Nintendo has recently released Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment on the newly launched Switch 2, and the feedback has been quite polarized. The game gives players nothing less than the fast-paced fights as well as the chance to walk through the dark history of Hyrule, but still, the gamers are not of a single mind regarding its quality. The supporters have their opinion while the detractors have pointed out the major errors.
But what is Age of Imprisonment? It is yet another installment in the Hyrule Warriors franchise, those musou-type bolts which allow you to annihilate hordes of enemies with their enormous strength while playing a character from The Legend of Zelda. This game, in particular, is supposed to provide the player with some clarity regarding plotlines from previously unanswered mysteries of the prior title, Tears of the Kingdom, and offer a larger view of the world and its history. Or at least that’s what the game is attempting to do.
Gamers were all too quick to reply with a barrage of tweets to the launch announcement from Nintendo. Among them were people who were totally over the moon, to put it mildly, about the new game. The user SkyloftSword posted ‘LOVED this game so much’ and then straight away, the user went on to bemoan not being able to achieve 100% completion because they had done all side quests after collecting all Koroks. That’s tough, man! Just imagine the thousands of hours spent on a game only to find out that a weird design choice has made it impossible for you to do everything.
Other gamers have similar thoughts about the game’s structure. The user CZunde mentioned ‘There are so many fucking Aside quests holy shit’ which probably is a common trait in the gamers’ responses. The game appears to be incredibly rich in content, but at the same time, it might be “too” rich? Some gamers are claiming that if you go too far in the game, your side quests will be taken over by their generic counterparts which could be causing some players to feel stuck and unable to finish the game.
The story elements are another point of contention among gamers and there are opposing views on this as well. The user FillpotJt basically said ‘None of the questions I had after TotK were answered’ that is really unfortunate for you if you assumed this game would cover the plot holes of Tears of the Kingdom. An entire thread is being unfolded around thequestion of whether the game indeed tells anything of importance, with SirKnightReignTTV explicitly alluding to the complicated case with Rauru and Sonia’s child that just does not fit into the timeline in terms of the timeline.
But there are not only complaints! A considerable number of players are actually having a good time with the game. The user mtzslivegaming commented that he was almost done with the game and called it a ‘Good game’ while OyoteStark referred to it as ‘finally something new’ yet another user quickly contradicted that by saying it is boring after an hour. So, the typical gamer opinions from the entire range are present.
Performance on Switch 2 has also been a point of discussion. The user IncrediBurch suggested it would be ‘very nice if Age of Calamity got a Switch 2 update for 60fps’ which raises the speculation about whether Nintendo will eventually put together some sort of bundle or performance patch for the old Warriors games. This is a Switch 2 exclusive (at least for now) so it is highly likely that the game is quite smooth in comparison to the older titles.
It is still uncertain whether there will ever be a market for these Warriors-like Zelda titles. User theBcrusader pointed out ‘Zelda fans who are also interested in this genre of games are very few and dispersed’ and therefore questioned why it is not that Nintendo is making these games instead of traditional Zelda ones. That is indeed a valid question—the musou mechanics do not look anything like your standard Zelda adventure, nevertheless, the first Hyrule Warriors did bring in quite a loyal fanbase.
The whole ‘high-octane’ phrase in Nintendo’s tweet was certainly the source of very funny comments making it very entertaining. User EvilStarLegacy only posted a gif of a person revving a motorcycle which is most likely a reference to the Master Cycle in Breath of the Wild. And Dave19Brown83 explicitly pointed out the ‘Link Motorcycle’ acknowledging that the vehicle has indeed made an impression on the audience.
Some players have started asking about post-launch support already. User Neo_Neo_chance put forward the question ‘When are the free updates for this game’ which indicates that they are expecting the same treatment as the past similar warriors games that received substantial DLC. Since there are supposedly still plot holes needing to be explained, perhaps Nintendo does indeed have some extra content in the pipeline.
