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00:00The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom is a masterpiece, but it left a lot of lingering
00:04questions about the most important event of its timeline, the imprisoning war that sealed
00:09away the Demon King Ganondorf.
00:10You might think that would provide a prequel like Hyrule Warriors Age of Imprisonment with
00:14heaps of territory ripe for proper exploration as you follow Princess Zelda back in time
00:19to the era of Hyrule's founding.
00:21Perhaps you truly have traveled back in time.
00:25Unfortunately for any Zelda fans hoping for satisfying answers, however, it only succeeds
00:29as the super fun, over-the-top, fanservice-filled power trip the Warriors series is known for
00:38rather than the fleshed-out glimpse into what Hyrule was like thousands of years ago.
00:42It consistently prioritizes gameplay over story, and it's my least favorite tale in Zelda's
00:47Breath of the Wild Quartet by a pretty significant margin as a result.
00:52But the upside of that decision is that Age of Imprisonment is the best Hyrule Warriors
00:56has ever felt to play.
01:04Age of Imprisonment's roughly 18-hour campaign is set on dozens of recognizable battlefields
01:10across the ancient version of Tears of the Kingdom's Hyrule, complete with skirmishes
01:14in the Golden Sky Islands and the gloom-infested depths.
01:17Tearing through wave after wave of practically helpless grunts as you claim outposts and chip
01:21away at more challenging bosses is consistently entertaining, largely due to how Age of Imprisonment
01:26wonderfully understands and cleverly weaves elements from the source material into its
01:30flashy and absurd combat.
01:34For example, Minoru utilizes her extensive knowledge of Zonai technology to summon spiky-rolling
01:39death traps, while one of her special abilities sees her building a catapult to knock down
01:43an airborne enemy.
01:47And look, she rides around on a Zonai wheel for her sprint.
01:51The controls are simple, but the snappiness and fluidity of the animations make each attack
01:56a joy to watch, and you're constantly earning new combos as you progress.
02:03Sure you can button mash most of the time and probably be fine, at least on normal difficulty,
02:08but unlocking an extra move for one of my favorite characters was always fun, like when Zelda
02:12learned to use the time-rewinding recall ability.
02:17These creative references extend well beyond individual character movesets, too.
02:22Returning bosses feature their same weaknesses, and every character has access to a small lineup
02:26of Zonai devices that are great for exposing them.
02:29You have to manage limited battery power to make the best use of them, though.
02:32Yet another interesting way the action both beautifully re-contextualizes its predecessors
02:36and also stands on its own.
02:38Age of Imprisonment is basically all combat and story, but it does such a great job of
02:49consistently drip-feeding you with new abilities and obstacles that I never got tired of battling,
02:54reviewing my rewards, leveling up, and choosing my next mission.
02:57And there's so much to do.
02:58I may have reached the credits, but after more than 20 hours, my total completion is
03:03still only around 35%, as I've got tons of optional missions left, including some challenging
03:08post-game battles.
03:12Each chapter introduces something new, like sludge-covered enemies in Zora's Domain that
03:16require water-based abilities to expose them.
03:22It might follow the Zelda style guide a little too closely when it comes to things like this
03:26ridiculously long single-row menu for key items, but at least you can map a handful of
03:31Zonai devices or special abilities to a quick menu.
03:34Those special abilities play into another strength, which is how Age of Imprisonment manages to keep
03:39things fresh by constantly encouraging character swapping during battle.
03:43Certain unblockable attacks require specific counters.
03:48If an allied character is standing near an enemy when it enters one of these states,
03:52you can instantly swap to the advantageously placed warrior to counter automatically.
03:56Swapping actions like this charge up each character's Sink Strike gauge, which allows
04:00two warriors to team up for a powerful special attack that is often tailored to fit the relationship
04:05between them.
04:07The deep excellent combat can also shine throughout thanks to great technical performance.
04:12Breath of the Wild's own Hyrule Warriors prequel, Age of Calamity, was a choppy slideshow
04:16at times.
04:17So I'm thrilled to report that Age of Imprisonment generally stays at a smooth 60fps.
04:22I won't say it never drops a frame, but it's still one of Switch 2's best showcases
04:26so far.
04:27The action drops to a slightly more inconsistent 30fps in two-player split-screen co-op, but
04:32it's still a totally valid, fun way to play with a friend.
04:37Strangely, that solid performance doesn't translate to the cutscenes, which frequently
04:40stutter and look much blurrier than the gameplay itself.
04:43It's a disappointing caveat in Age of Imprisonment's otherwise impressive presentation, and a microcosm
04:49of how I feel about it as a whole.
04:51Wonderful combat with a big letdown whenever it's time for the story.
04:54I heard a disturbance in the forest.
