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Game Information

Game Title: Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment

Platforms:

• Nintendo Switch (Nov 6, 2025)

Trailer:

Review Aggregator:

OpenCritic - 81 average - 100% recommended - 10 reviews

​

Critic Reviews

CGMagazine - Chris De Hoog - 8.5 / 10

Hyrule Warriors returns to form in Age of Imprisonment, borrowing from and enriching Tears of the Kingdom in the process.

COGconnected - James Paley - 80 / 100

Quote not yet available

Cerealkillerz - Steve Brieller - German - 8.1 / 10

As an entry in the Warriors series, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment delivers a strong impression. Aside from the genre-typical, highly exaggerated attacks — which at times resemble Dragon Ball more than Zelda — the game succeeds in capturing the essence of the Zelda franchise through its visuals, sound design, and storytelling. Remarkably, it manages to do so even without Link at the center of the narrative, offering a refreshing departure from the traditional Zelda formula.

Console Creatures - Bobby Pashalidis - 8 / 10

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment's ability to flesh out the past of the latest branch in the The Legend of Zelda series is immediately noticeable. Being canon in the existing Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom timeline makes Zelda's journey into the past a worthwhile experience.

Enternity.gr - Nikitas Kavouklis - Greek - 8 / 10

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment offers a perfectly decent experience, but it lacks the element that would make it stand out

Gfinity - Alister Kennedy - 9 / 10

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment is a must-play canon entry that finally completes the Tears of the Kingdom saga. Moving beyond the "what if" story of its predecessor, this Switch 2 title uses its fun, combo-focused Warriors game style to deliver crucial Zelda lore, detailing Zelda's descent into the past. With excellent combat features like Zonai artifact integration and formidable new characters like Mineru, it's an essential purchase for any fan of Breath of the Wild.

Glitched Africa - Marco Cocomello - 8 / 10

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment expands the series with all the wonderful Tears of the Kingdom mechanics we enjoyed from the main game but at the same time, the character roster feels underwhelming and if anything, uninspired. But there's an enjoyable Dynasty-like game here that Zelda fans will no doubt enjoy, even with the forgettable supporting cast.

PPE.pl - Wojciech Gruszczyk - Polish - 8 / 10

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment is a polished, dynamic, and surprisingly emotional spin-off that proves that the world of Zelda can shine outside the RPG genre. Although it doesn't offer anything revolutionary in terms of the musou formula, it makes up for it with its storyline, direction, and atmosphere, which keep you glued to the screen for dozens of hours. Nintendo have delivered a passionate production – repetitive in places, but consistent and faithful to the spirit of the series. It's a game where the pleasure comes not only from the combat, but from the return to Hyrule itself.

Shacknews - TJ Denzer - 8 / 10

Quote not yet available

XGN.nl - Luuc ten Velde - Dutch - 8 / 10

Hyrule Warriors Age of Imprisonment delivers stellar action, a story that bridges the gaps left in Tears of the Kingdom, and runs great on Switch 2, but the repetitive nature of the musou-genre works against it occasionally.

 

[TheChadOfGaming]

Prob finish in the high 70s like most dynasty warriors games

 

[Da1337Vinci]

This is good for a musou game right?
Been a while since I play one.

 

[DarkShadowXI]

This will be my first musou game. Seems to be pretty good!

 

[Fbh]

This is good for a musou game right?
Been a while since I play one.

The first one, at least on paper, was my favorite musou.
Fun combat, unique feeling characters and more interesting mission and level design that made it feel like a more like a unique "musou inspired" experience and not just a dynasty warriors reskin like the first Hyrule Wariror.

The problem was that it ran like absolute dogshit on Switch 1. I would imagine that should no longer be an issue here.

 

[Miyazaki’s Slave]

The assets look so good. I really like the settings/environments they have shown, the enemies look great, and all the powers/abilities for the characters are appropriately eye catching.

However, I'm a Nintenhore and I love TLOZ so my 11/10 doesn't really mean much.

ANYWAY, looking forward to playing this between some arc raiders this weekend.

 

[LavitzSlambert]

IGN doesn't have a review up yet, but they mentioned a review embargo around story details, and it makes me second guess anyone publishing their review early. I enjoy a musou game, but it's more important for me that the game covers details about the actual Imprisonment War.

Article:

You may have noticed reviews for Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment start to pop up around the internet today, with one site's take missing from the roundups: ours! But don't worry – unlike Zelda's 100-year-long wait for Link to emerge from the Shrine of Resurrection, our delay will only last a couple of days.

