Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity paired the mass-battle musou genre with the world of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. It's set a hundred years before the events of that game, during the Great Calamity, an era Breath of the Wild only touches on through memories. You play as Link, Zelda, the four Champions, and other characters, living through events that ended in catastrophe in the original story — though Age of Calamity handles the timeline its own way, which thrilled some players and disappointed others.

The gameplay is built on mowing down dozens of enemies with a single combo, but it isn't mindless button-mashing. Each character has their own system for charging special attacks: Zelda works with Sheikah Slate runes, Urbosa with an electric surge, Revali by hovering. Runes like the bomb, magnet, or stasis are used to break through the defenses of tough enemies and Guardians, giving fights a rhythm of attack, break, punish. Between battles you develop characters, cook food for bonuses, and complete tasks on a map that closely mirrors the Hyrule of Breath of the Wild.

Technically the game is its weakest link: with large numbers of enemies onscreen, the frame rate drops noticeably, something reviewers repeatedly criticized. Even so, the atmosphere holds up — the art style faithfully mirrors the source material, the orchestral arrangements of familiar themes sound great, and several cutscenes rank among the best-directed moments in the series. Reception was positive with reservations, and the game found a large audience even among people who hadn't played the musou genre before. Today it's a pleasant addition for anyone who fell in love with the world of Breath of the Wild and wants to spend dozens more hours in it, this time in the role of a hero who charges headfirst into battle. For series fans it offers an intriguing alternative take on familiar events; for action fans it's a reliable source of dozens of hours of over-the-top fun that the musou genre delivers like nothing else.