Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity (ゼルダ無双 厄災の黙示録, Zelda Musou Yakusai no Mokushiroku) is a hack and slash video game for the Nintendo Switch developed by Koei Tecmo Games and Omega Force and published by Koei Tecmo in Japan and by Nintendo worldwide. It is a sequel to 2014's Hyrule Warriors in terms of gameplay, but is seen as a prequel of sorts to 2017's The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The game was released on November 20, 2020. Unlike the previous Hyrule Warriors which was a celebration of the Zelda franchise and had it's own original story, Koei have worked closely with Nintendo to ensure that the story and gameplay mechanics are fully canonised within the Breath of the Wild continuity.

The game itself takes place in an alternate continuity, created when a Diminutive Guardian from the original timeline travels back in time to avert the damage of the Great Calamity.

Prologue
Beginning at the flashback from Breath of the Wild when Princess Zelda first unlocked her divine power to protect her appointed knight, Link, a small guardian leaps back through time just as Calamity Ganon begin to destroy Hyrule Castle. The diminutive protector tries to protect Zelda from experiencing the anguish she did at Link's "mortal" wounds (BotW begins with Link's recovery from said wounds finally finishing). Alongside the princess and her knight, the heroes of Hyrule are gathered to try and foil Calamity Ganon's resurrection, while BotW Calamity Ganon's own power also arrives in the past, influencing others to ensure the future grants him his victory. The story told closely follows what happened in the BotW timeline until after Ganon's emergence, where it deviates dramatically.

Chapter 1
The small guardian arrives in the past to a Hyrule currently at peace, but already preparing for the Great Calamity as foretold. The Guardian of Remembrance DLC Scenario, EX To Zelda's Side, reveals that this small guardian had slammed into the head of a Bokoblin as it emerged from the Gate of Time and wanders away to search for her. The Malice also comes out of the closing portal and after a brief minute goes into Zelda's Study where it took full control of the guardian's other counterpart, becoming Harbinger Ganon, who also sets off on a mission, to stop the time-traveling guardian from having any contact with the princess, Link, or Impa and manipulating events to Hyrule's advantage. It found the Diminutive Guardian inside the coliseum. During the battle, the Diminutive Guardian believed that it has seemingly defeated Harbinger Ganon and walks out, but the dark Diminutive Guardian gets back up and transforms into Mutated Ganon and managed to send the small guardian sliding across the room, and it was buried beneath the debris and went inactive as a result. After looking over at the supposedly fallen Diminutive Guardian, Harbinger Ganon reverts to its original form and leave the coliseum leaving it behind and heads out to ensure that the future doesn't change.

The Diminutive Guardian was dormant up until two Bokoblins wandered inside searching for objects of interest and they find the Diminutive Guardian laying there and decide to take it with them by tying it to their bone weapon and went to rejoin their unit. King Rhoam is sending his troops, among them being Link, to fight a group of Ganon's monsters attacking Hyrule Field. The Bokoblins witness Link fighting their fellow comrades and flee in terror, accidentally sending the small guardian flying into the air and landed next to a rock. During this battle, Link comes across the deactivated small guardian, before then seeing Impa being pursued by several Bokoblins. As she spots Link and asks for his help, she trips and tosses the Sheikah Slate she was holding towards Link. As Link moves to catch it, the Sheikah Slate activates, awakening the small guardian, who summons a Sheikah Tower that scares off the Bokoblins chasing Impa, but leaving her and Link puzzled by its appearance and the small guardian. After the battle, the small guardian heads for the castle as Link and Impa pursue it. They soon meet up with Princess Zelda, but when Link catches the small guardian and holds it aloft when it tried to approach Zelda, Impa shows Zelda the Sheikah Slate and how it and the small guardian are somehow linked due to the Sheikah Slate working in the small guardian's presence.

