Age of Calamity: The Signs Were There

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity pretty much came out of nowhere today as a fantastic surprise reveal and I don't think many people have expected this. Even I didn't really expect anything for the rest of this year and I usually tend to be quite optimistic (maybe a little too optimistic sometimes) when it comes to future Zelda games and contents, looking at all the possibilities.

And I did have a new Hyrule Warriors game on my radar for quite some time now. Actually, I've even said the following thing at the beginning of this year:

If the sequel to Breath of the Wild will keep us waiting, we might also hear something from a sequel to Hyrule Warriors instead to keep us entertained in the meantime. Focusing on Breath of the Wild and letting us play as the four Champions would certainly attract attention...

And I'm kind of embarrassed that I didn't follow this sentiment any further, because I had the right idea there and it would have been interesting to explore it. Well, later this year I felt like it might be too early for a new Hyrule Warriors, but in reality we've been getting a new Hyrule Warriors every second year now:

• 2014: Hyrule Warriors (Wii U)
• 2016: Hyrule Warriors – Legends (Nintendo 3DS)
• 2018: Hyrule Warriors – Definitive Edition (Nintendo Switch)
• 2020: Hyrule Warriors – Age of Calamity (Nintendo Switch)

Of course, the Definitive Edition didn't really have anything new (except for two costumes), but here's where the real new game was probably already in development, making this biyearly release possible. (At this point you might be asking whether this rhythm will continue, but if we're getting anything in 2022, it probably will be an expansion to Age of Calamity based on the sequel to Breath of the Wild. But let's not go there yet, because this is way too early...)

Otherwise, it was kind of suspicious that Nintendo was going to re-print the amiibo of the four Champions later this year. This has been in the news and it's not an unusual thing, but the timing was suspicious, because it's not like we are getting the sequel to Breath of the Wild this year. But with a new Hyrule Warriors, which has the Champions as its focus, this makes so much sense. You'd probably want those amiibo more than ever.

 

Also, we knew that the voice actors of Zelda and Revali from Breath of the Wild have been working on something, where it seemed a little bit early for the Breath of the Wild sequel. But a new Warriors game with focus on their characters certainly explains it. It all makes sense now.

Overall, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity makes so much sense that it almost hurts. Breath of the Wild is a game in a post-war Hyrule, where we've only seen glimpses of that war. The battle against Calamity Ganon is the perfect setting for a new Warriors game and it doesn't really need much else. No complicated time travel story, where everything comes together. Just this war.

Of course it's kind of a shame that the characters from the first Hyrule Warriors probably won't return here and that we probably won't be getting any classic characters that didn't become playable in that game (like Linebeck, Cole, Demise, Hilda and so on) any time soon, but the focus on Breath of the Wild is a good thing and allows for an amazing experience.

When Hyrule Warriors first was announced and they've introduced us to Link, Impa, Zelda, Cia and Volga, I totally expected this game to focus on its own Hyrule and setting, which looked really cool and cohesive. But then we got Midna and the focus shifted to representing all those different characters from all those different Zelda games, including the "Toon Zelda" games, where the cohesiveness vanished in favor of making this a celebration of the Zelda series.

This wasn't bad and Hyrule Warriors turned out great, but Age of Calamity now has the chance to regain that cohesiveness by focusing on this one war and one setting. Of course it could still be that they're throwing in some things and characters from other Zelda games (Wolf Link would be possible, since he also appears in Breath of the Wild), where it's still too early to tell. But the focus on Breath of the Wild looks very promising and there is no need to do anything that the first game already did, because that's already on the Nintendo Switch.