After the recent announcement of a slew of Mario related titles and merchandise earlier this week, Nintendo decided to drop another bomb on everyone in the form of Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity. The Calamity Ganon has returned after 10,000years and it’s up to Link, Zelda, and the Champions to pilot the Divine Beasts and stop him once and for all, but what should happen if they fail? What will become of Hyrule?
To introduce the game Zelda director Eiji Aonuma explained that he and his team are still hard at work on the sequel to Breath of the Wild that was announced at E3 last year, but we would have to wait a bit longer for more details on it. Instead, they wanted to give us something to tide us over for the meantime.
Aonuma approached Koei Tecmo about making a game set during the Great Calamity of Breath of the Wild after the success of the WiiU and subsequent Switch definitive edition of Hyrule Warriors. “The Great Calamity” is revealed in short bursts via flashback cutscenes in Breath of the Wild, but Age of Calamity intends to delve deep into these events and give audiences an exciting 1vs1000 Warriors-style action adventure prequel.
Aside from Link himself we were shown several playable characters including the Champions: Urbosa, Daruk, Revali, and Mipha as well as possibly Zelda. If they’re anything like their previous Hyrule Warriors counterparts they should all be extremely fun to play, but I will main as Daruk for every level I’m allowed to (Gorons for life, brother).
The Zelda team and Koei Tecmo worked closely together in almost every aspect of the game’s development to ensure it held as closely to the visual and thematic style of Breath of the Wild as possible. This attention to detail and love for the source material really shows in the trailer.
Age of Calamity is set to be released on November 20th. For now we’ll have to wait until September 26th for more news and updates. Maybe if we all play the “Song of Double Time” we can get there sooner?
I’ve worked my whole life to become a comic book illustrator, writer, and stand-up comedian. Batman and Captain Benjamin Sisko helped put a good head on my shoulders. I spent most of my childhood saving Hyrule and the Mushroom Kingdom and seeing the Justice League save all of creation time and time again. I live in Johnson City, TN with my wife Kary and daughter Laila enjoying the beautiful mountain scenery and occasional show. Three puppies round out the family and take up the rest of the time that isn’t spent debating which Wes Anderson or Studio Ghibli movie to watch. I spend an inordinate amount of time binge watching SVU, Futurama, and Letterkenny, and when I’m not watching I’m listening to “My Brother, My Brother, and Me” or playing the occasional game of D&D. If there’s a nerdy endeavor out there, I’ve probably at least tried it.