is it canon? Yes, surprisingly. But it's not a prequel in the way you'd expect. It's more of a tangential narrative loosely explained enough to let you put the pieces together yourself, but still leaves lots of questions to be answered by the time it's finished. I'd love to see a DLC, because the elements that aren't explained so clearly are the backstory of this new villainous character Astor and his harbinger guardian (or Harbinger Ganon). Granted, this may be part of the base game to some degree - I've only beaten the main story, but have yet to complete all the side-missions that pop up after you beat the game. At first, I was a little disappointed that it wasn't the prequel we were expecting and rather or 'fix the past' sort of story, but the story they devised is genuinely moving as its own standalone narrative.

    The gameplay and the story seemed to be at odds with each other. For instance, Zelda broods about being unable to awaken her powers and being worthless despite literally wiping out thousands of enemies with her Sheikah Slate. However, I don't think the Warriors-style gameplay is necessarily canon to the story being told. It's not until later in the game when you get bombarded by powerful enemies that you actually feel overrun, though the narrative would suggest that the thousands of lizafos and bokoblins are a huge threat (when in reality you plow through them like pillows). Such said, if this were Breath of the Wild, the odds would truly be stacked against you in any of these scenarios.

    The gameplay itself is a massive improvement over the last Hyrule Warriors. The enemies are more responsive, there are quick button combos to select the right weapon to weaken your enemy (whereas the first HW would have you slowly scroll through all your items to find the right one for the moment), there's less scrambling to protect allied bases from falling while you're just trying to progress through the mayhem, and it just feels really good to play. What isn't fun are the Divine Beast segments. There's maybe some catharsis to decimating everything at first, but the damn things move so slowly that it's a slog getting through their segments. Revali's Van Medoh is especially grueling because it never stops moving, so if you miss a big group of monsters, you have to slowly turn around to get them. At least Urbosa's Vah Naboris has a running attack that can be spammed. The other broken aspect is playing as Teba; the camera goes bonkers whenever you attack with him so that you can't even tell what you or anything else is actually doing on screen. Fortunately, there are only a handful of side-missions where you have to play as him and no main missions where you're required to.

    I've only played this game on handheld mode, so I rarely noticed framerate drops (except when I did special attacks when three guardians and dozens of minor enemies were on screen at the same time). Granted, I hardly notice framerate issues. Ocarina of Time ran at 20 fps and that still runs as smooth as butter to my old man eyes.    … Expand
  20. Nintundo420
    Dec 5, 2020
    9
    Great gameplay and engaging story. Has some performance issues and the plot seems to be divisive, but I had a great time with it. Would recommend if you wanted to learn more about BOTW's world
  21. Terranewone
    Dec 5, 2020
    9
    The best musuo/warriors game Ive played, and a faithful BotW spinoff. Lot of unique and interesting characters. Only real problem I’ve had is some performance issues and the divine beast fights are kinda meh
  22. chemiclord
    Dec 4, 2020
    8
    Age of Calamity is, for good or for ill, an excellent musou style game. But it suffers from two flaws that keep it from a higher score.

    First, it isn't really what Nintendo and Koei-Tecmo advertised it to be, but I don't want to get too deep into spoiler territory. Secondly, oof... it does suffer from some pretty bad resolution and frame rate downgrades that show it was either not    Age of Calamity is, for good or for ill, an excellent musou style game. But it suffers from two flaws that keep it from a higher score.

    First, it isn't really what Nintendo and Koei-Tecmo advertised it to be, but I don't want to get too deep into spoiler territory.

    Secondly, oof... it does suffer from some pretty bad resolution and frame rate downgrades that show it was either not quite ready for launch or the Switch itself really isn't capable of handling it. If a patch cleans up the performance or a Switch revision allows it to perform to its fullest, it could be a review worth revisiting.    … Expand
  23. Raikou
    Dec 3, 2020
    10
    This game is really awesome, and I loved every bit of it, playing as the champions,Zelda, Link and many others!
  24. Megakrage
    Dec 3, 2020
    10
    The best warriors game ever made. which makes sense since nintendo helped with it. it is so much fun and detailed. it being zelda makes it that much better. i never really cared about the fps drops. only happens when a lot of things happen on screen at once and it really isn't an issue. just in general, great gameplay, great story and all around a great game.
  25. blalack
    Dec 3, 2020
    7
    Another 2020 mixed bag release.

