After 30 hours with Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment, it might just be my favorite Nintendo Switch 2 game of 2025
· TechRadarTechRadar Verdict
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment is a huge improvement over Age of Calamity. It offers more characters with interesting move sets, decent performance, and a story that doesn’t relegate itself to being a meaningless ‘what if’ scenario. Said story here does miss some open goals here and there, and the inevitable Musou repetition can set in during longer sessions. But overall, Age of Imprisonment delivers an incredibly satisfying Warriors experience with delectable Zelda flavor.
Pros
- +Tons of characters that are great fun to play as
- +Creative use of Tears of the Kingdom’s mechanics
- +Snappy side missions keep the pace brisk
- +Enjoyable map progression
Cons
- -Elite enemies and bosses can be spongey
- -Missed opportunities in places of the story
- -Defensive battles feel like busy work
- -No side modes
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Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment is the third game in this Koei Tecmo-developed subseries, following non-canonical Breath of the Wild side story Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity and the excellent original Hyrule Warriors that acted more like a celebration of the franchise as a whole. It's also another much-needed Nintendo Switch 2 game exclusive for the platform's first year.
Review info
Platform reviewed: Nintendo Switch 2
Available on: Nintendo Switch 2
Release date: November 6, 2025
Age of Imprisonment differs from its predecessors in that it adheres to the canon of the series, specifically acting as a prequel to the events of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. The Imprisoning War is something we learn much about in that game, and the premise is a match made in heaven for the Warriors franchise’s ‘1 vs 1,000’ brand of hack n’ slash combat.
Age of Imprisonment is handily the most refined, polished, and satisfying Zelda-flavored Musou to date. For one, it’s a game I’m thankful is exclusive to Nintendo Switch 2, completely avoiding the subpar resolution and glacial frame rate of its predecessor, Age of Calamity, on the original Switch hardware.
It’s also a vast improvement in terms of combat in general. So much creativity has been squeezed out of the simple ‘light into strong attack’ combo strings the Warriors franchise is known for. But on top of that, there are powerful Sync Strikes between characters, multiple weapon types, Tears of the Kingdom-esque Fuse attacks with monster parts, and elemental reactions with the environment.
At around 30 hours (or less if you just beeline the main story missions), it’s pretty compact by Warriors game standards, too. While there’s plenty to do after the credits roll, Age of Imprisonment thankfully does not overstay its welcome, and I felt immensely satisfied with my time with the game overall.
Can’t believe that Ganondorf fella
If you’ve played Tears of the Kingdom and experienced its flashbacks to the Imprisoning War, then you know what to expect in terms of story in Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment. What this game does is flesh out that conflict, focusing on individual battles across the land of Hyrule, and the rebellion that helped quell Ganondorf’s invasion - however temporarily.
The game begins right after Princess Zelda is transported back in time after encountering Ganondorf’s ancient husk at the start of Tears of the Kingdom. We’re quickly introduced to King Rauru, Queen Sonia, and Rauru’s scholarly sister Mineru, the resident expert on ancient Zonai technology. From there, we set out to recruit the leaders of Hyrule’s various races to form a united front against the King of Evil.
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