Just like the original Hyrule Warriors before it, Age of Calamity is a love letter to The Legend of Zelda at its core. Koei Tecmo’s passion for the franchise bleeds through every aspect of the game, from the combat, to the level design and story. Age of Calamity bolsters Breath of the Wild to new heights, complementing what was already one of the best games on the Nintendo Switch.
Thanks to so many references to the franchise scattered throughout, it’s impossible to catch everything hidden in Age of Calamity. With obscure Easter eggs, homages to previous games, and one of the best depictions of Link & Zelda in years, the latest Hyrule Warriors is an essential play for Zelda fans.
10 The Song Of Time
Musical references and The Legend of Zelda go hand-in-hand, especially when it comes to Hyrule Warriors – a series that primarily fashions itself as a love letter to Zelda. Age of Calamity doesn’t go as over the top as its predecessor, opting to mainly reference & flesh out details unique to Breath of the Wild, the Song of Time makes a very subtle appearance whenever Terrako (Zelda’s egg robot) time travels.
Any longtime fan of the series will catch Terrako playing Zelda’s Lullaby at numerous points throughout the game (it is a plot point, after all,) but the Song of Time has its opening notes play when Terrako triggers time travel.
9 Sidon’s Split Second Heartache
It’s debatable whether or not Age of Calamity actually needed the modern Champions to round out its plot, but they’re implemented extremely well. All time travel nonsense aside, the modern Champions aren’t just ancillary. They serve to comment on the original Champions and give them an opportunity for greater growth.
As was the case in Breath of the Wild, Sidon is the standout modern Champion. Not only is he the most fun to play as gameplay wise, his scenes with Mipha are genuinely heartbreaking. On more than one occasion, Mipha will make an offhand reference to her death in the future, causing Sidon to react with split second heartache before jumping back into his goofy self.
8 Teba Is Unimpressed With Revali
Part of what makes the modern Champions’ inclusion so well done is that they don’t all have the exact same relationship with their ancestors. Yunobo is awkward around Daruk, Riju & Urbosa have a professional relationship, and Mipha is constantly breaking Sidon’s heart. Curiously, Teba comes away a bit disappointed with Revali.
Due to the fact that Revali is an enormous jerk to everyone around him – including Link who Teba owes a great deal in-canon – Teba loses much of the reverence he once placed in the Rito. It’s not enough to make Teba dislike Revali, but he returns to his own timeline less than impressed with the Champion’s true face.
7 Terrako Almost Makes Everything So Much Worse
Even though Terrako’s time travel is ultimately the catalyst which allows Breath of the Wild’s tragic ending to be prevented, there are multiple points in the story where Terrako’s mere presence nearly made everything worse. Notably, had Terrako not triggered time travel to bring in the modern Champions, all of Zelda’s Champions would have died in their Divine Beasts.
Worse, the Beasts were now stationed to work together, not just relegated to their four corners. The end of the game also raises the stakes by introducing a Calamity Ganon who outright can’t be damaged, requiring Terrako to kill themselves just to give the main characters a fighting chance. The end result is happier in AoC, but the fight was simpler in BotW.
6 Sooga Survives
Sooga, in general, is one of Age of Calamity’s standout character, and his sacrifice for Kohga only makes it all the more disappointing that he isn’t playable (yet.) While all logic would dictate that Sooga died so that Kohga may live, the game’s true credits showcase Kohga with Sooga following the events of the main game.
While it’s entirely possible that this is a different Sooga (keep in mind that “Kohga” itself is a title, not a name,) all signs point to the original having survived his encounter with Astor. Should Age of Calamity follow in Hyrule Warriors’ footsteps, Sooga will probably get DLC detailing his escape.
5 The Royal Family And Time Magic
Age of Calamity’s implementation of time travel is handled poorly to say the least, but it’s not totally unprecedented. Ocarina of Time not only establishes that the Hyrule Royal Family has time attuned relics in the form of the Ocarina, Zelda outright teaches Link the Song of Time in Majora’s Mask – allowing him to outright manipulate the flow of time.
With this in mind, it does make some degree of sense that Zelda’s Triforce latent abilities to play off time magic in some capacity. Age of Calamity still presents time travel worse than any other game in the series, but there’s some logic to why Zelda can control time (albeit only through Terrako.)
4 Zelda’s Wisdom Shines Through Terrako
Speaking of Terrako, the egg robot ends up representing an important aspect of Zelda’s personality: Wisdom. Even though she bears the Triforce of Wisdom more often than not, Zelda’s not often depicted as the wisest character in the room. Breath of the Wild changed this by making her a tried & true researcher, which AoC compounds on.
It’s revealed near the end of the game that Zelda build Terrako as a small child, completing him with what appears to be a Timeshift Stone that’s been refitted into a screw. Zelda’s young age in this scene does raise questions, but it nonetheless serves as a manifestation of her wisdom.
3 Zelda’s The Real Main Character
Her name may not be in the title, but Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity is Zelda’s game, not Link’s. Link may be important enough to still get the final kill on Ganon, but the story is about Zelda. Age of Calamity gives Zelda a proper arc from start to finish, seeing her grow as she suffers defeats, losses, and eventually victories.
Zelda has never had a more dynamic character arc than in Age of Calamity, taking the framework Breath of the Wild laid down in order to evolve Zelda from a meek princess into a better monarch than King Rhoam himself.
2 Most Of History Remains Unchanged
While Terrako’s time travel kicks off the butterfly effect immediately, most of Breath of the Wild’s history remains relatively unchanged. Key events surrounding Link and Zelda seem to be the most influenced by Terrako’s presence, but most everything else leading up to the Calamity can be accepted as some shade of canon.
The side missions in particular (at least the ones that don’t feature the secret characters) all highlight key events leading up to Calamity Ganon’s arrival – from simply training sessions to fortifying Hyrule for the attack. It’s only Chapter 5 onwards that Age of Calamity completely diverges from Breath of the Wild’s backstory.
1 The True Ending
Age of Calamity ends with Terrako sacrificing themself to help in the fight against Calamity Ganon. Losing Terrako makes the battle even more personal for Zelda, invigorating her to inspire all of Hyrule to her cause. Following the events of the game, several side missions will appear where players can rebuild Terrako. By completing every Terrako mission, a new ending will be triggered where Zelda rebuilds her old friends and the true credits showcase what everyone has been up to since Calamity Ganon’s defeat.
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