After telling King Rhoam, he allows Zelda to take the small guardian to Robbie and Purah for analysis, escorted by Link and Zelda and several troops. During their journey, they are suddenly attacked by a Guardian Stalker possessed by Ganon's Malice that tried to assassinate Zelda before Link blocked the laser shot when he saw the targeting laser zero in on Zelda's forehead. As they try to flee the corrupted Guardian, the small guardian reveals it can activate some of the Decayed Guardians in the area, using them to weaken the Guardian Stalker until Link can deliver the final strike, blowing the corrupted Guardian to pieces. Concerned about what happened, the group continue on their way to the Science Academy, unaware of what appeared to be a corrupted version of the small guardian was secretly watching them before turning and walking away.

Inside the lab, Robbie and Purah reveal what they managed to extract from the small guardian's memory banks and reveal the horror of the Great Calamity that is to come, as the small guardian brought back an ominous warning of its coming, and Hyrule now must prepare for it. Zelda herself vows not to let this dark future come to pass on her watch.

Simultaneously, Harbinger Ganon encounters the mysterious man in a dark cloak by the name of Astor who is a fortune-teller as well as a member who belongs to a cult that worships Calamity Ganon as a god of death that will destroy the entire world. It shows him a vision of Calamity Ganon laying waste to the kingdom of Hyrule which has Astor astounded by what he saw. In the Guardian of Remembrance DLC, he takes it to the deep forest to meet up with his fellow cultists and they perform a demonic ritual as Harbinger Ganon revealed that vision. However, the dark Guardian kills each member of the cult with one of them desperately pleading Astor to end the ritual immediately, though his words went unheard as he himself falls to the ground, dead. Astor, the only one who lived on, he believes that Ganon has chosen him to be his dark prophet as he leaves with a cackle. After that, he allies himself with the Yiga Clan, another Ganon worshipping cult, as to make sure that the events of the prophesy come to be and plans on not just reviving Calamity Ganon, but to dispose of anyone who stands in their way, including Zelda, Link, the Champions, and the rest of their allies.

Chapter 2
Thanks to having been warned in advance by the small guardian of the Great Calamity's coming, Zelda heads off with Link and Impa to recruit the pilots of the Divine Beasts from the Rito, Goron, Zora, and Gerudo races.

In Zora's Domain, Zelda meets with Zora King Dorephan about having his daughter, Crown Princess Mipha, pilot Divine Beast Vah Ruta as the Zora Champion. Dorephan politely refuses under the surmise he can't put her in harm's way if the knight chosen to seal the darkness has not appeared yet. Before Zelda can try to convince him otherwise, word comes of the domain being under attack by Ganon's monsters. Meanwhile, Mipha was alone with Link and having a chance to meet the small guardian before a guard arrives with word of the attack. When Mipha learns that her father is leading the defense, but the king thought her younger brother, the young prince Sidon, was safe with her, Mipha, with Link's support, decides to head out to find Sidon herself. Helping out her father's troops along the way, she learns that Sidon went to Ploymus Mountain, home of the dreaded Lynel. After fighting the Lynel off and forcing it to retreat, Mipha reunites with Sidon, only to then learn that the Lynel has returned with reinforcements to attack the domain. The small guardian then points out the Sheikah Slate to Zelda, on which an image of the Divine Beast has appeared. Understanding what it means, Mipha boards Vah Ruta, and uses it to save her father as he was about to be attacked by an Electric Moblin, causing the surviving monsters to lose nerve and retreat in the face of the Divine Beast's firepower. Refusing to let them escape, Mipha pursues them in the Divine Beast and annihilates every last one of them, saving the domain. Having seen things firsthand at how dire the situation has become, Dorephan agrees to have Mipha pilot Vah Ruta, but under one condition: Promise him she'll come back safely.

Heading up to Goron City on Death Mountain to recruit the stalwart Daruk, he's more than willing to help Zelda against the Calamity, but first had to retrieve Divine Beast Vah Rudania from the crater of the volcano, and it did not help that the path was filled with Ganon's monsters, some affected by elemental energy, making them more dangerous than normal. Nevertheless, they are able to push through to the summit, reach the Divine Beast, and Daruk personally pilots it down the mountain to take out all the enemies in his way as its official test run. Afterwards, he assures Zelda he's on board for being the Goron Champion and pilot of Vah Rudania. Then, believing Link must be starving after all that, he gives him a Prime Rock Roast to eat, and as Link digs in, Impa and Zelda watch with some uneasiness, while Daruk apologizes and promises to have more in the future for everyone, much to Zelda's uneasy gratitude.

