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. GameCorp_Meyk
    Sep 13, 2021
    8
    Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity offers hours of mindless gameplay. With a good plot, very good music and a graphic style that makes The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild look old, Age of Calamity can join the Zelda series without hesitation. Only the performance and the grinding for some side missions can reduce the fun of this title. If this doesn't bother you and found the demoHyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity offers hours of mindless gameplay. With a good plot, very good music and a graphic style that makes The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild look old, Age of Calamity can join the Zelda series without hesitation. Only the performance and the grinding for some side missions can reduce the fun of this title. If this doesn't bother you and found the demo version good, you will find a good 70 hours of fun here.… Expand
  2. B-Bog
    Apr 30, 2021
    7
    Muuuuuch better than Hyrule Warriors, but still very flawed.

    The core mechanics are good (if a little clunky at times), but what really kills this game and prevents it from being better is the REPETITION. Talk about Warriors Fatigue! There's just too much of everything: Too many characters, too many meaningless filler side quests that you only really do to level up or gather materials    Muuuuuch better than Hyrule Warriors, but still very flawed.

    The core mechanics are good (if a little clunky at times), but what really kills this game and prevents it from being better is the REPETITION. Talk about Warriors Fatigue! There's just too much of everything: Too many characters, too many meaningless filler side quests that you only really do to level up or gather materials (as an illustration, there are only 20 story missions and almost TEN TIMES the amount of side missions), too many weapons that you collect, WAAAY too many icons on the map that demand completion (every time you get rid of one, it seems like 3 new ones pop up, like a Hydra in video game form) etc. etc.

    Framerate is dogsh**, but I think everybody knows that already. Still pretty baffling that they released the game in this state and haven't patched it since. Seems like they just don't care.

    The story... Don't even get me started man. This had so much potential as a prequel to one of the best video games of all time. They could have told a harrowing, gripping tale of Hyrule's downfall. Instead, what did they do? Used the cheapest trick in the book and resorted to time-travel/alternate universe bullsh** to turn it into some happy-go-lucky feel-good story where, magically, everyone survives ( so pretty much the complete opposite of BotW's back story). Like, REALLY NINTENDO? TIME TRAVEL?? Creating ANOTHER time line (as if Zelda didn't have enough of those already)?? I am disappoint. If you market a game as a prequel to BotW, then it better be a goddamn prequel to BotW.

    The voice acting still sucks balls. Can we at least get another voice actor for Zelda PLEASE? Her performance is maximum cringe every time. C'mon Nintendo, you're the richest company in Japan, surely you can do better in that regard?

    That's all not to say that the game isn't enjoyable at all. I had a lot of fun the first 20-30 hours, which is quite some time. It's just that, at some point, the repetitive gameplay and mediocre story WILL grind you down. If they had condensed this into a 20, 25-hour-game, told the REAL story leading up to BotW, made sure it had a decent framerate and removed some of the overall clunkiness that still harkens back to the PS2 origins of the Warriors series, this could've probably been a 9/10. As it stands, it's a good game with tons of flaws.    … Expand
  3. 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
  4. Mizuiro
    Feb 9, 2021
    4
    Un genero que no le pega ni con cola a Zelda, Funcionalidades que en el juego normal habia y en este no.. ( No se puede saltar, trepar, no hay mundo abierto, no hay minijuego de comida, todo se simplifica al extremo..)
    Personajes que tienen tanto poder que al final resulta ridiculo viniendo de haber jugado al Zelda normal donde matar a un goblin te costaba al menos un par de golpes, aqui    Un genero que no le pega ni con cola a Zelda, Funcionalidades que en el juego normal habia y en este no.. ( No se puede saltar, trepar, no hay mundo abierto, no hay minijuego de comida, todo se simplifica al extremo..)
    Personajes que tienen tanto poder que al final resulta ridiculo viniendo de haber jugado al Zelda normal donde matar a un goblin te costaba al menos un par de golpes, aqui de uno revientas a 40.

