Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity is a far more grounded and meaningful look at the story of Hyrule, a tale that examines the horrific events of the calamity that precedes 2017’s The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. In many ways its ending is predetermined, an unfortunate battle where Link and crew are destined to fail. 

Ultimately Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity is a fantastic evolution of Hyrule Warriors, that manages to meld almost seamlessly into the Death Mountain sized lore gap that Breath of the Wild left behind. It’s increased variety and depth of combat, matched with the meaningful tasks, upgrades, and side missions in the overworld really built out a platform that I think any Zelda fan would happily sign up to. But the frame rate, it’s a real issue, an issue that some people simply will not be happy enough to ignore. I don’t blame those people, but Age of Calamity offers the one thing that I’ve been craving from the franchise since I played the original game on the NES – meaningful narrative. Narrative that is genuinely good, not groundbreaking, but for this series, a welcome addition of character.