Hyrule Warriors: Age Of Imprisonment Is The Narrative Epic Its Predecessor Should Have Been

The fact that Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment tells a canonical story and acts as a companion piece to The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has enraptured me since its reveal. Koei Tecmo has been entrusted by Nintendo to flesh out the events of the tragic yet fascinating Imprisoning War, while simultaneously naming and developing characters who were previously only ever glimpsed through brief flashbacks.

This tall order would either prove to be a spectacular expansion of a strong narrative or a misguided attempt to give meaning to a part of this journey that was better left shrouded in mystery. The final result lands somewhere in the middle, with the musou sequel delivering thrilling combat, emotive characters, and a story that makes up for the base game’s stirring melancholy with an unflinchingly tongue-in-cheek personality.

While Age of Imprisonment can’t escape the inevitably repetitive nature of this genre that sees you mow down thousands of enemies over and over again, it balances this with compelling characters, strong gameplay variety within the repetition, and a story that tugged at my heartstrings, even though I knew exactly when the axe was destined to fall.

If you aren’t familiar with Age of Imprisonment’s setup, it begins immediately after Zelda is transported back in time by a mysterious force at the beginning of Tears of the Kingdom. It leaves the player wondering exactly where the Princess has gone and how Link will get her back and save Hyrule from Calamity Ganon.

This spin-off intends to fill in the gaps and then some as Zelda fights alongside the founding rulers of Hyrule, all while figuring out a way to return home that doesn’t involve turning into a dragon that roams the open skies for centuries. It’s worth noting that this game assumes you have already played Tears, as concepts, events, and characters are mentioned as if the player should already be aware of their existence. For a hardcore fan like me, that’s no problem, but newcomers should be wary.

You take control of Zelda seconds after she emerges in the past, roused awake by Rauru and Sonia and introduced to the fledgling Kingdom of Hyrule. Here, you learn of the many alliances they intend to build moving forward. Very few people question where exactly our Princess has come from, but her shapely ears and possession of a Sacred Stone are all the proof Rauru needs to know she can be trusted.

Cue a handful of tutorials, character intros, and you’ll be off to the races, routing armies in no time. One thing I love about the narrative concerns how Age of Imprisonment isn’t afraid to dedicate time to cutscenes or even slow your movement speed down to a gradual pace in order to deliver important dialogue.

There is a surprising amount of very serious storytelling in Age of Imprisonment compared to its predecessor, Age of Calamity. Hardly surprising when Nintendo views it through a canon lens, rather than having fun with alternate universes.

Once the tutorials are squared away, you will select levels from a world map of Hyrule, ranging from Death Mountain to Zora’s Domain and many places in between as Rauru seeks to recruit neighbouring kingdoms to his cause.

In the background, Ganondorf enslaves the Gerudo people to enact his sinister schemes, which will inevitably involve awakening an ancient evil that threatens the entire world. The unfolding story is consistently enthralling as you meet the Sages belonging to each race and learn exactly what they’ve been through and stand to gain by protecting their respective homes.

My personal favourite is Qia, the Zora Queen, who must take on the throne after her father is murdered by a possessed Zonai Construct. So, when a mysterious construct who looks and acts an awful lot like Link emerges and starts helping out Zelda, it takes a while for her to try and confront this grief and walk alongside him.

There’s also Calamo, a smack-talking Korok who is searching far and wide for a place to put down his eternal roots. Except for a few generic characters simply introduced to fill out the playable roster, the cast here is the ideal mixture of new and familiar faces you will want to play as or at least experiment with.

Sprint, Slash, Rinse, And Repeat

Speaking of playing, combat in Age of Imprisonment is the classic musou formula with a few Zelda-flavoured toppings sprinkled on top. Each character has their own selection of unique combos and special abilities to use that operate on cooldowns, while there is a much bigger focus on elemental weaknesses like fire, ice, and lightning.

Most enemies will be weak to a certain style of attack or element, meaning the most effective means of dispatching them is extorting that weakness until their stagger gauge is fully depleted, and they’re left wide open for deadly special attacks.

Objectives require you to claim an outpost, rescue specific NPCs, or deal with boss enemies as they spawn in, all while following along with whatever story events are unfolding. Aside from a few and far between boss encounters, things are rarely spiced up throughout the campaign. Unfortunately, this means going through too many stages in a single sitting will inevitably bore you.

I do wish there was more range in each encounter, or perhaps even a handful of puzzles thrown in for the sake of variety. They don’t need to be complicated or even particularly original to serve a purpose here. Chances are you will find a favourite character and stick with them, although Koei has done an excellent job of encouraging experimentation for the most part.

If an enemy is weak to a specific attack, and you happen to have an ally in range who can make use of it, a press of the d-pad will switch characters and activate the skill while the action is briefly paused in a second of slow-motion. The majority of stages will dispatch a quartet of playable characters while a number of other NPCs fight alongside you, so Zelda is never alone in her conquest.

Being able to perform these synergistic attacks helps make it feel like you aren’t a lone warrior, but a single component of a larger army that is growing in power with each victory. The special attacks that two characters can perform together are not only incredibly powerful, but also visually spectacular in how they showcase the distinct personalities of each character. It’s a step up from Age of Calamity in every possible way.

Side missions will involve embarking on specialised missions with certain characters or reclaiming territory Ganon is attempting to take as his own. As expected, all these involve the same style of combat and objectives.

Occasionally, generic execution aside, the moment-to-moment gameplay is spiced up just enough by the inclusion of Zelda-inspired mechanics that I remained invested. The Zonai devices, which Link can use to build his own contraptions in Tears of the Kingdom, are in place here as optional weapons that can be wielded by characters or placed on the floor, essentially operating as remote turrets as you continue slicing armies into smitherreens. It provides a tangible level of strategy that is deep enough to make it feel like you’re not just mashing the same buttons over and over again.

It’s also worth noting that the game runs wonderfully, operating at a silky smooth 60 frames per second while docked. I only witnessed a few rare drops in portable play when lots of effects were on-screen. Considering that Age of Calamity ran so poorly and appeared so blurry that it gave me migraines, this is a night and day improvement worth celebrating.

Ultimately, I wanted Age of Imprisonment to be a worthwhile expansion of this universe that told a story that could stand alongside Tears of the Kingdom while providing its melancholic tale with greater context and tragedy. While the delivery can border on hokey at times, and I would have loved to see more of Zelda’s own personal motivations explored throughout, it’s still hitting all of its required marks. I cared about the inevitable fate of Hyrule and the road walked down to reach that destination, while I wanted to play as and upgrade every single character to see what they were capable of.

But this is still a musou title, and it can only achieve so much within that framework without awkwardly bursting at the seams. With those restrictions in consideration, however, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment is a triumphant prequel that Zelda fans are going to adore.

Pros & Cons