    No convence.    … Expand
  5. giannis2001
    Dec 4, 2020
    9
    Amazing game. Loved the story, the gameplay, voice acting, soundtrack. Everything was great. The only problem is the performance but you get used to it and it is not that bad.

    Highly recommend it. Definitely one of the greatest games of 2020.
  6. Ness128
    Jan 12, 2021
    10
    Sorprendente, muy buena historia, breath of the wild por todo el juego, el mejor musou que eh jugado
  7. 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!
  8. Bibbidybuff
    Jan 6, 2021
    10
    This game surprised me with how well it integrated Breath of the Wild's gameplay mechanics into the Warriors formula. It's not often I go for completion on a game, but this is one case where I enjoy the diversity of the characters so much that I'll be sad when I've run out of challenges. The story is enjoyable and I appreciate that it wasn't focused solely on Link. I frequently forget thatThis game surprised me with how well it integrated Breath of the Wild's gameplay mechanics into the Warriors formula. It's not often I go for completion on a game, but this is one case where I enjoy the diversity of the characters so much that I'll be sad when I've run out of challenges. The story is enjoyable and I appreciate that it wasn't focused solely on Link. I frequently forget that this is a spin-off since the UI and art design is taken directly from BotW. I enjoyed both of the previous Warriors/Nintendo collaborations, but this one expanded the combat so much so that it never felt like a repetitive slog for me. I hope we'll be seeing even more Warriors spin-off games like this in the future.… Expand
  9. rickiller88
    Feb 26, 2022
    0
    I had so much fun playing this game that minor issues were not a problem. Probably the best musou game I have ever played. Lame ending, though.
  10. MorbidFable
    Feb 20, 2021
    7
    Enthralling. A great example of what nintendo games can be if they're not constrained by nintendo.

    The story and cutscenes are wonderful, it delves deeper into Breath Of The Wild in ways we hadn't seen, introducing new characters and bringing more story to those we already knew. I mainly was after this game for its story, and I was not disappointed. It is not the most in depth, or    Enthralling. A great example of what nintendo games can be if they're not constrained by nintendo.

    The story and cutscenes are wonderful, it delves deeper into Breath Of The Wild in ways we hadn't seen, introducing new characters and bringing more story to those we already knew. I mainly was after this game for its story, and I was not disappointed. It is not the most in depth, or fantastic story but it was entertaining, however without spoiling it I'll admit the ending was bizarre and unsatisfying.

    Gameplay wise, I have not played a dynasty warriors game since the play station 2 but this feels basically the same with zelda bells and whistles. Most characters felt unique and fun to play, with a select few that I don't know why anyone would play them over another. Link stands out as the most versatile which honestly makes sense.

