Review: Is Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment the finest musou of all-time?

Five years ago I found myself seriously impressed with Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity (review), as the collaboration between Nintendo and Koei Tecmo transcended what everyone expected from a licensed musou title, or from a Zelda musou for that matter. Not only did it add interesting story arcs to further expand the lore and universe of Breath of the Wild; it also used the open-air adventure's unique mechanics to make its own, tried combat system much more varied and engaging.

Fast-forward to the current moment in time, with the Nintendo Switch 2 turning just five months old, and both companies try to strengthen what made the previous entry such an amazing "Warriors". Does it succeed? Let us find out.

Where Age of Calamity told what happened 100 years before BotW in a non-canonical way, where you stepped into the shoes of the Champions, Age of Imprisonment now tells what happened 10,000 years before Tears of the Kingdom by following the game's recollections more to the letter. This means there's no Link to be found, with Zelda, Rauru, and Mineru under the spotlight, and with Ganondorf's menace as real and prominent as it was in the base game's memories.

As such, one of the very few minor gripes I have with this game becomes apparent quickly. While Link is a mute hero, and much as Zelda is a significantly strong lead (and a voiced one at that), and even though the royalty of Sonnia, Mineru, and Rauru grew on me (more so when I levelled up the king into an absolute beast), some charisma is lost along the way, mostly when talking about those characters leading the different races of Hyrule. Because when we already knew and loved the original Champions and their successors from BotW, the latter further reinforced with TotK, it is naturally difficult for this game to try and "sell" new race leads to the player, let alone their subordinates, both struggling to connect the same way.

And since we're talking slightly negatively, it was about time they tried something different with some of the tropes. Rocks falling from the sky in Death Mountain? Who could have guessed! But other than raising some eyebrows, both gameplay and narrative work at such a level for a musou that, more than "you can only milk this setting so much", it feels like "oh, you actually knew how to squeeze it for a last dance". Yes, cutscenes are ridiculously compressed versus the crisp in-game graphics. Yes, maps could've found more strategic use for ally orders via level design. Yes, it is a tad too easy for those who played the previous one for too many hours (I recommend you tweak the difficulty right away, or not take too many secondary battles)... but all these are minor cons, believe me.

Now, the pros. Same as it happened to TotK coming from BotW, going from AoC's Sheikah Runes to AoI's Zonai Devices manages to multiply the gameplay possibilities in a clever way. To try and put it in just a few words: You have your heroes (allies), with their respective special abilities and weapons. As per usual, right? You can level up the characters and their weapons, but then they all get access to the different Zonai Devices you put to crazy applications in TotK. Interestingly, these can be used as is (for example, spitting fire or water), but also, depending on the specific character, as special abilities or as finishers to your combos. Not deep enough? Put the need for batteries or the chance to create elemental chains into the equation and you have one of the deepest, most rewarding combat systems in a Warriors game.

It also builds on top of what came before, of course. There are perfect dodges and parries, special counter-attacks to enemies' own specials, coupled attacks and quick tag-switches like in a fighting game, and much more. It gets repetitive and monotonous, as we've come to expect from the genre, but in a delicious, addictive way. And the side activities are just brilliant, using materials, resources, and rupees in such an inspired way it all makes sense within the Zelda framework.

And I want to give some special props to the game's interface and overall graphical design. If this isn't the most elegant, finest musou to date, please let me know. Taking advantage of the Switch 2's larger resolution, it fits just fine on both the big and the small screen, with a clarity and logic to every map, menu, screen UI, HUD, or even prompt that I had never seen before in such a convoluted genre. It just oozes care and delicacy to try and put everything into the right place so that you understand what's going on and find what you need at first sight.

I also loved the pace of the campaign. As said, it fell a bit on the easy side because I'm a completionist and can't help but complete all the missions and activities before taking on the next story-driving battle, but it felt great doing so, even if I was a tad OP or over-levelled for the next main one.

With Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment, Koei Tecmo reaffirms that it delivers some extra quality when it comes to Nintendo IP, and this is an even better game compared to Age of Calamity. Production values are once again through the roof, sometimes competing with those of the mainline Zelda, while both narrative and gameplay got deeper and somehow more interesting despite the potential fatigue of the setting and the loss of charisma. The many new additions to the combat system also compensate for a more linear level design, and the strong performance and loading times make it a joy to play for just too many hours on both TV and handheld. It has a couple of peaks to its story I won't spoil here, but to me this is the best way to celebrate the end of an era. An engaging icing on the cake for the whole BotW/TotK setting and timeline.