As you all know, the Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild’s storyline took place in the aftermath of an event called the Great Calamity. This event was a major war between the kingdom of Hyrule and Ganon that destroyed the entire kingdom, and it was the cause of all the world’s problems thereafter, from the Guardians and Divine Beasts roaming amok to the deaths of the Champion and fall of the royal family itself.

It was a big deal in universe, and one which set the entire tone of the game to come.

However, despite all this, you really got to see much of the events. Oh sure you had the memories, and there was evidence of said battles littered throughout the landscape…

But that’s all you had. You never got to experience the battles one hundred years ago, or see for yourself how Link’s fellow Champions fell in the war that tore Hyrule asunder. It was background info, and nothing more.

Yet that’s now changing very soon. Why? Because Nintendo and KOEI Tecmo have now announced Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity. Set during the Great Calamity 100 years ago, this Hyrule Warriors game has Link and the Champions battling to save Hyrule from the forces of Calamity Ganon in its darkest hour, complete with the thousand strong battles the series is known for.

Here’s a trailer showing it in action:

As well as screenshots and artwork, including the game’s box art:

As you can see, it’s pretty much exactly what you’d expect it to be. Link, Zelda and Champions are leading the armies of Hyrule against hordes of monster in Breath of the Wild’s world, while legions of Guardians, Yiga Clan members and monsters aim to tear it apart. It’s the events of 100 years ago come to life in the most brutal way possible, and something that seems like a must play for fans of Zelda, the Warriors games or anything else.

Especially given how much of the game seems faithful to the original Breath of the Wild here. For instance, you’ve now got runes like Stasis and Remote Bombs reimagined as attacks and abilities in the Hyrule Warriors style:

Plus every enemy, location and object looks identical to how it does in said game:

It’s a very faithful recreation in that sense, and one that seems to do its absolute best to marry the two styles of game together.

Yet that still leaves us wondering a few things. A few things that this game’s concept leaves up in the air.

Firstly, how exactly is the original Calamity war style going to be resolved here? Because as you know, Link and the Champions decisively lose said battle in the original game, with the end result being that Link’s stuck recovering in the Shrine of Resurrection for 100 years.

So we have to wonder how that’s going to play out in this game. Is Link just going to be stuck fighting a hopeless battle against legions of Guardians at Fort Hateno until he can take no more? What exactly is the endgame going to be for the Champions, who canonically die to the Blights inside the Divine Beasts?

If they can actually portray this stuff in a dramatic, emotional war, that could make for a significantly more interesting Hyrule Warriors storyline than anything that came before.

Secondly, there’s the old question of canonity too. Cause as you know, previous Hyrule Warriors games are not canon to the series. They’re canon in their own continuity sure, but the random mishmash of characters and elements from different eras and timelines marks them as ‘what if’ stories at best, and Smash Bros style crossovers at ‘worst’.

However, Age of Calamity seems like it may be different here. Indeed, whereas previous games were clearly their own thing and kept separate from the main series, this one appears to be some sort of official prequel to it instead.

Hence that makes us wonder whether they’ll officially count this one as canonical. Or at least treat it more seriously than past games.

Finally, there’s also the question of which characters might be playable in said game, and what abilities they may have. Since in the original Hyrule Warriors, the cast list was absolutely huge.

Indeed, with characters from all over the franchise included, the final list of playable characters in the series including DLC was:

• Link
• Zelda
• Impa
• Sheik
• Lana
• Darunia
• Ruto
• Agitha
• Midna
• Fi
• Ganondorf
• Zant
• Ghirahim
• Cia
• Volga
• Wizzro
• Twili Midna
• Young Link
• Tingle
• Linkle
• Skull Kid
• Toon Link
• Tetra
• King Daphnes
• Medli
• Marin
• Toon Zelda
• Ravio
• Yuga

And then both Ganon and a giant Cucco as playable monsters bigger than everyone else. It was quite a roster, especially when the DLC and 3DS games came along.

Probem is, Breath of the Wild doesn’t really sport such an impressive character list. Instead, it has Link, Zelda, the four Champions, maybe the King, possibly three of the Sheikah leaders (Impa, Purah and Robbie) and if there’s a villain side… Calamity Ganon and Master Kohga. That’s not a huge list of characters, especially for a Warriors game where a huge selection is almost a necessity.

So we’re curious to know exactly how Nintendo and KOEI are going to handle this. Are they going to go all time travel like and bring in Champion descendants, canon be damned? Could Monk Maz Koshia or the Ganon Blights end up being promoted to playable here? Or are they just gonna toss any semblance of continuity out of the window, and have Darunia/Ruto/Midna/whoever charging through BoTW’s Hyrule, taking out monsters left, right and centre as they go?

Any of those possibilities seem plausible here, and the one they go with will make a huge difference in how people treat the game overall.

Either way, what do you think? Are you excited to play Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity when it launches for Switch on November 20th 2020? What kind of characters, enemies and places do you want to see in this game?

Tell us your thoughts on the matter in the comments below, on the Gaming Latest forums, or on the Gaming Reinvented Discord server today!

Source:

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity Announcement Trailer (YouTube)