2025 – Year of the Sages

We're looking back at yet another year and there is actually quite a bit to talk about when it comes to Zelda, keeping the momentum after The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Echoes of Wisdom in 2023 and 2024.

This is mainly due to Nintendo's newest system, the Nintendo Switch 2. Already in January of this year we saw the announcement, which would characterize the rest of 2025 for the Japanese video game company. A Nintendo Direct at the beginning of April then gave us a look at the lineup for the rest of the year.

The Nintendo Switch 2 itself launched on June 5th, together with Mario Kart World and Nintendo Switch 2 Editions of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. These paid upgrades let the games run in 4K, 60FPS and HDR, but they also give you access to a second save slot in case you want to start over without losing your previous progress.

In addition, you can connect both games to the Zelda Notes app on your smartphone. This lets you easily find missing shrines and Koroks, discover a large number of new voice memories, hunt for trophies, and even share Autobuild creations via QR codes.

Two years after its release, four new amiibo were released for Tears of the Kingdom, one for each of the new sages: Riju, Sidon, Tulin and Yunobo. New paraglider fabrics, which you can unlock with these amiibo, were added to the game as part of the update.

Both Echoes of Wisdom and the remake of Link's Awakening also received the same boost in resolution and performance, where in this case they were part of a series of free updates. Echoes of Wisdom even got a new feature on top, where you can now create favorites in the list of echoes.

Via the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack you could now play GameCube games on the Nintendo Switch, which includes The Wind Waker. It's not the port of the HD remaster that everyone was hoping for, but it's better than nothing...

And all of the above happened on the same day, on June 5th, so there were a lot of old things to enjoy in a new light all at once, given that you already had/have a Nintendo Switch 2. Only the new amiibo could still be used on a normal Nintendo Switch.

But that wasn't the end of it, where Nintendo still had another ace up their sleeve to potentially convert Zelda fans to the new system in its first year. Right in April we got the announcement for a new Hyrule Warriors game, called Age of Imprisonment, which was going to explore the Imprisoning War from the memories in Tears of the Kingdom.

For the first time in the Hyrule Warriors series this would become a canonical tale, where you get to experience Zelda's journey into the past as it happened. And this also put the beloved princess in the role of the protagonist for the second time after Echoes of Wisdom, while there were many new faces to meet, like the ancient sages under their masks, or the traveling Korok Calamo and his Construct friend, who looks and acts suspiciously like Link.

At first the game was scheduled for winter, but then came out already on November 6th. Two free updates followed to flesh out the post-game, adding a new difficulty mode, more Challenges, tougher monsters, and more. And this makes you wonder if Nintendo was pushing the game into 2025 for some reason...

In any case, the first months of the Nintendo Switch 2 were a celebration of the new era for Zelda, which has started with Breath of the Wild in 2017, with the launch of the Nintendo Switch. Whether Nintendo will further continue this era on the Nintendo Switch 2 or start something new remains to be seen.

Something completely new that awaits us is the upcoming Zelda movie. This year we got a first glimpse, announcing Bo Bragason and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth as Zelda and Link. However, we will have to wait until May 7th 2027 to see it.

2025 – The Arrival of Lurking Legends

While it was too early for a new Zelda game to come out in 2025, Action Adventure enjoyers still got served quite well, because 2025 saw the release of two of the most long-awaited games in the gerne with Metroid Prime 4: Beyond and Hollow Knight: Silksong. These titles had been announced in 2017 and 2019 respectively and were in the making ever since.

However, the former saw a bumpy development, which had to be restarted in the middle, while Silksong simply took as long, because Team Cherry had too much fun developing it. And the different results tell the tale, where the sequel to Hollow Knight delivers one of the best Metroidvania experience to date, while Prime 4 is suffering from a small identity crisis.

Metroid Prime 4 Timeline Placement

In an interview with Famitsu, Nintendo (presumably Kensuke Tanabe) reveals some details about the development of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, where they also answer when the game actually takes place in relation to the rest of the series. It's set between Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion.

Well, you could make an educated guess already thanks to the given year, 20X9 on the cosmic calendar. As a reference, Zero Mission takes place in 20X5 and Federation Force in 20X6. Super Metroid apparently is set in 20X7, but this has to be taken with a grain of salt, because that information only came from Japanese advertisements. It lines up with what Nintendo is saying here, though.