    Unfortunately I cannot completely write a long review like I tend to do, but perhaps I'll come back later and revise it.    … Expand
  11. Oldskoolberk
    Dec 26, 2020
    10
    The whole FPS argument is weak to me as I didn't even notice the issue playing the game. Age of Calamity is an excellent game top to bottom. I love the options for it and the different things you can do on it like upgrading weapons and choosing characters. I really liked the storyline to the game as it sticks with the BOTW but "doesn't" at the same time. They did an awesome job withThe whole FPS argument is weak to me as I didn't even notice the issue playing the game. Age of Calamity is an excellent game top to bottom. I love the options for it and the different things you can do on it like upgrading weapons and choosing characters. I really liked the storyline to the game as it sticks with the BOTW but "doesn't" at the same time. They did an awesome job with graphics and game controls to go with the storyline. That's what really matters. Definitely one of my favorite Switch games.… Expand
  12. sergio123456
    Sep 10, 2021
    7
    Juego muy similar en su estética al Zelda Breath Of The Wild, pero con un sistema de combate distinto que a la larga se hace muy repetitivo y acaba cansando, sus puntos a favor son una gran cantidad de personajes, la historia que cuenta y lo completo que es.
  13. fanmadeendings
    Feb 15, 2022
    9
    It's really impressive how they were able to fuse BOTW elements with Warriors gameplay, making for a very delicate mix of mindless fun, skill based combat and RPG goodness. I love it!
  14. Noah4Life
    Jul 13, 2023
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. When I first played the demo of this game, I was worried. The frame rate was all over the place, and just in general the game didn't run very well at all, and wasn't very fun but when I got this game... I enjoyed it. So anyway I'm going to talk about the gameplay first, and then transition into talking about the story. The gameplay is weird for me, I like it in some ways because it feels really satisfying to kill enemies, and of course things like Moblins, and Big Bokoblins, Lizalfos, and other stronger enemies, but on the other hand it feels kind of unnecessarily time-consuming. Like when you fight malice guardians towards the end of the game, it feels super tedious, and kinda blows honestly, but overall I still kinda like it. The gameplay makes this game fun, and satisfying, but I will say that'd I'd prefer if the levels had more healing items in them, I played it on normal difficultly, and I had a lot of troubles on specific missions, just because my health was simply to low, and couldn't be healed back up, but anyway that's just a small thing, so let's talk about... THE STORY, and honestly it was also weird for me. I've heard a lot of fans of this game say that this is supposed to be a cutesy what-if scenario, but my problem is that the game isn't presented as that at all. This game kinda ruins BOTW for me, and I hate that, BOTW is one of my favorite games of all-time, but when I saw the ending my stance kind of changed, it felt like the timeline was being split into 2 pieces, similar to what happens in OOT, and honestly... that's pretty cool, and I kinda like that. What I really loved about this story though, was the middle portion of it. This story does a lot of character explanations about the champions, which I greatly appreciate, and when the game wanted to be funny, it was. All that it took was having a cute interaction to make me laugh, and this game has tons of them. While by no means is this game perfect I will say that I enjoyed what I played of it. I still prefer the original Hyrule Warriors, but I can still look back on this game with respect. Also, quick thing, if you're wondering about technical performance, it isn't as bad as some describe, the frame rate isn't great though, in fact, I had to change my camera speed to slow, just to keep it stable, it's still playable by all means, and the pop-in that occurs is pretty mild, this game never feels "ugly", and most of the people review bombing are exaggerating as usual. If you like BOTW, and Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition, then this is a worthwhile purchase.

    Overall: It isn't perfect, but it's fun and has a decent story attached to it
    Also btw the soundtrack is amazing, it truly helped me love this game even at its worst    … Expand
  15. 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
  16. caseman2012
    Feb 1, 2022
    9
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Game is a load of fun and the story is amazing and I love that they weren't afraid to take creative liberty with the story and create a new timeline where you can save the champions and prevent Hyrules destruction.… Expand
  17. yangfanhong
    Jun 26, 2023
    8
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. We love Breath of the Wild so much that we enjoy this game. And in this game Link looks much stronger hahahah.… Expand
  18. Lhorkaven
    Jan 16, 2021
    4
    Gameplay was obviously mediocre. I was really looking forward for the story, and was disappointed.
  19. irai16
    Nov 8, 2021
    7
    Age of Calamity is an enjoyable game with fun moment-to-moment gameplay and a diverse cast of interesting characters, but I really disliked the fake-out nature of the story. It's really not a prequel at all, instead it's literal fanfiction. I would still say the game is worth buying for Zelda fans, but don't get fooled by having any expectations for the plot.
  20. Anr0
    Jan 20, 2021
    10
    Lo mejor de su genero, sube el nivel de los musuo en los que la jugabilidad suele ser repetitiva y acaban siendo un machacabotones y llega HW, multitud de combos con cada personajes mezclado con la exquisita historia que nos ofrece Legend Of Zelda, a todo aquel que no le gusten mucho los musuo este juego les puede hacer cambiar de opinion.
  21. 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.
  22. 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
  23. 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
  24. 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
  25. 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
  26. 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
  27. 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.
  28. 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
  29. 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.
  30. 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...
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Awards & Rankings

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

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
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]
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