Everything We Learned About Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity at Tokyo Game Show

With Tokyo Game Show 2020 taking place this weekend, Zelda fans far and wide were anxious to hear more about the much-anticipated Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity. After the game’s surprise announcement earlier this month, TGS was the next big event for fans to look forward to, and it did not disappoint. Koei Tecmo’s Age of Calamity presentation aired early this morning, and we learned quite a bit about the game, from a new trailer, to a new character reveal, to over 10 minutes of gameplay footage!

 

Young Impa Confirmed as a Playable Character:

Impa, 100 years younger than she was in Breath of the Wild, was introduced as a playable character. The Sheikah warrior and “royal advisor” was introduced in a cutscene and through an exciting gameplay sequence. Impa’s moves are reminiscent of those of Monk Maz Koshia from the Breath of the Wild DLC, The Champions’ Ballad, as well as Sheik from the original Hyrule Warriors.

Nintendo of America provided their own introduction for Impa shortly after the presentation.

 

A New Story-Based Trailer Was Released:

A new trailer for Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, titled “Champions Unite!”, was revealed during the live stream. The trailer highlights the four Champions we came to know and love in Breath of the Wild — Mipha, Urbosa, Daruk, and Revali. The teaser offers a brief introduction to each Champion, showing off some of Age of Calamity‘s cutscenes, as well as a bit of gameplay footage of each one.

The trailer also sets the stage and story of the game, signaling the return of many Breath of Wild characters like Sidon, King Dorephan, and the Great Deku Tree. Age of Calamity will take us into the world of Hyrule 100 years before the events of Breath of the Wild. It looks like the game will be story heavy and that the events will meld perfectly with the story of Breath of the Wild.

 

Breath of the Wild Players Will Receive a Bonus Item:

Beyond reiterating that players who preorder Age of Calamity from Nintendo’s e-Shop will be gifted a bonus weapon called the Lucky Ladle, Koei Tecmo also revealed that players who have save data for Breath of the Wild on their Nintendo Switch will be gifted with a Training Sword bonus item at the start of the game.

As was announced earlier this month, Zelda fans in Japan can preorder the Treasure Box bundle of Age of Calamity, which features a variety of enticing goodies. During today’s presentation, we got a better look at some of the items included in the bundle, such as a Baby Guardian keychain, a Paraglider blanket, and an art display plate.

 

Age of Calamity‘s Development Team Aimed to Recreate the Breath of the Wild’s Hyrule Pre-Calamity:

At the start of the presentation, Koei Tecmo explained that “the development team heavily focused on recreating Hyrule 100 years before the events of Breath Of The Wild and wanted to reflect this in the world’s design.” Through screenshots and today’s gameplay footage, we can see how Age of Calamity‘s visuals and world design were inherited from both Breath of the Wild and Hyrule Warriors, as it melds the visual styles of both games to create its unique world. Essentially, the game combines the Hyrule Warriors formula in the style of Breath of the Wild.

Age of Calamity boasts the same open world that we know and love from Breath of the Wild, but in a form that we’ve never seen before. We’ll get to see the kingdom of Hyrule as it was before the Great Calamity! From the gameplay footage shown today, one can see familiar locations from Breath of the Wild; in fact, we see Link leave from the Sacred Grounds in Central Hyrule. In terms of scale and positioning, the game map appears nearly 1 to 1 with Breath of the Wild’s map.

 

Koei Tecmo Worked Closely With Nintendo to Create Age of Calamity:

Today’s presentation also provided a few insights into Age of Calamity‘s development. According to the Koei Tecmo, the team behind the original Hyrule Warriors were not expecting to continue to the series after development on that game had concluded. In fact, they thought “that would be the end of Hyrule Warriors as a whole as the team was finally able to fulfil the ‘festival’ theme they were going for.”

However, the team began working on Age of Calamity when “Eiji Aonuma himself then approached the team on the opportunity to create this prequel to Breath of the Wild.” According to Koei Tecmo, the main Zelda team provided “strict guidance” for developers of Age of Calamity to follow. This makes sense considering the game’s story is a companion to a canon Zelda game.

 

We Got Over 10 Minutes of Gameplay Footage

The true meat and potatoes of today’s presentation was the 10+ minutes of gameplay footage featuring Age of Calamity in action.

Right off the bat, we see that Age of Calamity carries over the traditional mission-based gameplay of Hyrule Warriors, which involved following mission queues, taking back keeps, and eventually completing a main objective. We saw from today’s presentation that the basic battle and mission systems have returned, as we saw the player taking keeps and various missions that were nested inside one larger mission. Play holds true to the first game, but Age of Calamity freshens it up for new and returning players.