Logan Plant is reviewing Age of Imprisonment for IGN, and that review is basically in the can and ready to go live already. So why the wait? Well, the embargo restrictions Nintendo sent alongside a review code were particularly strict this time around, preventing reviews that publish ahead of launch from discussing any non-public story details whatsoever.

While we always try to avoid spoilers in our reviews, and are generally happy to steer clear of specific surprises a developer wants to preserve if requested, not being able to discuss what happens in the story at all is something we simply could not agree to. So, we decided to hold the review until Age of Imprisonment comes out later this week so we can publish our full thoughts without those limitations.

That doesn't mean we're going to spoil anything major about Age of Imprisonment's plot, because even being able to discuss non-spoilery details is important here. When Nintendo itself has put an emphasis on Age of Imprisonment telling the canonical events leading up to The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom in its marketing for this game, it's pretty critical that we can clearly and candidly tell you how we feel about those events in our review.

We'll publish our review when Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment becomes available on the Nintendo Switch 2 eShop, which we're expecting to happen at around 9 p.m. PT on Wednesday, November 5. While you wait, you can check out Logan's Playlist ranking every Zelda game released in the Switch 1 and 2 era so far down below, including new mainline entries, spinoffs, and remakes. And, you can read our previews on Age of Imprisonment, where we discuss what's changed since Age of Calamity. We'll see you back here later this week!

Source: https://www.ign.com/articles/hyrule-warriors-age-of-imprisonment-review

 

[Gambit2483]

Sounds like it does some things better than the first game and some things not as good...overall it's a worthy Musou experience absolutely drapped in the BOTWverse esthetics (again) and that's all I need (at a beautiful 60fps!)

 

[Ceadeus]

I'm gonna have to buy the game. Most recent buy was Dragon quest 1&2 .. the Switch 1&2 are the best console ever.

Edit: one very positive thing about this release is it's not a third party release on a game key card! More of these should come out. I'm definitely supporting this.

 

[Germuso]

78 on metacritic, Nintendo is going downhill lately.

https://www.metacritic.com/game/hyrule-warriors-age-of-imprisonment/

 

[Sooner]

I tried to like these games, but they're just boring.

 

[PauloRoberto]

One thing that is making me extremely curious is how the heck this game will have a happy ending... if we do know how this war against the hyper hydrated ganondorf finishes (given TOTK flashbacks)

 

[Dacvak]

One thing that is making me extremely curious is how the heck this game will have a happy ending... if we do know how this war against the hyper hydrated ganondorf finishes (given TOTK flashbacks)

If it's anything like Age of Calamity, they'll just alternate universe it. Which was the WORST part of that game.

I'm still so mad about that. It would have been awesome to "beat" that game, only to ultimately fail and properly set up BotW.

 

[PauloRoberto]

If it's anything like Age of Calamity, they'll just alternate universe it. Which was the WORST part of that game.

I'm still so mad about that. It would have been awesome to "beat" that game, only to ultimately fail and properly set up BotW.

Age of Calamity proves that Nintendo created a BUNCH of cool characters for BOTW... and killed them all before the game started

IMHO, this won't happen this time because Ninendo itself isvery clearly tellis everyone that this story is canonical... can this be a lie? I won't be surprised...

 

[rkofan87]

IGN doesn't have a review up yet, but they mentioned a review embargo around story details, and it makes me second guess anyone publishing their review early. I enjoy a musou game, but it's more important for me that the game covers details about the actual Imprisonment War.

Article:

You may have noticed reviews for Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment start to pop up around the internet today, with one site's take missing from the roundups: ours! But don't worry – unlike Zelda's 100-year-long wait for Link to emerge from the Shrine of Resurrection, our delay will only last a couple of days.

Logan Plant is reviewing Age of Imprisonment for IGN, and that review is basically in the can and ready to go live already. So why the wait? Well, the embargo restrictions Nintendo sent alongside a review code were particularly strict this time around, preventing reviews that publish ahead of launch from discussing any non-public story details whatsoever.

While we always try to avoid spoilers in our reviews, and are generally happy to steer clear of specific surprises a developer wants to preserve if requested, not being able to discuss what happens in the story at all is something we simply could not agree to. So, we decided to hold the review until Age of Imprisonment comes out later this week so we can publish our full thoughts without those limitations.

That doesn't mean we're going to spoil anything major about Age of Imprisonment's plot, because even being able to discuss non-spoilery details is important here. When Nintendo itself has put an emphasis on Age of Imprisonment telling the canonical events leading up to The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom in its marketing for this game, it's pretty critical that we can clearly and candidly tell you how we feel about those events in our review.

