Release Date: Nov 20th, 2020

Publisher: Nintendo

Developer: Omega Force

Platform: Nintendo Switch (reviewed)

Price: Demo: Free Download, Full game $59.99

We were in the kitchen when it happened; I lifted my coffee cup to my lips and was glaring balefully at the leaves in my front yard, willing them to either spontaneously combust or translocate themselves to an adjacent yard, when a blood-curdling shriek erupted from the family room causing my daughter to drop the milk, myself to inhale hot coffee and my wife to spill her coffee on the cat. Our ten-year-old son bounded into the room, shouting about a calamity of some sort, which only added to the confusion. Sometime later, after my breath had returned, and the kids had located and detached the cat from the dining room celling, we determined that the cause of so much excitement had been our boy realizing a demo was out for the new Zelda Game. A while later it was running on our Switch and I was introduced to the demo version of Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity.

I told you before, the sale starts AFTER thanksgiving.

The original Hyrule Warriors game came out in 2014 for the Wii-U back in 2014 and is itself related to the expansive Dynasty Warriors series. That said, in terms of Zelda, I have only played Breath of the Wild and this demo, so we won’t be going too far afield as this Warriors game is effectively a prequel to the events of Breath of the Wild. The game adopts the art style of Breath of the Wild and advances the story with Breath of the Wild style cut scenes. That set the stage for the game. Monsters are appearing and doing monstrous things, and it’s the job of the Royal Guard and the various Champions to defend the Kingdom.

The controls are a bit of a learning curve, but not too different from previous Warrior's iterations and they have been tweaked to resemble Breath of the Wild. For example, you will be able to use devices like the Sheikah Slate and pickup weapons dropped on the battlefield.

If you’ve played Breath of the Wild but haven’t played Hyrule Warriors, never fear, as the game’s story acts as a prequel to the events in Breath of the Wild and the gameplay is very simplistic, featuring one or more of the heroes along with mission dependent contingents of the Royal Guard. And yes, it’s multiplayer, so Link and Impa can go kick some butt together. The only thing is while the enemy AI is passible, the Royal Guards are stupid to the point of being hazards to navigation. For example, running up to an enemy, turning 90 degrees to the left and then thrusting useless with their spear while the Bokoblin just stands there looking confused. In another fine display of tactical acumen, Guardsmen tend to focus on the nearest single enemy, surrounding it like they want to take its lunch money while the rest of the enemy force either flanks them or just walks around them to get at the heroes.

The demo is much longer than I expected, taking about 90 minutes for my ten-year-old to beat. As a bonus, if you play the demo, the save file you create will carry over to the full game once it releases. Bottom line, if you're a fan of Zelda games and especially Breath of the Wild, the demo will not disappoint you.

The Good:

Multiple Characters
Good Controls
Multiplayer

The Bad:

Royal Guard units are dumber than soup sandwiches.

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity PREVIEW