04:58After Age of Calamity deviated so much from canon events that it basically exists in an
05:03alternate universe, a huge portion of Zelda fans were hoping this would be a more accurate
05:07retelling of the events leading into Tears of the Kingdom.
05:10And Nintendo basically promised as much before launch.
05:13We hope you're looking forward to experiencing the canonical events that led to The Legend
05:17of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom game.
05:20But while it's true that Age of Imprisonment's story is canon, that doesn't automatically
05:24make it good.
05:25A quick word of warning.
05:26I won't spoil any big specifics here, but I am going to discuss the basics of who the
05:31central characters are and what this story is all about.
05:34And more importantly, what it fails to focus on.
05:37If you want to go in with a completely clean slate, you can jump ahead to the verdict.
05:41But know that Age of Imprisonment puts a big enough emphasis on its story that these issues
05:45stand out in a way that really does feel worth discussing.
05:51Still here?
05:52Great.
05:53A portion of this story does follow familiar threads.
05:56Zelda meets the first king and queen of Hyrule, Rauru and Sonya, as they work to defeat
06:00Ganondorf while she ponders how to return to her own time.
06:03But rather than center the story around Zelda, its primary focus is on a new character called
06:08the Mysterious Construct and its Korok companion Kalamon.
06:11That's right, Zelda isn't really the main character.
06:14These two are.
06:15It's a critical example of how gameplay was put first and foremost.
06:18The Mysterious Construct is essentially a Link replacement for a story that can't
06:22include him.
06:23It uses a Zonai device-infused version of Link's moveset from Age of Calamity, and it's
06:27admittedly one of the most fun characters to play as.
06:31Kalamon and the Construct are even thrown into a handful of Starfox-like on-rails shooter
06:35levels, which are a very fun, surprising change of pace from the rest of the action.
06:41The pair goes around recruiting several new playable characters to join their ranks.
06:45Some of my favorite Warriors in Age of Imprisonment's mechanically diverse lineup
06:48come from this group, but given that most of them are optional, they aren't woven into
06:52the story literally at all.
06:55As a lifelong Zelda fan, it is genuinely fun to play as random Hyruleans.
07:00But it's strange how much of the roster is made up of characters we learn next to nothing
07:04about.
07:05It's a very disappointing direction given the potential of this setting.
07:09Kalamo is a classic 3D Zelda companion, along the lines of Afire Midna, who speaks for our
07:14silent hero as we learn more about his own personal journey.
07:17I'm only back cause this guy dragged me here.
07:19Their story isn't bad, and it hits a few decent emotional notes, but it doesn't outweigh
07:23the overwhelming sense that it's a huge missed opportunity for what this prequel could have
07:28been.
07:29A rich exploration of the Sages, the Zonai, the Secret Stones, Ganondorf, and everything
07:34else that made the lore and tears of the kingdom so intriguing.
07:36But Age of Imprisonment isn't really interested in any of that.
07:40Ganondorf is barely even present outside of the events we already know, and his motivations
07:45and backstory aren't fleshed out whatsoever.
07:47I only learned marginally more about the Zonai, and we get names, faces, and surface
07:52level motivations for the Sages that were nothing more than plot devices in Tears of
07:56the Kingdom, but they don't get nearly enough time to develop any sort of emotional depth.
08:00So are you helping or not, pal?
08:03And apart from Hyrule Castle and a few other small details, the past is almost indistinguishable
08:08from the present.
08:09The only real way you'd know you're in an era so long ago that it is lost to time,
08:13as Zelda calls it, is because the story tells us we are.
08:17What's stranger is that Age of Imprisonment not only avoids any attempt to deepen the
08:21events of Tears of the Kingdom, it actively dances around key story moments, as if it's
08:26awkwardly trying not to spoil the twists from that game.
08:30There are some details omitted or only referenced offhand that are on the level of if Star Wars
08:35Revenge of the Sith ended by only hinting that Anakin becomes Darth Vader at
08:39a fear of spoiling the original trilogy.
08:43There is some good to the story.
08:44I particularly enjoyed seeing Minoru and Zelda bond early on over their shared interest in
08:49technology, which has been a consistent trait of this Zelda since her introduction in Breath
08:53of the Wild.
08:54There are also a few neat nods to some minor story events that we know happen later on.
08:58But if this is the send-off to the Zelda we've spent more time with than any other in the
09:02history of this series, I can't help but feel it's a pretty weak goodbye.
09:06The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom left a lot of unanswered questions perfect for
09:14exploring in a prequel, but Hyrule Warriors Age of Imprisonment isn't all that interested
09:18in answering them.
09:19What it is interested in is weaving together iconic mechanics from its source material to
09:23deliver the best Musou action the series has seen yet.