The first portion of gameplay featured Link on the battlefield as he hacked and slashed through a hoard of Bokoblins. While Link’s basic moveset is very similar to that of the first Hyrule Warriors, there are quite a few Breath of the Wild-inspired fighting elements sprinkled in. For one, he can shield surf! Shield surfing acts as a way to both travel quickly across the map and plow through enemies. We also saw Breath of the Wild‘s perfect dodge, flurry rush, and bullet time incorporated into Link’s moveset as well. And, to top it all off, Link can pull off a quick bow attack, almost like Linkle’s crossbows from Hyrule Warriors.

One of the best pieces of gameplay that we saw today featured Young Impa, who took down a hoard of Bokoblins with ease. Her fighting style — which, as mentioned above, seems like a mix of Hyrule Warriors‘ Sheik and Breath of the Wild‘s Monk Maz Koshia — differs greatly from Link. She makes use of various Sheikah-based attacks and can even create copies of herself to fight alongside her. That’s the kind of variety that makes Hyrule Warriors so fun!

 

The first Hyrule Warriors games boasted a large roster of characters, and Age of Calamity seems to be following suit. From the footage we’ve seen of Age of Calamity so far, Link, Zelda, Impa, and the four Champions are confirmed as playable characters. But we’re certainly hoping to see even more characters added to the cast! And as shown during today’s showcase, players will be able to switch between characters just like in Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition. This means that Link, the Champions, and more will be able to “fight together” on the same battlefield! There is no information currently on how co-op will work in the game, however.

In addition to the playable characters revealed thus far, one new character in Age of Calamity has already captured the hearts of many Zelda fans. A small Guardian character, who some have affectionately named “Baby Guardian,” was officially introduced during a cutscene. This little guy seemed to have been awakened by the Sheikah Slate, alongside a Sheikah Tower, and he began to follow Link around the battlefield. We’re not entirely sure of Baby Guardian’s function yet, but some on our team have speculated that, for story reasons, he follows whoever has the Slate, or that he functions like Proxi the fairy did in the first Hyrule Warriors.

 

Speaking of the Sheikah Slate and different characters, familiar Runes like Bombs and Cryonis have returned too! According to Koei Tecmo, the Runes will be “character specific,” meaning that each one will work differently for each character. For example, Link used Cryonis during today’s stream — on land, no less! — to strategically launch himself into the air and initiate a bullet time attack. In contrast to our hero, when Impa uses Crynosis, she can ride on top of the ice block and plow through enemies. In this way, each character will have a unique actions when using the Runes. The Runes have a refresh time much like they do in Breath of the Wild, so don’t expect to spam them too fast!

Interestingly, we also saw Impa pick up a Wizzrobe’s Fire Rod at the end of the demonstration. This is interesting because, in the first Hyrule Warriors, the Fire Rod could only be wielded by Link. We’re not sure yet if, in a similar fashion to Breath of the Wild, such weapons can be picked up and used no matter which character is being used, or, like in the original Hyrule Warriors, weapons will remain character specific.

As far as enemies are concerned, Breath of the Wild‘s Bokoblins, Moblins, and Wizzrobes make a return in Age of Calamity. Enemy movements, attacks, and characteristics seem pulled directly from Breath of the Wild, and enemy models seem to be the same too. Additionally, we saw Link fight a much larger Bokoblin during today’s presentation. This Bokoblin was different from the common, smaller enemies as it had a weak point meter that one must slash through. The weak point meter carries over from the first Hyrule Warriors, so this is nothing new to those familiar with that game. And just like in the first game, once Link smashed through the weak point meter, he performed a finishing move to take out the larger enemy!

Lastly, we spotted a few more odds and ends during this gameplay demonstration. We saw that materials gathered on the battlefield include more than the monster parts we’ve seen in the original Hyrule Warriors. Players can collect wood (and cut down trees), as well as food items, frogs, bugs, etc, which has led to speculation that players can cook in this new game or that materials will be used for more than just upgrading characters. We’ll just have to wait to find out!

From what we heard in this brief showcase, Age of Calamity‘s soundtrack will feature remixes of well-known Breath of the Wild songs, like the field battle theme or the Akkala Ancient Laboratory theme. There are even sound bites ripped straight from Breath of the Wild, and other little things that tie the worlds of Breath of the Wild and Hyrule Warriors together.

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Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity is set to release on November 20, 2020!

I’m sure we will hear more news on the game as the release date gets closer. Are you looking forward to Age of Calamity? What are your thoughts on all of the new information we received today? Sound off in the comments below!

Source: Koei Tecmo (via PushDustIn, Nintendo Soup)

Translation by Dark Isatari