Developers Discuss Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity’s Music and Voice Work in Recent Interview

Recently, the developers of Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity sat down with Famitsu‘s Nishikawa-kun to discuss the origins of the game, its original soundtrack, and the guidelines put forth by Nintendo in their relationship with Koei Tecmo’s team. While many of those aspects will be explored in other articles, this will focus specifically on the development of the game’s stunning soundtrack and the voice acting.

Nishikawa-kun noted that previous Warriors titles are marked by heavy use of electric rock in their trademark musical arrangements, and asked what the developers could share about the sound concepts this time around, which appear inspired by The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. In response, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity Director Ryōta Matsushita explained:

“At first we did plan on incorporating the rock guitar sound, but the scale of massive armies colliding and the gravity of the story felt more appropriately expressed through orchestra. We also challenged ourselves with a policy to adopt the piano sound and impressive pieces featured in Breath of the Wild, and we worked our hardest to create arrangements and new pieces which would invoke feelings of both Warriors and Breath of the Wild.”

It’s interesting to note how much the Koei Tecmo team was willing to incorporate change from their traditional Warriors model with this game. It’s likely in part because Nintendo worked so closely with the team to ensure a product on par with Breath of the Wild, but that’s not the only reason. The team at Koei Tecmo was comprised of hardcore Breath of the Wild fans who drew inspiration from how creative Nintendo had been, breaking away from the norms of the Zelda franchise with their 2017 hit, and wanted to emulate that embrace of change.

When asked by Nishikawa-kun about the “much larger volume of voice work this time compared to Breath of the Wild,” Matsushita replied:

“We did many recordings for hard content such as action response phrases, but the voice acting team came to the studio full of Calamity-defeating energy, and even those characters without any combat scenes in Breath of the Wild brought out their fighting forms, so we got very nice voice work. I remember the sound director and I both getting very moved when we first heard the voice of the ‘Champions at war.'”

Indeed, the entire team at Koei Tecmo and those collaborating from Nintendo felt intense energy and excitement throughout the process; there was a sense that something special was coming together. One particularly heart-warming moment Matsushita noted was that, during recordings of Princess Zelda giving speeches to rally the soldiers of Hyrule, even some of the developers and studio workers began yelling and hollering in response to the voice actors, as though ready to take to the field of battle too.

Tell us what you think. Are you glad the developers went with orchestra music over their trademark electric rock? Did you find the voice acting in Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity inspiring too? Share your reactions in the comments section below!

Source: Famitsu

Translation by Dark Isatari

David Lasby

I’m a life-long fan of video games and have been playing since I got my NES in the 1980s. The Legend of Zelda, Super Smash Bros., Aliens, and Halo are some of my favorite game franchises. I write for several sites, including Zelda Dungeon, Boss Rush Network, and The Mighty. Find me on Twitter to check out my other content!