Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment, an Honest Review!

Another Warriors-style game… Still Button-Mashing, Still Time-Traveling, Still Blaming the Bokoblins.

Every Zelda fan has a moment where they think, “You know what would make Hyrule even better? Absolutely obliterating hundreds of enemies at once with a single sword swing.” It’s a thought that first became reality back in Hyrule Warriors on the Wii U, and it has returned triumphantly — or chaotically, depending on your stress levels — with Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment on the Nintendo Switch 2.

When Age of Imprisonment was first revealed, the Zelda community collectively reacted with equal parts excitement and confusion. Another Warriors-style game? A sequel to Age of Calamity? A prequel? A midquel? A timeline pretzel? Nintendo loves being vague, and they leaned into that talent like a Lynel leans into ruining your afternoon. But after five months of real-world playtime, post-story grinding, unlocking characters, and repeatedly telling myself “just one more mission” at 1:45 a.m., I’m ready to deliver a truly honest review.

From the opening cutscene, it’s immediately clear the developers wanted this entry to feel bigger. Bigger story, bigger maps, bigger armies, bigger emotional swings. The Switch 2’s upgraded power shows itself instantly: massive battlefields stretch endlessly across the screen, particle effects fill the air like Hylian thunderstorms, and the animation quality finally hits a level that doesn’t make your Switch sound like it’s attempting lift-off. For the first time in Warriors history, the framerate remains impressively smooth even when half of Hyrule appears onscreen at once, all of them trying to kill you.

The story, without spoiling anything, follows yet another alternate timeline in the ongoing, ever-expanding, constantly-branching Zelda multiverse. This time it centres on the early days of the Imprisoning War — that mysterious era referenced across the franchise but never fully explored. The game dives into Hylian history with surprising ambition, showing the origins of ancient conflicts, forgotten champions, and the foundations of Ganon’s long-running hatred of absolutely everything. It feels grand, dramatic, and occasionally melodramatic in the best way possible.

The cutscenes have stepped up significantly. The Switch 2 finally gives Koei Tecmo and Nintendo enough power to produce sequences that look genuinely cinematic, with smooth animation, expressive faces, and action scenes that occasionally resemble a Zelda-themed anime. It’s the kind of storytelling we’ve been begging for in mainline Zelda titles — even if Link still refuses to say more than five syllables per hour.

Gameplay-wise, Age of Imprisonment is a Warriors game through and through. That means you will spend a significant portion of your life mashing buttons, dodging last-second attacks, landing flashy combos, and turning Bokoblins into confetti. And honestly? It’s still fun. The controls feel tighter than previous Warriors titles, and the Switch 2’s increased responsiveness makes combat smoother, punchier, and more satisfying than ever.

Every character feels unique this time around. Link plays like a perfectly balanced all-rounder, Zelda leans deeper into magic and light-based attacks, and new playable characters — some of which fans never expected — bring a surprisingly refreshing variety to the battlefield. Even characters who were previously awkward or clunky in Age of Calamity have been reworked into smoother, flashier fighters. You can genuinely lose hours experimenting with combos, elemental attacks, and swapping between heroes mid-battle.

The mission structure, however, is where the cracks begin to appear. While some stages are brilliantly designed, featuring multi-phase battles and dynamic events, other missions fall into the classic Warriors trap of “defend this spot, run to that spot, then run to another spot, then realise the spot you left is now on fire.” You will spend a large chunk of your life sprinting across oversized maps, occasionally wondering if you should’ve brought comfortable shoes.

And yes, there are still escort missions. Somehow. In the year 2025. Escort missions remain the curse of game design, and they show up here with the usual enthusiasm, usually involving a character who walks slower than a Korok with a sprained ankle.

There are also moments where the story takes itself a bit too seriously, only to follow it up with a mission objective like “Collect 30 frogs for the research team.” The tonal whiplash is real.

That said, the amount of content in Age of Imprisonment is enormous. Beyond the main story, you have character challenges, hidden missions, skill trees that seem to multiply each time you look at them, and weapon upgrades that could keep you grinding well into the next millennium. This game is generous — almost too generous — with the things it wants you to do. Completionists will either cry tears of joy or despair, depending on how many free evenings they have left.

Now let’s talk about performance, because that was the Achilles’ heel of Age of Calamity. The good news? The Switch 2 handles the chaos far better, with smooth framerates, quicker loading times, and none of the chugging that made the original Warriors entries feel like a slideshow at family dinner. It’s not perfect — large-scale magic effects still tax the system occasionally — but compared to past attempts, this feels like a genuine leap forward.

However… this wouldn’t be an honest review without addressing the flaws. Some missions drag on longer than necessary. The difficulty curve can spike wildly depending on which character you bring. The enemy AI occasionally takes long philosophical breaks instead of fighting. And the map clutter — notifications, icons, blinking indicators — can feel like someone spilled an entire sticker book across the screen.

Still, these issues don’t break the experience. At its core, Age of Imprisonment is exactly what it promises to be: a bombastic, over-the-top, action-heavy dive into Hyrule’s ancient history, delivered with style, spectacle, and just enough chaos to make you feel powerful without getting overwhelmed.

So what’s the honest verdict? After five months, countless missions, and several very sore thumbs, I can confidently say that Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment is the best version of the Warriors formula we’ve seen in the Zelda universe. It’s bigger, smoother, and more polished than Age of Calamity, with a story that actually enriches the Zelda mythos. It’s not flawless — no Warriors game ever is — but it’s undeniably fun, surprisingly emotional, and occasionally breathtaking in its scale.

If you love Zelda lore, if you enjoyed the original Hyrule Warriors, or if you simply want a game where you can defeat an army of 300 enemies in under ten seconds and call it “stress relief,” this is absolutely worth your time.

Hyrule’s timeline may be complicated, the story may take wild turns, and the missions may test your patience… but one thing’s certain: there’s no better feeling than stepping onto a battlefield as Link, unleashing a combo so flashy it could power a Sheikah tower, and watching enemies fly in every direction like confetti at a Hylian festival.

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