All Categories

Hyrule Warriors – Age of Imprisonment Review

3/3/2026

Guest Blog post by Adam Foster @AngelicWiganer / @snoopfozziefozz

Hyrule Warriors – Age of Imprisonment (Nintendo Switch 2

I think it’s pretty safe to say that the number of first party titles on Switch 2 since its launch nearly a year ago has been pretty lacklustre. Mario Kart World was a bit meh and even though I personally loved Donkey Kong Bananza, there were many gamers out there who thought it was bobbins. So it was a relief to finally get my hands on the latest instalment from Nintendo and Koei Tecmo. If you’re not familiar with Hyrule Warriors, it’s a hybrid of the Warriors style game with all your favourite characters from the Legend of Zelda franchise. Hacking and slashing your way through thousands of enemies to reach an end goal of securing outposts or maintaining your armies in battle.

This is the third Hyrule Warriors game we have had, and I loved the first two. Aside from some horrific frame rate issues, it still maintained to be a fun experience. The last game we had was the Age of Calamity which filled in a lot of the storyline gaps from the epic Breath of the Wild. Age of Imprisonment follows suit and gives us a background into Zelda’s story from Tears of the Kingdom so features Zelda as the main protagonist with a set of characters like Rauru, Mineru and others from the various regions of Hyrule like the Gorons, Zoras, Gerudos and Ritos. As you progress through the game more characters (including a Link style construct) are unlocked.

The player controls 1 of up to 4 characters deployed to a given mission, where they must complete certain objectives while fighting off large groups of enemies. Each character has a unique move set, consisting of combos performed by stringing weak and strong attacks together. Characters also have a personal set of unique attacks, powerful moves that can only be used again after a recharge time. Different Zonai devices, which diminish a battery when in use, are also present. Characters have access to a Warrior Special, which is charged by dealing and taking damage, which can dish out large amounts of damage across a wide area. Among groups of weak monsters that are easy to dispatch, players will face captains and bosses. These enemies have a weak-point gauge, which presents itself either after an attack, or the player forcing it out through certain means.

Depleting this gauge allows a weak-point smash to be used, dealing massive amounts of damage and likely felling the enemy with one final strike. There are multiple ways to force a weak-point gauge to appear. One method is dodging the enemy's attack before it lands, leading to a perfect dodge and flurry rush. Another method is using Zonai devices at opportune moments, such as using the Flame Emitter when the enemy has an ice affinity or is nearby a patch of grass. Enemies may also unleash dangerous attacks, which cannot be blocked, but are susceptible to corresponding unique attacks and Zonai devices.

These counterattacks, among other certain cooperative attacks, boost the Sync gauge. If two characters with full Sync gauges are nearby, they can unleash a Sync Strike. Each character has a different attack whether they are the controlled character starting the Sync Strike or vice versa. However, certain pairings can unleash unique Sync Strikes. Outside of battle, the player makes use of their spoils to upgrade characters by way of assisting the people of ancient Hyrule and improving weapons with Zonaite Steel.

All of my fears of frame rates were allayed straight away. The Switch 2 performs really well in both docked and handheld and some of the sync strike attacks look absolutely amazing and it feels good to pull them off. With most hack and slashes sometimes, gameplay can get a bit repetitive, I on the other hand never found this to be the case. I wanted to unlock everything, complete all the little side missions in order to get my characters levelled up to the maximum.

Graphically its pretty much the same as the Switch 2 port of tears of the Kingdom so you know its going to look great in terms of colour and texture and I feel shows a massive upgrade in what Switch 1 graphics looked like in Age of Calamity. One thing you can always count on in Zelda games is a great soundtrack and this game doesn’t disappoint here. All the themes keep you engaged in the action at all times. I do find the voice acting to be a little cheesy at times. Does anyone else find the Zelda voice to be really annoying. I would like her to be changed, if possible, for any future Zelda games. The story is also quite boring, and the cut scenes seem to go on forever at some points. I get the game is designed to flesh out a lot of the bones from Tears of the Kingdom, but often at times I just decided to skip the scenes to get back into the actual meat and potatoes of the game.

Overall. Age of Calamity is a game which will divide opinion. If you’re a Zelda fan who likes hack and slashers like me, then you’re going to love it (story aside). If you are neither of these then I think you would struggle to enjoy it as there isn’t anything which is really fresh or innovative which derives from the other Hyrule Warriors games. Nintendo will obviously market it as a must have title for its consumers. I’m just not convinced it has that mass appeal. On reflection, I think this could be the last Hyrule Warriors game. My thinking is I can’t see Nintendo doing a third Zelda game in the same vein as Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. But then again, we do know how Nintendo loves to milk every little drop out of everything they create.

My score is 7/10.
Thanks for reading and as always Keep Gaming.

0 Comments