On their way to Rito Village, Link and Impa find themselves attacked by the Rito for no apparent reason. Confused to why they are being attacked by them, they fight their way past the Rito and several of Ganon's monsters affected by elemental energy until reaching the village, only to be engaged by the Rito commander himself, Revali. During Link's duel with Revali, he is disarmed of his shield, and Revali deploys a smokescreen around Link before moving in for the kill. Just before Revali can shoot Link in the back at point-blank range, Zelda arrives, wearing her winter attire, and her shout for them to stop gives Link enough time to block and deflect Revali's arrow. Afterwards, Revali explains that his countrymen and himself were attacked by monsters led by a strange guardian that bore a similar resemblance to the small guardian accompanying the princess, so they were on the alert for similar attacks, and mistook the small guardian as the one that attacked them earlier, hence their hostility to Link and Impa before Zelda intervened. Nevertheless, Revali knows that Zelda wants him to pilot Divine Beast Vah Medoh, and while he's more than happy to do so, he still has his reservations about Link, unsure if the so-called "pathetic knight" in her service is worthy of being the knight to seal the darkness, before the small guardian intervenes to declare itself a knight to the princess as well, much to Revali's annoyance and disbelief.

Zelda soon heads to Gerudo Town to recruit the Gerudo Chieftain and good friend of hers, Urbosa, only to find herself, Link, and Impa being chased by the Gerudo warrior women. Confused as to why the Gerudo are being hostile to them, they are forced to fight their way past them to reach the Chieftain's palace in Gerudo Town. Once there, Zelda tries to speak to Urbosa about what's going on, only for Urbosa to have her honor guards surround the princess' group as she personally prepares to kill Zelda herself. Just as she charges to strike and Link moves to protect Zelda, Urbosa is struck by lightning, electrocuting her so badly that she immediately collapses unconscious at Link and Zelda's feet, before the voice of another Urbosa is heard at the entryway, that one having been the one to summon the lightning to electrocute the Urbosa about to attack Zelda with a snap of her fingers. As everyone is initially confused by what just happened and why there are two Urbosas, the one that summoned the lightning proves she's the authentic one by calling Zelda by her nickname, "Little Bird", which only the real Urbosa would know. As for the one that got zapped and called Zelda "Princess Zelda", with a malicious cackle, the phony Urbosa reveals herself to have actually been the Yiga Clan top banana himself in disguise, Master Kohga all along. His cover blown thanks to the real Urbosa having shown up just in time to stop him, Kohga summons his Yiga Clan warriors to fight Urbosa, her warriors, Link, Impa, and Zelda, while he retreats. Fighting the Yiga and clearing them out of Gerudo Town, the group then scare them off by awakening the giant Molduga that lived in the desert. With most of his forces having ran away in fear of the Molduga, Kohga is forced to face Urbosa and the others at his main camp, but despite his best efforts with his Yiga ninja magic, Kohga is defeated and cornered by Link and Urbosa. Before they can either take him into custody or execute him, his elite second-in-command Blademaster, Sooga, arrives to rescue him and make their getaway. Meeting up at Divine Beast Vah Naboris, Urbosa explains the situation with the Yiga Clan to Zelda and the others, before agreeing to pilot Vah Naboris to put an end to their troublemaking out of her loyalty to Zelda due to being good friends with her late mother, the Queen of Hyrule, offering any help to Zelda if she needs it due to being a mother figure to her after the Queen had passed ten years prior.

Meanwhile, in their hideout, Kohga and Sooga meet with their mysterious ally, who after voicing his disappointment in them, turns his attention to his harbinger of Calamity Ganon, revealed to be the very same guardian Revali referred to earlier, who offers the robed figure a vision of the dark future of Calamity Ganon's rule over Hyrule, as the figure refuses to let anyone, or anything, alter Hyrule's fate for the better.