09:27It constantly rewards your knowledge of Tears of the Kingdom through clever, often hilarious
09:31movesets that recontextualize abilities to fit its over-the-top action.
09:37Carving through thousands of enemies remains fun throughout the roughly 18-hour campaign
09:41and beyond thanks to constant upgrades, smart systems that encourage you to use a variety
09:45of characters, and great technical performance.
09:49It's just a shame that Age of Imprisonment fails to tell a story worthy of its potential.
09:54Choosing to deviate from deepening our understanding of Tears of the Kingdom's lore in favor of
09:58focusing on new characters who are completely unrelated.
10:01That direction isn't inherently bad, but if you were hoping for a prequel that meaningfully
10:05pulls on any lingering threads, you won't find it here.
10:08But when the prequel we did get is a seriously fun action game with tons of optional content
10:13to keep you going, it's still a trip into the past that's well worth taking.
10:20I'm your host of Reviews Editor Tom Marks here with Logan Plant to talk about his review
10:24of Hyrule Warriors Age of Imprisonment.
10:27This is your first sort of Musou action game-y review, Logan, but you're a big Zelda fan,
10:35you've done a ton of our Nintendo reviews, and this is absolutely not your first experience
10:39with the series.
10:41So tell me a little bit about your experience with the Warriors series, your Dynasty Warriors,
10:46Hyrule Warriors, whatever, and why you wanted to review this.
10:49Yeah, my first Warriors game was Hyrule Warriors on Wii U back in 2014, that was my introduction
10:55to the series because of the Zelda skin, because I'm a lifelong Zelda fan, I'll play anything
10:59with Link in it, and I really, really enjoyed that game.
11:02I thought it was a ton of fun, and I've played every Nintendo Warriors game since, so that's
11:07Age of Calamity, the pair of Fire Emblem Warriors, and now Age of Imprisonment, and then
11:11I dabbled in Dynasty Warriors Origins, which I think is super cool, and I'm excited to play
11:15the full thing when that comes to Switch 2.
11:17So that's a funny, it's cool that that was your introduction.
11:21Would you say it's kind of fair to describe the Nintendo-style Warriors, or at least Hyrule
11:25Warriors?
11:26They're not quite as hardcore, I guess would be the right way to put it, as the normal
11:31Dynasty Warriors games.
11:32They are a little bit more about that flavor.
11:35Yeah, for sure.
11:36And they really like to take elements of the source material and put them in the Nintendo
11:40Warriors games.
11:41And it is, I think, more casual.
11:43It's less about managing this map and capturing a bunch of bases and maintaining control.
11:47The first Hyrule Warriors had a lot of that, but Age of Calamity and now Age of Imprisonment
11:51are really more story-focused, beat this big enemy with the icon on the map, and then the
11:56mission kind of progresses.
11:57So it is really a fusion of the two.
11:59Well, speaking of that story-focused, that was a big part of your review, was this idea
12:04that this is the best it's ever felt to play, but the story is the worst that the story has
12:10been in this Force game arc, if you want to call it that.
12:14You know, obviously, there's some weird time fuzziness and timeline stuff going on that
12:19we don't need to get into here.
12:20But the question I have for you is, like, a common criticism we get when we have reviews
12:27that are very action-focused games and we say, well, the story isn't good, a lot of
12:31people will say, well, I don't play these games for the story.
12:34So my question for you is, how do you personally weight those two things?
12:39And then on top of that, is this story really a big piece of this puzzle of this game, or
12:47is it something that you could just ignore?
12:48Yeah, it's interesting.
12:50If you look at my review history, I think you'll see I don't usually weigh story that
12:55heavily.
12:56I'm a big systems guy, a big gameplay guy.
12:58I love a game feel.
13:00Like, Bonanza feels amazing.
13:01That's one of my favorite things about that game.
13:03And so story usually takes a little bit of a backseat for me, but not in Zelda.
13:07I love Zelda stories, and they're very important to me.
13:10I mean, if you look behind me, you see, like, Majora's Mask and the Breath of the Wild
13:13Tapestry.
13:13Like, I love this franchise.
13:14It's my favorite of all time.
13:16So the story did disappoint me, but I've been thinking about it more.
13:19Maybe it's not super fair to place expectations of, like, a mainline narrative on a spin-off
13:26Warriors game developed not even by Nintendo.
13:29And it's pretty skippable.
13:30Like, you can skip every single cutscene if you really want to.
13:34And like I said in the review, the story isn't bad.
13:36It's just not what I wanted.
13:37And I don't really think it's what a lot of Zelda fans wanted from going to explore this
13:42time period that was very unexplored in Tears of the Kingdom.
13:45So it's disappointing.
13:46But as you saw by the score, it's not a deal-breaker.
