With a Musou game, you pretty much know what to expect. Sprawling battlefields teeming with fodder enemies and bases defended by enemy captains, with the occasional need to babysit your side’s captains from being overwhelmed. It’s never been deep or even strategic, but there is no denying the incredible dopamine surge of being a one-man-army and wailing on a swarm of wimpy guys, unleashing gigantic and explosive attacks that send them all to hell.
I myself am not a huge fan of Musou games. They have always been something that I dip in and out of once in a while, whenever I have an itch for mass violence and war, and have always had a couple of titles lurking in my game library as early as the first Samurai Warriors game on PlayStation 2. They were like rickets; it was always “just something you had” when growing up.
I may not be the most regular Musou man, but I am an avid advocate for most Zelda games. I always thought that the “Zelda paint”, or theming, elevated the first two Zelda Musou games. Most of the time, these games stress Nintendo’s hardware, and this was certainly the case for Age of Calamity, which pushed the poor Nintendo Switch to its limit, wheezing and sweating bullets with every frame rendered.
Can a direct prequel to Tears of the Kingdom work as an epic Musou melee war game? Find out in our Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment review!
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment
Developer: Koei Tecmo, AAA Games Studio
Publisher: Nintendo, Koei Tecmo
Platforms: Nintendo Switch 2
Release Date: November 6, 2025
Price: $69.99
In Tears of the Kingdom, players witness flashbacks revealing that Princess Zelda was sent back in time following the game’s opening sequence, during which Ganondorf reawakened. Trapped in the past, Zelda got acquainted with Hyrule’s founders, as well as the original sages, and a few champions who would turn the tide in the war against the demon king.
The story is surprisingly fleshed out and dense with hours upon hours of fully voiced cutscenes and cinematic flair. If you played Tears of the Kingdom to its conclusion, then you will know how this ends, but that does not tell the full story. Link may have inherited Rauru’s hand and spoken to his ghost a few times, but you never get to know Rauru the man… well, goat-man.
Even Zelda herself gets fleshed out, and the story depicts her as a reluctant hero at first. It doesn’t take long before she finds her courage and becomes a warrior with Rauru and the Sages of the main regions of Hyrule… as if they were some kind of Hyrule Warriors, if you will.
Some aspects of the plot were surprising, such as the fact that Ganondorf lived at Hyrule Castle for a while before staging his hostile takeover. Aside from the sages, there was a surprising number of low-ranking heroes who rose to the challenge to support the main characters. The old shark man, who swears his allegiance after you help him in the snowy areas, took me by surprise, especially when it turned out he was one of the better fighters in the large roster.
The roster is big, with 19 characters that range from Rito, Zora, Goron, Hylian, Zonai, Korok, and even a very Link-like robot to fill the spot for the lack of Link. That’s right, Link isn’t present. He’s off doing his thing in Tears of the Kingdom. Instead, the fragment of the Master Sword that broke off in Tears of the Kingdom’s intro is used to power a nameless construct, embodying Link’s relentless heroism and his unyielding quest to put Ganon’s head on a pike.
The mysterious, Link-esque construct is a more vicious fighter than Link ever was. Its arms stretch and whip around while stabbing and dicing monsters while utilizing classic Zonai devices from Tears of the Kingdom, mid combo. In some stages, he transforms into a jet, and the gameplay becomes a full-on rail shooter, like something out of a Star Fox game.
Unfortunately, the repetitive nature of Musou gameplay can get exhausting when marathoning Age of Imprisonment. There’s just not enough rail shooter action to break up the endless fighting. Most story missions place players in a large map, tasking them with heading to the mission marker and capturing a few enemy bases along the way.
The most variety to have is experimenting with all of the characters. Everyone feels different from each other despite everyone using the same two-button combo system that the Warriors games have been using for a quarter-century. The swashbuckling Korok makes different elemental bombs mid combo. The Zora queen’s water attacks make huge geysers and waterspouts burst on the field. There’s even a Goron who can smash rock barricades.
No matter who you pick, there’s something to learn when using them. Sadly, you never get to play as Ganondorf. Age of Imprisonment misses an opportunity to let players step into the Demon King’s boots when he dominates Hyrule. Instead, it all plays out in a cutscene, and he’s never actually playable.
Character progression is standard, with character upgrades appearing as dots on an increasingly cluttered map view of Hyrule and a needlessly convoluted weapon upgrade system. I didn’t even pay attention to the mechanics of the weapon upgrade system and picked whatever, and it always worked out fine in the end.
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment is long for a repetitive beat-em up. Expect to be fighting hordes for over 20 hours. The main story missions are usually a bit more involved and may have upwards of four playable characters to switch to at any moment. The seemingly endless number of side missions run very short, roughly five minutes each, and feel like something out of a portable game where you can get in and out for a quick fix.
The real highlight of progression is the way characters’ combat styles evolve and expand. Certain combos get added effects or get extra inputs, altering the feel of the respective character, usually making their combat deeper. Age of Imprisonment‘s action is fast and fluid, with huge cutscene-like attacks, cut-ins, and large swaths of fodder enemies dying by the hundreds. Even more impressive is how it manages to run 60 frames per second on Switch 2.
Regretfully, the 60 frames per second is not as stable as you’d hope. For the most part, the average gamer won’t notice the wavering drops in the 50s when there are tons of foes being set ablaze while Mineru’s Zonai contrapions plow into a Hinox’s taint, stressing the hardware.
The visuals look exactly like the Switch 2 versions of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. It seemingly uses the enemy models fans remember, just with a lot more of them. The image quality is razor sharp and appealing thanks to the art style that relies on cel-shaded, anime-style designs. It’s remarkably consistent with its parent game.
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment is a pretty good action game… in small doses. It doesn’t take long before all the hacking and slashing, brawling and mauling becomes white noise. It’s almost like voluntarily taking a tranquilizer, as all of the battling numbs you, and it stops being exciting and becomes exhausting.
After taking a break and returning to it, Age of Imprisonment becomes enjoyable again and provides a lengthy grind to achieve 100% completion. Don’t expect much post-game content or a “Dream Mode”; this entry focuses on expanding on Zelda’s side of the Tears of the Kingdom story.
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment was reviewed on Nintendo Switch 2 using a code provided by Nintendo. Additional information about Niche Gamer’s review/ethics policy is here. Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment is now available for Nintendo Switch 2.