Princess Zelda continues to train to access her dormant magic but to her dismay, it didn't bear any fruit; it wasn't helped by the fact that her father is visibly frustrated by her preference on continuing her research on Sheikah technology over her spiritual training to access her power. On their way through Gatepost Town, Mipha and Daruk converse regarding training and the topic about a potential knight who would be chosen to wield the Master Sword when they are suddenly ambushed by the Yiga Clan that is led by Sooga. Link takes Zelda and retreats into the building while the Champions handle the attacking Yiga Clan, and the monsters and they were able to take down the enemy stronghold. They soon find out that it was a diversion created to get the Champions far away from Zelda and Sooga starts a fire to force Link and the princess out of the building. Link then battles Sooga and the latter attempts to throw three kunai at the princess and the little guardian jumps in front of her face to take the blow, but Link steps between them to defend both of them. Seeing who he's up against, Sooga orders the clan to retreat and vanish. As Zelda was astonished by Link's selflessness, the guardian is more than a little upset with Link taking its glory away from it as Mipha and Daruk catch up to them with a chuckle amusingly.

Chapter 3
King Rhoam then orders the pilots of the Divine Beasts to find the knight who will wield the Master Sword and sent them to Korok Forest where the sword currently rests, though it was plagued by monsters. Revali steps in and while he feels honored to be chosen for his part, he takes his anger out on Link and questions his leadership and Daruk quickly defends the Hylian that it doesn't matter who the leader is, but Revali dismisses this by stating that Vah Medoh is the key and returns to delivering more insults to Link by dubbing him a "fallen knight" before Urbosa tells him to stop his gloating. Revali then summons Divine Beast Vah Medoh to destroy all of the giant monsters and their outposts before he lets them know that they can now proceed safely as he rejoins them. Meanwhile, the figure, revealed to be Astor, and two Yiga Clan footsoldiers are also in the forest and the former deduces that the Champions have arrived. As the group stroll through the forest, Mipha makes a comment on the mist that obscures their view, which Revali then becomes frustrated over their ambiguous progress and believes that they are going in circles. Daruk insists that he should fly and scout the way, only for Revali to harshly remind him that even in the air, he still can't see anything and reprimands him for not thinking before speaking. Urbosa assures them that getting lost isn't the problem, but the fact that the chances of ambush are much higher with Zelda insisting that they should prepare for the most unusual as she soon notices a large Korok, who had been desperately trying to get their attention, to their amazement that they haven't seen him until now. He happily introduces himself as Hestu and when Daruk asks him to guide them to the grove given that he is knowledgeable of the forest, Hestu becomes reluctant due to the recent monster infestation and fears going past them. Revali remarks that he can sneak by if he didn't have his maracas on him, but Urbosa advises Hestu not to pay attention to him and offers to help deal with the monsters, which Hestu delightfully takes up the offer and escorts them. However, as they go, they spot strange appearances of Malice that's blocking the way to the clearing, and it was due to the presence of Hollows, dark Malice replicas of the four Champion Pilots created by Astor to hinder their progress. A portion of the Malice disappears with each Hollow defeated and as all of them are destroyed, the path is cleared, and Princess Zelda and Link proceed to the Master Sword's resting place. However, Astor was waiting for them and summons the Hollows again, and they quickly overwhelm Link to which they managed to break his knight sword and the seer orders them to assassinate the princess, but the power of the Master Sword reacts to Link's desire to protect the vulnerable princess by shining brightly to weaken the Hollows and pulls the Master Sword from its pedestal. With it, Link managed to destroy the Hollows, leaving Astor no choice but to face the knight himself but the might of the Blade of Evil's Bane forced the seer to flee. The Champions rejoin them as the Great Deku Tree wakes up and lets them know that they are prepared for the battle ahead of them. Upon noticing the look on Zelda's face, he tells her not to worry too much as Link was chosen as the master of the sword that seals the darkness and her own power will eventually come, though the Princess is now completely anxious at this point on.