And I'm not fully on board with this yet. They made a big deal out of how in Super Metroid the "last Metroid is in captivity", before the events of Metroid Fusion revealed that the Galactic Federation has a secret Metroid cloning program. Well, that twist got preempted by Other M eventually and the upcoming Metroid Prime titles may simply dive deeper into this topic, where Sylux has been getting his steady supply of Metroids from all those secret Galactic Federation labs doing the same illegal thing...

But in order for Samus herself to become the last Metroid in Metroid Dread, some cleanup needs to happen beforehand. You can't have cloned Metroids all over the galaxy.

Then there is also the topic of Samus's gunship. She seems to have two (or even three) different ones and is swapping them between missions. But where is she keeping the spares? And she was in need of a new gunship in Metroid Fusion, after she had crashed her ship from Super Metroid / Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, meaning that the one from Corruption and Beyond has to be destroyed eventually as well...

Source: NintendoEverything 

My Take on Metroid Prime 5

According to Nintendo, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond was the beginning of a new tale after the Phazon saga from the original Metroid Prime Trilogy, where they may have already plans to continue this tale sooner than later. So, let's explore the possibilities. Spoilers for the game's ending right ahead!

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond (Review)

Teased 18 years ago, announced eight years ago, and its development rebooted six years ago... Metroid Prime 4: Beyond has a very long development history and now has finally become a reality on the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2. But was it worth the wait? Does it hold up to the reputation of the original Metroid Prime Trilogy? And how how does Sylux fare as a villain? If you have followed my logbook, then you will already have a good idea, but here is the condensed version.

Got the F4F Revali

The collection is finally complete! I have now received all of the First 4 Figures Champions as presents over the last couple of years, starting with Urbosa in 2023, followed by Mipha and Daruk last year. And as an early Christmas gift there is now Revali joining them.

Somehow my partner managed to hide this from me in our closet for the past six months, but since she had put Daruk in the same spot, I must have learned to turn a blind eye to it.

Well, normally you save the best for the last, but I would be lying if I said that Revali was my favorite of the Champions. The statue is still awesome, though. They have used an actual bowstring for the weapon, or at least a proper string, which is a fantastic detail. And to make Revali shine more, I got the light-up version:

My Mipha has this as well, but not the other two, so I will have to see how I make good use of this. And I still need to buy a proper display cabinet for them all, where there had been other priorities throughout the year. But at least I now won't have to leave an open space inside once it's in place.

Zelda Calendar 2026

It is that time of the year again, where your current wall calendar will soon have completed its service. And in the past Zelda fans could look forward to something new every year, but those days seem somewhat over...

The team at Danilo decided to make their Tears of the Kingdom calendars a trilogy, so it's more of the same. That means you get another 12 months of character artworks from the last 3D Zelda game, with some repeats and some new ones. Here is what's in it:

Link, Riju, Sidon, Tulin and Ganondorf are repeats from 2024. Zelda, Yunobo, Rauru and Hestu are repeats from 2025. And the Great Deku Tree, Purah and Mineru have their first occurrence.

Well, this could have been easily reduced to two calendars. Especially the current poster, which was last year's cover motive (and vice versa), seems rather uninteresting. And since there had been five repeats in the previous calendar already, two would have been enough to include all the artworks. Plus, they still haven't made use of everything there is yet, like Yunobo's default artwork.

At least the overall design has improved quite a bit, compared to last year. There is a lot more variance in the backgrounds and they have added the names of the characters, which looks good. I still like the one from 2024 the best, even though it has the simplest design of the three, but its simplicity made it the most stylish in my opinion.

Of course, the new calendar is very much still up-to-date with the releases that we had this year. Tears of the Kingdom got a Nintendo Switch 2 Edition, new amiibo, and its own spin-off game with Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment. A calendar based on the latter would have been amazing, though, but that probably wasn't as easy/cheap to realize, since it involves a third party. In addition, Mineru and Tulin will make their crossover debut in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, so there is some small relevance to 2026 as well.

Still, some love for Echoes of Wisdom would have been nice. This is where Abrams could have shined, but I'm pretty sure they have simply recycled stuff from their previous calendars, while getting some inspiration from Pyramid with their cover motives. So, I'd rather take the Tears of the Kingdom calendar for a third time, because this has at least something "fresh" in it.

Age of Imprisonment Chronicle, Entry 11

This week the version 1.0.3 update for Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment was released, so it was time to briefly return to the game for the latest addition of Challenges, the new Phantom Ganon appearances, and some weapon building.

