Since launchingAnimal Crossing: New Horizonsearlier this year, Nintendo has remained mostly silent in regards to announcing new games, with most Nintendo Direct events this year being dropped without any prior announcement or lead-up. Now, likePaper Mario: The Origami Kingearlier this year, Nintendo has announced yet another major title for the remainder of 2020 out of nowhere withHyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, a prequel to 2017’sThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
The announcement video released via Nintendo’s YouTube channel earlier today opens withThe Legend of Zeldaseries producer Eiji Aonuma stating that while the team does not have any new information to shareregardingBreath of the Wild’s upcoming sequel, Nintendo and Koei Tecmo have been working on this brand new entry in theHyrule Warriorsspin-off series as a prequel toThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamitypromises to flesh out the events leading up to the beginning ofThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, telling a story set 100 years before the events of the 2017 Nintendo Switch launch title.
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Hyrule Warriors, which was released in 2014 for Wii U, with subsequent ports to Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo Switchin the form ofHyrule Warriors LegendsandHyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition, respectively, is a hack and slash spin-off of both Nintendo’sThe Legend of Zeldaand Koei Tecmo’sDynasty Warriorsseries. While the original title took place in a universe separate from any of the main seriesZeldatitles,Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamityis not only a canon prequel toBreath of the Wild, but features multiple of the game’s characters as playable characters,including Princess Zelda herself.
The trailer showcases multiple characters fromBreath of the Wildas fully playable warriors, including the game’s Champions of Hyrule, such as Urbosa and Revali, as well as showcasing how the game’s Divine Beasts may be used in combat. As a prequel toBreath of the Wild, the trailer also implies that the game may be heavily story driven, with a major emphasis mostly towards the game’s cut-scenes showcasing the warriors of Hyrule battling Calamity Ganon. Koei Tecmo has announced that more information will be released on the title on September 26th 2020 duringthe publisher’s Tokyo Game Show live stream.
This isn’t the first time Nintendo and Koei Tecmo have teamed up for aWarriorsspin-off title such as this, their previous collaborations include the originalHyrule Warriors, as well asFire Emblem Warriorson Nintendo Switch and New Nintendo 3DS. Koei Tecmo has previously collaborated with multiple other game developers and publishers for games based on theDynasty Warriorsseries such as theDragon Quest Heroesseries andmost recentlyPersona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers, which still has yet to be released outside of Japan.
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamitywill release on November 20th 2020, exclusively for Nintendo Switch.
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