As they return to Hyrule Castle, Princess Zelda's fears of failing to awaken her power starts to get to her. Responding to her distress, the small guardian then plays Zelda's Lullaby, a song she recognized which in a flashback, this guardian played it for her to lull her to sleep every night as a child. Before she was able to recall the fact that it played a large role in her early childhood, Impa warns of monsters that are invading the outskirts of Hyrule Castle. Once the threat is dealt with, Princess Zelda reflects that Link has reached a milestone and Urbosa catches on by finishing that she still hasn't reached hers yet. She tells her that Link isn't any different than when he was before he recently gained the sacred sword, and he is like Zelda herself and gives her a pep talk by reminding her of the Great Deku Tree's words that she shouldn't worry too much to ease her concerns for a time-being. After the Champions are now given their official titles and the blue cloths bestowed upon them to exhibit their status, they stick around outside. Impa states that they have everything to counter Ganon and the little guardian joins in on the conversation. Irked, Impa attempts to scold it and it began to swat her hand away whenever she brings it too close to the guardian and a fight ensues. Mipha reminds Daruk about their discussion regarding training, and she soon finds herself in a touchy situation when she almost let's slip on her feelings of Link in front of him. Impa and the guardian are still fighting and soon invade Revali's space, and he tells them to take it somewhere else, but he was pushed to the point where he flies away in disgust.

Chapter 4
As Purah studied the Sheikah Tower, she learns that there is not one but multiple towers all around Hyrule that are still hidden underground all of which are linked to a control system and the Champions depart to activate and link them to the system. Meanwhile, King Rhoam is still flustered over Zelda neglecting her duties to access her power through her research, but when he was given a strange disc that Zelda had been researching with the Queen of Hyrule who her late mother is also, Rhoam relents and allows her to continue her research, albeit reluctantly. Back at the Yiga Clan Hideout, Master Kohga and Sooga are concerned that if the Sheikah Towers are all activated, it could potentially give away their hideout's location, but Astor silences their dissent and reminds them that they will eventually play their parts. It is revealed that the Diminutive Guardian is possessed by Calamity Ganon and Astor intends on using it to gain power over all of Hyrule, ending with a laugh. Sooga then warns him that Ganon cannot be controlled by mortals, but his words only fell on deaf ears.

In the Guardian of Remembrance Scenario, a Hylian captain notes of an ominous monster that has entered another coliseum and forbid anyone entering it. The time-traveling guardian suspects that Harbinger Ganon is causing trouble again and head off to the coliseum anyway where it confronts the entity in its Mutated Form. The small guardian is overpowered again and buried under the debris. Luckily, Purah was there to bear witness to it through her binoculars and lets Zelda and her friends know about it. She and Robbie tells them of strange energy sources found within the area to activate the ancient furnaces that will reactivate the little guardian. As they head out to do so, Malice-infused monsters as well as Astor himself attempted to hinder their progress in reaching the furnaces to save their little friend, but Zelda and her allies managed to defeat them. Once all the furnaces are fired up, the Diminutive Guardain is reactivated and despite the concerns of Impa and Purah over its situation, the little guardian was able to hold its own against its archenemy and after a brutal battle, it managed to defeat Harbinger Ganon by unleashing its powerful laser against it to send it flying. Two Yiga Footsoldiers catch it in the nick of time. The Diminutive Guardian approaches them with its Ancient Guardian blades as if to dare them to challenge it, but it was soon annoyed when the Yiga chose to flee from it rather than fight it. Link and Princess Zelda arrive to check up on it and they are relieved to see that the Diminutive Guardian is alright as it chirps and beeps to them as they look on, amused by its antics.

When Link activates the first Sheikah Tower with the Sheikah Slate, all of the other towers around the kingdom also rise at the same time. They managed to activate all but one tower, which is in the Akkala Region which they head there. They learn that the Yiga Clan had already taken over Akkala Citadel which was believed to be unbreachable, and the final tower was found. Sooga often manages to one-up them by adding more blockades and creating diversions to prevent the Champions from accessing the citadel when one of them went down. Despite this, Link and the group managed and defeated Sooga, prompting him to retreat with his forces while they managed to activate the last tower, saving the citadel for now. Purah then explains that the towers can allow the Sheikah Slate to display the map of its region. Because of the Yiga Clan causing havoc on their progress, Urbosa becomes intrigued by this and decides to take advantage of it to lead a preemptive strike on the Yiga Clan Hideout, starting with her strike through Divine Beast Vah Naboris to get the hang of controlling it when the time came. Once the first line of defense is down, the party continues forward with a follow-up assault on foot by infiltrating it. They confront Master Kohga and Sooga at the arena and managed to make them retreat once more.