We'll publish our review when Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment becomes available on the Nintendo Switch 2 eShop, which we're expecting to happen at around 9 p.m. PT on Wednesday, November 5. While you wait, you can check out Logan's Playlist ranking every Zelda game released in the Switch 1 and 2 era so far down below, including new mainline entries, spinoffs, and remakes. And, you can read our previews on Age of Imprisonment, where we discuss what's changed since Age of Calamity. We'll see you back here later this week!

Source: https://www.ign.com/articles/hyrule-warriors-age-of-imprisonment-review

well the rest are fake reviews i will wait for the Real review embargo to be up before I take any reviews seriously

 

[MagiusNecros]

Underwhelming roster just means that HW: Definitive will still be the best Zelda Musou game. Probably won't break past a roster of 30. Much less 40.

Will scrounge Review videos for any unseen footage. Since they aren't allowed to discuss half the game(it's story) in their review.

 

[Ogbert]

All over this.

 

[Hero_Select]

Underwhelming roster just means that HW: Definitive will still be the best Zelda Musou game. Probably won't break past a roster of 30. Much less 40.

Will scrounge Review videos for any unseen footage. Since they aren't allowed to discuss half the game(it's story) in their review.

I've seen a few saying the story is "okay" because it hits the same notes as the flashback in TotK but I don't really see that as a negative, I think I'd quite like seeing those moments fleshed out but I can see a case for it either way

 

[Lupin3]

That 30% sale will hit just in time for the OLED.

 

[MagiusNecros]

I've seen a few saying the story is "okay" because it hits the same notes as the flashback in TotK but I don't really see that as a negative, I think I'd quite like seeing those moments fleshed out but I can see a case for it either way

I think the story will answer a lot of questions but I also understand reviewers are not necessarily well versed in Zelda lore to know what a good story in Zelda terms actually is.

The story as far as I know in AoC by Zelda standards was damn good and I expect the same here.

I need to pull through reviews and see if they talk about the World Map and if it is functionally the same as AoC's.

I'd personally love a return of Challenge Maps and Skulltula's for unlocks.

 

[DenchDeckard]

 

[Spukc]

This will be my first musou game. Seems to be petty good!

Good luck and never buy another one.
Because they are all the fucking same

 

[Hookshot]

If it's canon then at some point

Spoiler: Vague but major TOTK story spoiler.

Does Zelda say "Bye bitches" and eat the stone? I think I might buy it if there is the playable aftermath to that.

 

[Stitch]

Good luck and never buy another one.
Because they are all the fucking same

Warriors: Abyss is different

 

[DarkShadowXI]

Good luck and never buy another one.
Because they are all the fucking same

Sounds right up my alley lol

 

[Barakov]

I'll probably pick this up. I enjoyed the first Hyrule Warriors and I'm in the mood to smack a bunch of bokoblins around and see them go flying.

 

[VGA-Games]

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity is at 78 on Metacritic and I loved it, this shows to me that not everyone has my good Taste

 

[FoxMcChief]

I'll play my daughter's copy down the road. We're getting it for her for Christmas. Same with Pokemon and her own Switch 2.

 

[RoboFu]

the last game was so good and it had a ton of content .. probably too much .. this one is a easy pick up for me.

 

[MagiusNecros]

Found some character gameplay videos. Looks good.

 

[falling into hell]

Does anyone even still read IGN's reviews?

Looking forward to play the game I have it preordered. Don't care about reviews even if all say the game is shit I would still play it.

 

[Spukc]

Warriors: Abyss is different

Yes they are all slightly different.
Persona
Dragon quest

 

[I collect VHS tapes]

this game looks great, but I'm on the fence as to whether I'll pick it up right away

Still need to finish age of calamity, which I only started somewhat recently

Also Pokemon za is still taking all my free time. Really hooked on that one

 

[kpopSuperstar]

From this into Kirby Air Ride to Metroid Prime 4. It's a nice next few weeks of games for Switch 2.

 

[Gambit2483]

From this into Kirby Air Ride to Metroid Prime 4. It's a nice next few weeks of games for Switch 2.

Unlike the other platforms, Switch 2 is actually getting a steady supply of GAMES (many of which are exclusive) and people are still finding ways to complain about it. It's absolutely bonkers

 

[LavitzSlambert]

IGN posted their review. Apparently the story is not very good, and does not go much into detail about any of the lore you wanted to know about. It focuses on another character and some generic, unmemorable side characters. It's the best playing and performing Warriors game, though.