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Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity is a game for the Nintendo Switch. It's a prequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild with the gameplay of Hyrule Warriors. It takes place during the period 100 years before Breath of the Wild when Link and Princess Zelda are gathering allies, particularly the Four Champions, across Hyrule to stop Calamity Ganon, who intends to revive himself and destroy the kingdom, along with combating his forces.
Gameplay
Playable characters
- Link
- Impa
- Zelda
- Mipha
- Daruk
- Revali
- Urbosa
- Hestu
- Prince Sidon
- Yunobo
- Teba
- Makeela Riju
- Monk Maz Koshia
- Master Kohga
- King Rhoam Bosphoramus Hyrule
- Great Fairies
- Terrako
- Calamity Ganon
- Battle-Tested Guardian (Pulse of the Ancients)
- Sooga (Guardian of Remembrance)
- Purah & Robbie (Guardian of Remembrance)
Development
According to Yosuke Hayashi, the director of the Hyrule Warriors series from Koei Tecmo, the game was began planning when Eiji Aonuma, the producer of the Zelda series, came to the studio and asked them if they wanted to do another Hyrule Warriors game based on the events of the Great Calamity.
The game was first revealed by Nintendo on September 8, 2020. During the original trailer, the basic concept and setting of the game was explained. The original trailer shows 6 playable characters: Link, Zelda, Revali, Urbosa, Mipha, and Daruk.
Reception
Critical Reception
While not nearly as unanimously acclaimed as Breath of the Wild, Age of Calamity received generally favorable reviews, scoring 78 out of 100 on Metacritic. It was praised for its gameplay, varied character playstyles, amount of content, visuals, soundtrack, characterization, and expansion of the Breath of the Wild setting, but also received some criticism for its technical performance and polarizing story elements like its use of time travel.
Sales
Four days after release, Koei Tecmo revealed that the game had sold 3 million copies worldwide. This makes it the best selling Warriors game according to them. They updated that number to 3.5 million as of the end of December 2020.