13:48And there's so much content in this game that you can really ignore the story.
13:53You're done with it in 17 or 18 hours.
13:54And then there's probably 30-ish, 40-ish more hours of stuff to do if you want to do
14:00absolutely everything.
14:01So it's not a deal-breaker.
14:03Yeah.
14:04Like you said, you know, you still gave it an 8.
14:06It's still a great game in your eyes.
14:09And it's, but it's also a big enough deal that it, it's worth mentioning.
14:13It's worth digging into.
14:14It's worth talking about why it failed in that way.
14:16And, you know, that's why this review is coming at launch.
14:19Rather than there was an embargo pre-launch that we decided not to publish at because
14:23we wanted to be able to dig into this story a little bit more than we otherwise would
14:28have been able to and talk about why it didn't work and why that was important to some degree.
14:33Out of all the lingering questions that didn't get answered here, I'm curious, what did you
14:39want to know most?
14:40Like what did, if you wish they could have only dug into one thing in this that was only
14:44talked about briefly in Tears, what did you want to see more of?
14:47Was it more Ganondorf?
14:48Was it more of the Sages?
14:49What?
14:50Yeah, you nailed it.
14:50It's more Ganondorf.
14:52I thought that Ganondorf in Tears of the Kingdom is such a cool villain.
14:55And this prequel was such a great opportunity to flesh him out further, but he's barely
15:00in it.
15:00He's in it like basically the exact same amount as in Tears of the Kingdom.
15:04And it's a big disappointment.
15:06They were leaning hard to him in some of the marketing and the trailers.
15:09And I was ready to see so much Ganondorf and it just doesn't really happen.
15:12That's a shame.
15:13That's a shame, especially because that is one of my criticisms.
15:15You know, I reviewed Tears of the Kingdom.
15:17I gave that game a 10.
15:18And I stand by that totally.
15:19But one of the problems with both Tears of the Kingdom and Breath of the Wild is that
15:22its main villain just isn't there because of the circumstances of how they set that
15:27villain up.
15:28So to be able to go back in time to a point where the villain is alive and kicking and
15:33then still not see them.
15:34That's, you know, it's again, not a deal breaker, but it's a shame.
15:37It's a missed opportunity.
15:38Yeah, which to that point, it's why a prequel to games like Breath of the Wild and Tears
15:43of the Kingdom is so interesting because it's a prequel to a game that tells most of its
15:48story through flashbacks.
15:49So you go and experience this prequel and you're in the time period that that first game's
15:54story was already in.
15:55So Age of Calamity's answer is we'll tell an alternate universe story.
15:58People didn't really like that.
15:59I loved it.
16:00Like I said in the review.
16:01And now Age of Imprisonment's answer is, OK, we'll just tell kind of this side story
16:05that we'll weave in.
16:07But it's not what you came here for.
16:08So it's an interesting problem to tackle.
16:11And these two games have done it differently.
16:12And I personally lean in the direction of what Age of Calamity did, which is let's just go
16:16crazy with it.
16:17And this game just didn't quite hit it.
16:19Did you have what was your favorite character?
16:20Maybe it's spoilery, but favorite non-spoiler character and kind of what what made them stand
16:25out to you?
16:25Yeah, the character I highlight most in the review is my favorite.
16:28It's Minoru.
16:29She is just so cool the way she uses all of the Zonai devices and is just summoning like
16:33here's this monster truck made up of the wheels with the sharp spikes on the front and
16:37it just rolls over a hundred bokoblins at a time.
16:40And just the way that this game summons in those objects so quickly and these moves are
16:45so frantic and fast.
16:46She's just the most satisfying character.
16:48Otherwise, I really do like the Korok Kalimo because I just love Koroks.
16:53I've loved Koroks since Makar in Wind Waker.
16:56And so getting to play as a non-Hestu sized Korok, which we did in Age of Calamity, but
17:00like a normal little guy who's like firing all the different dazzle fruit and the fire fruit
17:05is just super fun and cute.
17:07Well, Logan, thank you so much for talking with us a little bit more about this, because I think
17:10the nuances of that sort of the story matters, even if it is not the massive, the be all
17:15end all, it's important to dig into and it's good to hear your thoughts on it.
17:19If you want more from Logan, his last review was actually the DLC of Donkey Kong Bonanza.
17:24You can check out.
17:25We didn't have a conversation at the end of that one, but we did have a conversation at
17:27the end of Bonanza itself that you can go check out.
17:31And then also, if you just want to hear our thoughts on Tears of the Kingdom and that
17:34story, if you happen to miss that review many years ago, my review of Tears of the Kingdom,
17:38you can check that out as well.
17:40And for everything else, keep it here on IGN.
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