Difficulty: Very Hard
Scenarios: 24
Challenges: 167
Quests: 406
Map Completion: 100% (Again)

Age of Imprisonment – Second Free Update Revealed

We're already getting the version 1.0.3 update for Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment this week, the second of the two free mini expansions. It's scheduled for December 18th, but last time it already came out a day earlier, where maybe they are releasing 0AM Japanese time. So, keep an eye out tomorrow. You can find all the info on the Japanese website, and only there, so the official English names are still pending.

However, the update says pretty much in the expectations from last month, where it does check off a number of boxes and fills the obvious gaps, except for the one on the roster that everyone was really hoping for. But the minor version number already indicates that this isn't meant as anything substantial. Still, there is truly more stuff in here to keep you engaged (official English names pending):

• A new Forbidden difficulty mode. Clearing a certain number of battles in this difficulty will unlock additional waves of rewards, similar to the Contribution Level Quests. This includes more pure Zonaite Steel and even increases to the total of rations. There are no checkpoints in the Forbidden difficulty.
  
  
• New Phantom Mode battles. These will randomly alter already cleared scenarios, where they will have an evil eye for their icon on the map. Here Phantom Ganon chases after you. In addition, enemies might be turned into their gloom or even vicious variants. You can earn pure Zonaite Steel as rewards.

Those are truly the equivalents the Apocalyptic difficulty and the Blood Moon battles from Age of Calamity, but more sophisticated. The changed enemies in Phantom Mode could truly prove a challenge and the additional rewards give you a real incentive to clear the entire game in the new difficulty mode, which wasn't the case before.

It will also be great to have something to play on rotation with the Phantom Mode, just to keep the game going for when you want it to. And you get more ways of earning pure Zonaite Steel, which was badly needed.

As expected, they will add more Vicious Monsters and corresponding Challenges as well. These are Lizalfos and Chuchus, where the latter look especially crazy, almost like a homage to Arrghus or Wart from A Link to the Past and Majora's Mask with all those smaller slimes surrounding them.

Curiously, they haven't made any vicious variants of the Horriblins, Gibdo or the Molduga. And they most likely won't add those later, since these vicious monsters are utilized in the new Phantom Mode and Koei Tecmo has explicitly spoken of two updates... I can't say that I'm overly sad about this omission, because these battles have gotten quite frustrating in the last update. And now you can do them all over again in the new difficulty mode... Ouch.

In addition, there will be some more Challenges with new mission types, like battles focused on certain warriors, or a "fight to the death with a powerful foe", whatever that means. Well, it's probably a Challenge featuring the Forbidden Construct, which will be similar to Rauru's battle in the last update, offering you a new weapon as a reward. Which is part of some smaller extras:

• A new training stage in the sky, where you can also perform Sync Strikes.
• New unique skills for the Mysterious Construct, one for all three weapon types. This includes the "Shield Charge", as a counter against dashes.
• The Forbidden Blade as a new one-handed weapon for the Mysterious Construct and the recruits.

The additional unique skills for the Mysterious Construct make so much sense in hindsight, because there were some clear gaps here. You could always use Zonai devices instead, but it's better to have options.

In the first update we got the High Guard's Spear and the Longsword of Light, so with the Forbidden Sword there is now one powerful extra weapon for each category. It also looks quite interesting, like a dark counterpart to Zelda's Blade of Light:

It's actually the weapon the Forbidden Construct is using, hence the name. That's neat, but certainly not the weapon / character that everyone was hoping for. Maybe they will offer paid DLC in the near future, but I'm not really expecting it.

 

PS: The timing is absolutely perfect, since I just finished Metroid Prime 4 two days ago. Yet, I feel like I'm not getting a break here with these back-to-back releases...

Silksong – Sea of Sorrow Announced

Team Cherry has announced the first big expansion for Hollow Knight: Silksong on their blog, featuring a small teaser trailer. It will be called Sea of Sorrow, adding a maritime area to the game, amongst other things. Two months ago I had discussed my DLC ideas for the game and this was right on top of the list.

This first free expansion will most certainly add the missing "Pharloom Bay" area, which we saw in the earlier trailers, but didn't make the cut. This included a new port town, with lots of barnacles around, and will likely be placed to right / east of Bilewater.