    The gameplay is flashy and fun. There's tons of characters and you unlock a few combos for each as you go, so you shouldn't get too tired of any one character. Cutting through lots of enemies is fun, and is the meat of the gameplay. The loop itself, however, does wear on just a bit too long. Especially in the final missions, you can feel them pad out    Another 2020 mixed bag release.

    The gameplay is flashy and fun. There's tons of characters and you unlock a few combos for each as you go, so you shouldn't get too tired of any one character. Cutting through lots of enemies is fun, and is the meat of the gameplay.

    The loop itself, however, does wear on just a bit too long. Especially in the final missions, you can feel them pad out the length. Specifically, there's a mission chunk where you're tasked with defeating a few large enemies - As soon as you finish, they respawn and you're asked to do it again. It was tedious the first time, and it isn't any more fun the second time - This is classic quantity over quality. At that point I was just trying to get to the credits so I pushed through.

    Side missions are just more of the same. Unless you're a completionist there's really no reason to do all of them. There's never anything new added to the loop. Like the campaign, go here, kill this, move on.

    The story is not good. 70% of the VA's just aren't really appealing (Zelda and Mipha are still awkward and out of place compared to Urbosa, for example.) and the writing is all fluff. Don't expect too much "real" story where anything happens. Let's be honest, it's all just a setup for the gameplay and combat to take place, which is fine. But don't expect to get any real lore on Breath of the Wild, it's not there. It's all, "Oh, go here, whoops, now there's Yiga people! FIght them." Rinse and repeat.

    The performance is pretty damn horrendous. The gameplay is decently fun, but I can't help but think if they pulled back on the particle effects even 10% the game could run at a decent, consistent frame rate. As it is now, the frame skips and dips are pretty inexcusable. If they roll out a performance patch, I'll update the score if it improves, but based on how much work needs to be done I don't see it happening.

