The basic move-set for this game revolves around normal attacks, strong attacks, unique actions, and Zonai devices. Each character has a basic attack string and a subsequent strong attack string. In addition, each character has a unique mechanic that aids them in battle. As well as this, the characters utilize Zonai devices, mysterious pieces of ancient technology, to further assist in their fight.
During her encounter with the unsealed Demon King Ganondorf, Princess Zelda is teleported in time to an era of Hyrule's founding via the power of a secret stone.[b] She is found by her ancestors, the ZonaiKing Rauru and his Hylian wife, Queen Sonia, who help her search for a means of returning to the present. Throughout this time, Zelda aids Rauru's royal duties, trains her inherent light and time powers with Sonia, and explores the Depths beneath Hyrule with Rauru's sister, Mineru. On one such expedition, Mineru unearths a series of inactive Forbidden Constructs, self-aware humanoid weapons that, as she later deduces, had rebelled against and exterminated most of the Zonai race.
In a bid to conquer the kingdom, Ganondorf leads the Gerudo people to attack Hyrule Castle, which is thwarted by Rauru and his forces. Falsely conceding to Rauru, Ganondorf betrays his subordinate Ardi, a sympathizer of Hyrule's people, and frames her for the attack; she is rescued by the Korok wanderer Calamo and his companion, a Forbidden Construct facsimile of Link that Calamo had accidentally activated while exploring the Depths. Under the skeptical Rauru's surveillance, Ganondorf sends a phantom doppelganger of Zelda to activate a second Forbidden Construct, which absorbs the phantom and destroys its fellow constructs. Ganondorf allows the rampaging construct to distract Rauru while he kills Sonia and takes her secret stone, transforming into the Demon King. He then seizes Hyrule Castle and conjures an army of monsters across Hyrule, including four archfiends serving as their commanders; one of the archfiends, Grimgera, is repelled by Calamo's construct, allowing the safe retreat of Rauru's group.
Rauru's forces rally the leaders of Hyrule's allied tribes against Ganondorf: Raphica, the Rito elder; Qia, the Zora queen; Agraston, the Goron chief; and Ardi, who replaces Ganondorf as the Gerudo's leader. The leaders are aided by Calamo's construct, which instinctively travels the land to battle Ganondorf's monsters and the other Forbidden Construct. Upon meeting the construct, Zelda recognizes its power source as a shard of Link's broken Master Sword that had been sent back in time with her,[b] ridding it of its destructive nature; she names it the Knight Construct in tribute to Link, her appointed guard. Rauru inducts the Knight Construct and Calamo into Hyrule's army, and entrusts the tribe leaders with secret stones, appointing the four, Zelda, and Mineru as sages to turn the tide of the war.
After defeating the archfiends and witnessing the Forbidden Construct's devastation of Korok Forest, Rauru and the sages lead a full-scale attack against Ganondorf at Hyrule Castle. They then make a tactical retreat to lure him into the Depths at Hyrule Field, where Rauru sacrifices his life to seal Ganondorf away. Meanwhile, the Knight Construct and Calamo help distract Ganondorf's army on the surface, although the Knight and Forbidden Constructs destroy each other along with the Master Sword shard, prompting Calamo to take root as a tree beside his friend's remains to create a new forest. Zelda's lady-in-waiting Lenalia designs murals chronicling the war to ensure Ganondorf's defeat in the future; at Mineru's request, however, she reluctantly omits the Knight Construct and destroys all records of its existence to prevent its technology from being misused, leaving a single piece of its body beside Calamo's tree form as a memorial. In a post-credits scene, long after Zelda has transformed into the immortal Light Dragon to wait through history,[b] the tree is shown to have grown with the construct piece embedded in its trunk.
Development
Nintendo announced Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment on April 2, 2025 alongside the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 console during a Nintendo Direct presentation, where gameplay elements and game mechanics were showcased.[2][3] The trailer shows playable characters Princess Zelda and Rauru fighting various enemies.[4][5] A new trailer of the game was shown during the July Nintendo Direct: Partner Showcase. It teased a new construct machine, but no narrower release window was given.[6]
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment received "generally favorable" reviews from critics, according to review aggregator website Metacritic and a "Strong" approval rating from critics according to OpenCritic.[7][8] In Japan, four critics from Famitsu gave the game a total score of 35 out of 40.[9]
Notes
↑ Japanese: ゼルダ無双 封印戦記, Hepburn: Zeruda Musō: Fūin Senki; lit. "Zelda Musou: Chronicle of the Sealed War"
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