The latest version of Hyrule, as seen in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, is getting another entry with Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment. Nintendo’s most recent Direct livestream confirmed the game is coming to the Nintendo Switch 2 in winter 2025, though no specific release date was given. While any new Legend of Zelda game is something to be excited about, the radical choices of the last Hyrule Warriors title make it difficult to be excited about Age of Imprisonment.
While the Direct called this newest game canon to the timeline of BOTW and TOTK, it’s hard to get excited about Age of Imprisonment after the major plot twist in Age of Calamity. Rather than sticking to the tragic events that set up the events of Breath of the Wild, the last Hyrule Warriors game featured a completely altered series of events surrounding Calamity Ganon’s return. Since Age of Imprisonment has a similar setup to Age of Calamity, taking place during a pivotal era in Hyrule’s history, it seems likely that the game will repeat past series mistakes.
Age Of Calamity Missed The Mark With Setting Up TOTK
Alternate Timelines Mean Missing Set-Ups For Canon Sequels
One of the most emotional aspects of Breath of the Wild is the loss Hyrule suffered 100 years before the events of the game. King Rhoam and all four champions – Mipha, Revali, Urbosa, and Daruk – died fighting Calamity Ganon after their Divine Beasts and Guardians were possessed. Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity was advertised as a prequel and promised to show what exactly happened during the fateful battle and the lead-up to it as Princess Zelda struggled to harness her powers.
Instead of showing what happened to these tragically fated heroes, Age of Calamity opted for an alternative timeline in which the original champions and their Breath of the Wild-era successors team up with Link and Zelda to defeat and seal away Ganon permanently. Age of Calamity could have been the Halo: Reach of the series, a game in which the main characters are destined to die, and their inevitable fate makes every action and sacrifice even more poignant. Instead, the game set up a strange time loop situation for a happy ending.
This deviation from the canon established in Breath of the Wild is interesting, but, in the end, it neither continues the story of BOTW nor does it set up what’s coming in Tears of the Kingdom. Age of Calamity had the unique opportunity to hint at the events of TOTK, particularly regarding the threat posed by Ganondorf once again and the ancient history of Hyrule. Breath of the Wild ended with such a sense of finality, so any sort of setup in Age of Calamity would’ve helped bridge the gap between the two mainline titles.
Age Of Imprisonment Probably Isn’t Canon Either
The Next Hyrule Warriors Game Might Have The Same Twist
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment, recently announced at the most recent Nintendo Direct at the end of July, is a sequel to 2020’s Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity. On top of the similar gameplay, it’s very likely that Age of Imprisonment will similarly be outside the established mainline series canon for BOTW and TOTK. Despite stating that it would feature “canonical events” in the latest partner Direct, it may be an alternate-history style narrative again.
The game takes place during the period Princess Zelda spent back in time in ancient Hyrule with the first king, Rauru, and the first queen, Sonia. Like the events of BOTW with the original champions, the characters in ancient Hyrule are met with a tragic fate at the hand of Ganondorf. It seems probable that Age of Imprisonment will take a similar route with its plot and create an alternate timeline for every character to get a happier ending.
Hyrule Warriors Games Are A Nice Distraction But Not Too Exciting
Non-Canon Events Aren’t As Interesting
In the end, any new Legend of Zelda title is exciting, but Hyrule Warriors games aren’t as thrilling as mainline titles. Age of Calamity advertising itself as a lead-up to the events of Breath of the Wild, only to take a wildly different path from the canon story, makes it hard to build hype for Age of Imprisonment. Once it’s been established that these titles won’t reveal any more information about what truly happened in between games, it’s difficult to build any anticipation.
For fans of hack and slash games, and for anyone who enjoys spending more time in this unique version of Hyrule, the Hyrule Warriors games are worth picking up. However, for anyone more interested in getting a more canon story about what happened during periods of Hyrule’s past that are mostly seen through cutscenes in BOTW and TOTK, then Hyrule Warriors games are more of a temporary distraction than something to get overly hyped for. Nintendo did hint that Age of Imprisonment would be canon, but given the marketing for the first Hyrule Warriors game, the company may be using the term in a very loose definition.