    Buy it if you want some mindless fun, some filler content to keep you entertained while waiting for other releases. Don't get it if you're looking for some eye-opening take on BOTW, it was marketed as a "prequel" and it's really not. That's not a bad thing, but don't go in with lofty expectations. It's decent at best.    … Expand
  26. orukusaki
    Dec 3, 2020
    7
    If you like these types of "Dynasty Warriors" style of hack and slash games just with a Zelda/Link story line. You'll enjoy this. I would warn multi-player in docked mode slows the game down tremendously when trying to use special moves . I tried playing with a buddy but the game would essential freeze if one of us tried to use one of those moves. Other than that I've enjoyed it.
  27. XiaN22
    Dec 2, 2020
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. El juego es básico y repetitivo, aburre de lo repetitivo que es.
    Encima la historia no es canon y no termina como debería terminar... Todo muy Disney.
    Nadie muere, vencen a Ganon y todos son felices.
    No entiendo por qué hicieron esto    … Expand
  28. axelarator
    Dec 2, 2020
    6
    This game is not what we were promised, it's a what if scenario that severely disappointed me, gameplay if fun though keeps you engaged and entertained but frame rates drop like crazy sometimes which gets pretty annoying, honestly the only problem i have with this game is it's story, it's technically a prequel but like I said earlier it has a bunch of what if moments that just reallyThis game is not what we were promised, it's a what if scenario that severely disappointed me, gameplay if fun though keeps you engaged and entertained but frame rates drop like crazy sometimes which gets pretty annoying, honestly the only problem i have with this game is it's story, it's technically a prequel but like I said earlier it has a bunch of what if moments that just really brought me out of it, overall fun gameplay, likable characters, didn't like what they choose for the story.… Expand
  29. Montelomiguel
    Dec 1, 2020
    7
    La verdad tenia muchas expectativas del juego,
    tal vez por eso me senti un poco decepcionado, no es malo, pero siento que no aporta mucho, senti que en lugar de jugar un zelda estaba jugando un dynasty warriors, me parecio un poco repetitivo, sin embargo si eres fan de zelda te va encantar, pero no vayas con demaciadas expectativas.
  30. Blixri
    Dec 1, 2020
    9
    If you’ve ever played Hyrule Warriors, the 2014 game, it is a Zelda styled Dynasty Warriors game. Dynasty Warriors is a hack and slash series of games that had many different spin-offs in the last decade. Fire Emblem Warriors, Hyrule Warriors, of Course, and Persona 5 Scramble, which still hasn’t been localized yet. Hyrule Warriors has some very satisfying hacking and slashing going on,If you’ve ever played Hyrule Warriors, the 2014 game, it is a Zelda styled Dynasty Warriors game. Dynasty Warriors is a hack and slash series of games that had many different spin-offs in the last decade. Fire Emblem Warriors, Hyrule Warriors, of Course, and Persona 5 Scramble, which still hasn’t been localized yet. Hyrule Warriors has some very satisfying hacking and slashing going on, being able to wipe out hordes of enemies in mere minutes. I love Link’s Shield surf ability in this, and even though it went a little too fast to hit enemies with much accuracy, it was super fun. However, the bosses in this game are still pretty challenging, even if you don’t have Breath of the Wild’s difficulty and stuff. There are a lot of hard-core Breath of the Wild players out there, and it’s nice to see that Hyrule Warriors doesn’t compromise it’s difficulty even though you can cut down normal enemies with ease. You can select your difficulty as well, so it’s not the hard and harder difficulties in Breath of the Wild. If you came in expecting Breath of the Wild, you’re gonna be pretty disappointed, but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have a similar feel to Breath of the Wild. You get different characters, special abilities, et cetera. If you really want to know, play the demo.

    So Age of Calamity’s style is visually the exact same as Breath of the Wild. Obviously many assets were re-used, but they made some different renders of new characters as well, which is quite shocking. Well, it’s shocking that they made new characters, not that they rendered them. Because of course you gotta render new characters. For example, look at Impa! She either looked like she wanted to slice your face off, or that she was going to fall over due to her massive head, but this render? She looks so young, so naive, and cute, and so freaking Naruto.

    Lastly, this story is nothing to scoff at. I won't spoil anything, but this thing plays such a huge role in the Zelda timeline, and it is such an awesome story. This story really hyped me up. It felt like waiting for Avengers: Endgame or Smash Ultimate. That's the hype level we're talking about here. There were some really empowering moments in there, and also a lot of sad moments. All of it paints a beautiful picture, no, a beautiful game. This is truly one of the best games to come out this year.    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

87
#87 Best Switch Game of 2020
6
#6 Most Discussed Switch Game of 2020

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
78

Generally favorable reviews - based on 113 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 90 out of 113
  2. Mixed: 23 out of 113
  3. Negative: 0 out of 113
  1. Ninty Fresh Magazine
    Oct 22, 2021
    80
    Of all the champions, AoC is most comparable to Daruk: rough around the edges and simple, but full of heart and grows on you fast. [Issue #3, p.55]
  2. CD-Action
    Jun 9, 2021
    75
    Age of Calamity is like a t-shirt with your favorite band’s artwork – remove the love of their music and all you’ve got is a piece of clothing. Similarly, if you play Hyrule Warriors not familiar with Breath of the Wild, you’ll miss tons of fan service and end up with a pretty and relaxing but rather basic hack and slash. [01/2021, p.64]
  3. Nintendo Force Magazine
    May 5, 2021
    85
    This battle-hardened prequel is able to scratch an itch that its source material couldn't. [Issue #50 – January/February 2021, p. 75]
See all critic reviews »