Hyrule Warriors Age of Imprisonment review: A Musou masterpiece held back by its own ambitions

Hyrule Warriors Age of Imprisonment is easily the most fun I've had playing a game on the Nintendo Switch 2. However, at the same time, it's also a game that won't resonate with everyone. It basically offers everything that I loved about the previous game, Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity, but packages them with significant improvements, both in terms of storytelling and gameplay.

However, at the core of it all, it's still a Musou game, and despite the "link" to The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom, it plays like a vastly different game. That said, if you're open to trying out a new genre or are simply looking for a fun action game, I think there's a lot of fun to be had with Age of Imprisonment.

While it isn't perfect, with some glaring flaws in terms of pacing and technical polish, it's still a game that I had a lot of fun playing.

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Hyrule Warriors Age of Imprisonment: An excellent Musou game, with some inconsistencies

Hyrule Warriors Age of Imprisonment is easily the most graphically impressive first-party exclusive on the Switch 2, thus far (Image via Nintendo)

Hyrule Warriors Age of Imprisonment, on some levels, feels pretty much like Demon's Souls on the PS5. It's a niche game, but one that perfectly showcases the upgrades and improvements that the Nintendo Switch 2 brings to the table. To me, Age of Imprisonment feels like that game that's a "system seller." However, there are caveats to that.

Much like Demon's Souls, it's a game (and a genre) that's not going to appeal to everyone. If you're looking for a traditional The Legend of Zelda game, Hyrule Warriors isn't the right series for it. It's basically what the highly underrated Pokken Tournament series is to mainline Pokemon games.

That said, if you're a fan of the previous Hyrule Warriors or even Dynasty Warriors, you're going to have a blast playing Hyrule Warriors Age of Imprisonment. From its story to the moment-to-moment gameplay, Age of Imprisonment offers massive improvements over Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity.

Presentation and audio

Hyrule Warriors Age of Imprisonment has its rough edges, but is still quite stunning to look at (Image via Nintendo)

Hyrule Warriors Age of Imprisonment is easily the most graphically impressive first-party game I've played on the Nintendo Switch 2, thus far. In fact, the performance and graphical fidelity are what caught me by surprise, as those were the biggest issues I had with the previous series entry. This is further elevated by the fact that it runs at a solid 60fps.

That said, the presentation also houses one of my few complaints with Hyrule Warriors Age of Imprisonment. You see, Age of Imprisonment takes up roughly 45 GB of storage on the Switch 2, and a bulk of it is due to the uncompressed pre-rendered cutscenes.

Essentially, every cutscene in Age of Imprisonment is a pre-rendered video, which runs at 30fps (with uneven frame pacing). Going back and forth between the in-game animations/gameplay, running at 60fps, and the rather frequent, pre-rendered cutscenes, running at 30fps, feels very jarring, more so in the docked mode, without any VRR support.

That said, overlooking the frame-pacing issue, the game looks very impressive when docked to a 4K display. Coming to audio, it's also a mixed bag. While the audio and ambient soundtrack during gameplay is quite crisp, the same cannot be said about the cutscenes.

Audio during cutscenes isn't bad per se, but it does exhibit audio mixing issues, particularly when it comes to dialog and background tracks.

Gameplay and combat

Combat in Hyrule Warriors Age of Imprisonment can be incredibly exhilarating (Image via Nintendo)

The gameplay in Hyrule Warriors Age of Imprisonment hasn't changed much from Age of Calamity. However, there are some small changes made to the game that do help make it much more enjoyable. For instance, no longer are combo extensions attached to dungeon battles. Instead, you simply need to complete optional quests to get said extensions.

Furthermore, the combos have also received substantial QoL improvements, where they are no longer tied to multiple face button inputs. Instead, you can easily perform longer combo strings with just the X and Y buttons. The newest additions to the combat system are elemental chains and sync strikes.

I really liked the elemental chains, in particular. Essentially, every character in the game has access to Zonai Devices, which can discharge elemental damage. Furthermore, you can have multiple Zonai Devices equipped at the same time, with different elemental properties, and use them to chain multiple elemental debuffs on enemies.

I also really enjoyed the new characters like King Rauru and Mineru. Rauru in particular is a powerhouse (as he should be), and if used correctly, can easily decimate hordes and bosses in mere minutes. That said, there were a few characters that didn't resonate with me, chief among them being the Mysterious Construct.

Overall, the combat in Hyrule Warriors Age of Imprisonment is incredibly fun. It's basically a toned-down version of Dynasty Warriors, with some unique characters and incredibly cool boss fights. However, at the same time, it's still a Musou game, and as such, very much plays like one.

You're still playing as an overpowered character, mindlessly mowing down hordes upon hordes of enemies, without any major resistance.

Story and quests

Storytelling is a major improvement in Hyrule Warriors Age of Imprisonment (Image via Nintendo)

The story was one of the biggest concerns I had with Hyrule Warriors Age of Imprisonment. As much as I liked my time with the previous games in the Hyrule Warriors series, I would admit that the storytelling in those titles wasn't particularly good. While Age of Calamity did try to remedy it with lengthy cutscenes and dialogue, the story was largely a miss.

However, that's not the case with Hyrule Warriors Age of Imprisonment. In fact, the story is what kept me going through the entire experience, even after I got somewhat tired of the "same-y" quest structure and combat loop. While the story here isn't going to rival the likes of Clair Obscur Expedition 33 or The Last of Us, it's still quite good.

It's essentially a prequel to the events of The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom. The story here bridges the gap in Zelda's story arc between her disappearance in the opening of Tears of the Kingdom and her reappearance as the dragon bearing the Master Sword.

I won't go too deep into spoilers, but if you do plan on picking this game up for the story, I don't think you will be disappointed. I also really like that the story here doesn't really need you to have played Tears of the Kingdom in the first place. If you have played, sure, you will get deeper insight into some of the characters that appear in that game.

However, the story in Age of Imprisonment is pretty much self-contained and can be enjoyed separately from the mainline The Legend of Zelda games. It's not anything special, but the story is effective enough to have you care about the key characters.

Difficulty, or lack thereof

Combat isn't particularly challenging in Hyrule Warriors Age of Imprisonment (Image via Nintendo)

While I did enjoy the thirty or so hours I spent with Hyrule Warriors Age of Imprisonment, I do have one major criticism: the difficulty, or lack thereof. While I wasn't looking for an Elden Ring level of combat difficulty, I did expect the game to be at least as challenging as the mainline The Legend of Zelda entries. However, that's certainly not the case here.

Apart from a few late-game bosses, there were barely any instances where I felt like I was being challenged, regardless of which character/party I picked for the battles. Furthermore, the boss fights, despite being quite spectacular, barely posed any form of threat, not even the Lionels.

I should mention that I completed my playthrough on the Hard preset. While I don't have any issues with making the game accessible to more players with lower difficulty presets, I do think if I'm choosing "Hard," the game should be able to challenge me using its own mechanics and combat loop. With that said, it's still incredibly fun to play.

In conclusion

Hyrule Warriors Age of Imprisonment is an excellent Musou game, and one that improves on all fronts over its predecessor. Delivering a strong narrative, coupled with a robust combat system, it's easily the best first-party exclusive I've played on the Nintendo Switch 2, thus far. That said, the game isn't perfect, far from it, with a lack of difficulty and minor presentation issues knocking the experience down a few notches.