Another part of it is the "Lifeblood Spire", which is probably the facility that we can see in the new trailer. They haven't shared any details, but it looks like their DLCs will be going in the right direction.

They give "2026" as a release date, but be careful with that... Team Cherry has a reputation now for taking their time. But to be fair, they had released all content updates for the original Hollow Knight within 18 months from the game's launch, so it's probably going to be in the first half of 2026.

Metroid Prime 4 Logbook, Entry 6

It's not a true Metroid Prime game if there isn't something to collect before you can face the final boss. Not that it matters much when you're going for 100% anyway... In any case, there is a lot of sand to see, before heading into the mostly disappointing finale. Endgame spoilers incoming, so read at your own risk!

Scans: 100%
Items: 100%

Metroid Prime 4 Logbook, Entry 5

Did somebody say Phazon Mines? No? Well, great... There was one last major area to explore with one last Teleporter Key to obtain, before the game is heading into the big finale. And it all feels like a very intentional throwback to the original Metroid Prime with this particular setting...

Scans: 93%
Items: 67%

Metroid Prime 4 Logbook, Entry 4

Jungle, ice, lava... Metroid Prime 4: Beyond certainly doesn't cover itself with originality when it comes to environmental themes. Maybe they should have called this game "New Metroid Prime"? Anyway, let's see what the Magmoor Pyrosphere, errhhh... the Flare Pool has in store. With some desert driving in between.

Scans: 81%
Items: 51%

Metroid Prime 4 Logbook, Entry 3

Let's talk about the coolest part of the game so far, the Ice Belt. In old Metroid Prime fashion you'll find a sleeping laboratory there, but it leads to a different revelation...

Scans: 67%
Items: 27%

Metroid Prime 4 Logbook, Entry 2

The next area you get to explore is the Volt Forge, which is mainly a mass production facility for the game's other big gimmick: the motor bike. So, I've proceeded with that part and did some first cruising through the desert of Sol Valley afterwards.

Scans: 44%
Items: 16%

Metroid Prime 4 Logbook, Entry 1

Ah, well... let's just do this. I'm 90 minutes into the game, where I have played through both the intro sequence and the first area, which covers the demo and the previews. So, these are some very early impressions.

Scans: 30%
Items: 9%

Got Metroid Prime 4: Behind

A little late to the party... That's what you get when you pre-order from Nintendo directly. So far I've been an advocate of the My Nintendo Store, despite paying full prices, because you usually get a number of nice goodies, mint quality, and the game on time. However, they hate the idea of you getting the game a day early, so they always keep the deliveries very close to their chest. A little too close. And during the Christmas season, in the week after Black Friday no less, this backfired. My package was stuck in some delivery limbo, where nothing happened for 48 hours...

But I blame Nintendo here. They sent it too late without the necessary priority labels / fast shipping. So, I honestly can't recommend their shop any longer if you want to be playing on launch day. And yes, I could have just gone to some store and pick the game up there, but I wanted the additional goodies and this would have created some unnecessary back and forth. And after the mixed previews and reviews my excitement wasn't the greatest either, so I was able to wait two more days after having waited 18 years.

It only sucked that I had taken one day of vacation... But luckily I was able to move some hours around to have more time to play on Monday. I just hope they won't ever release a new Zelda game in December again, because I won't be as patient in that case.

Anyway, the My Nintendo Store sold the so called "Power Set" of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond. It came with a big mouse pad, 61x35 cm, and a set of nine holographic cards. You also get a small key chain in a litte pouch with the game's logo on it, but that's the purchase bonus item that comes with any physical version of the game.

In addition, there are three amiibo: Samus, Samus on Vi-O-La, and Sylux. For some reason, the first two already were released alongside Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment a month ago, on November 6th, but I haven't touched them until today. At least they were delivered on time.

And they look really nice. Well, I personally find the normal Samus to be somewhat redundant, since we already got a very good looking version of that suit with Metroid: Samus Returns, but there is some extra detail with the purple psyschic power stuff and it has a different pose.

Their functionalities inside the game seem to be either useless or questionable, which is a problem with main Metroid games, it seems. Federation Force did it actually best with the paint jobs...

Now, I'm off to finally play the game. I'm not entirely sure if I want to do detailed blogging about my impressions and progress, now that I have effectively lost two days of potential play time, but let's see how I feel after the first couple of hours. It will be a shame if I don't, but in that case a late review will have to suffice.