Later, Kohga and Sooga sit atop of the canyon's cliff when Astor arrives. They confront the seer, demanding to know why he never told them they would be defeated. Astor then tells them that all is going according to plan and warns them that the Yiga Clan are bound to serve Calamity Ganon and they will certainly be punished if they harm him in anyway, forcing them to back down. Meanwhile, Purah has expanded the number of researchers to help with the cause and demonstrates to Princess Zelda and the group about its ability to utilize teleportation though she did so to take them by surprise, which the princess insisted that a warning would have sufficed. She continues the support the ever-expanding research on technology, but she is still haunted by her lack of progress of reaching her vital goal: accessing her still dormant power.

This becomes worse when the little guardian's records show that Calamity Ganon will be returning on the day of Princess Zelda's seventeenth birthday, which also leaves Rhoam distraught that their time is shorter than they thought and sends Princess Zelda to the Spring of Courage to train there, hoping that it would help with it. As Princess Zelda's ruminations of her perceived failure are interrupted by a large group of monsters besieging the spring. Link and Impa protect the princess as they escort her out of the forest and the latter's knowledge of the ancient relics have allowed them to escape. Impa chides the princess for her pessimistic outlook on her efforts and tries to cheer her up with her poor attempts at humor. Zelda only feels better for a moment.

Chapter 5
As people under the age of seventeen are forbidden from ever setting foot on Mount Lanayru where the Spring of Wisdom resides, Princess Zelda plans on heading there as soon as she comes of age. As it was already revealed that Calamity Ganon is about that day, King Rhoam has issued evacuation orders to keep the number of casualties as short as possible and deploys the Divine Beasts as they await Ganon's arrival. Purah and Robbie have managed to analyze the Diminutive Guardian's memory and as they look into it, they are soon taken hostage by the "researchers", revealed to be Yiga Clan members and the real ones are also held at knife point. Purah manages to toss the Sheikah Slate to the small guardian and tells it to leave immediately which it managed to escape with the slate in tow.

Link, Princess Zelda, and Impa prepare to depart from Hyrule Castle and about to set off for Mount Lanayru when the Diminutive Guardian skitters along the path frantically and hands the Sheikah Slate to the princess, but as soon as she takes it, Calamity Ganon finally arrives, already surrounding Hyrule Castle in Malice, with the princess in dismay. As Daruk arrives at the Eldin Sheikah Tower, he thinks up a good place for Rudania but he is horrified when he saw the castle's state. Mipha is also surprised by Ganon's arrival, Urbosa calmly notes that they were taken by surprise, and Revali was initially stoic by the events and saw the Sheikah Tower's blue circuitry starting to flicker ominously, the ground shakes even harder, scaring him as he witnesses the Towers across Hyrule being shut down as a result of Ganon's influence. As Rhoam was still inside the castle and in potential danger, the trio rush back into the castle to search for him. As they go, they saw several Guardians becoming corrupted by Ganon's Malice and continue their search to make sure the king is still standing, and they soon flee the castle when they were overwhelmed. Link and Zelda rush out and are almost hit by a laser by a Guardian and the former stands in front of Zelda with his shield up when it was aiming at them, but King Rhoam arrived and struck it with his Royal Claymore and orders them to vacate the castle immediately. Link was reluctant until the king reminded him that his duty is to protect Zelda. Taking the protesting princess by the hand, Link escapes with her as Rhoam was surrounded by several other Guardians, entrusting his daughter in Link's care as he presumably dies. After arriving at Hyrule Field just outside the castle, Calamity Ganon himself emerges and Impa shows the despondent princess the Sheikah Slate that now displays the images of the Divine Beasts being attacked by Ganon's creations. The Princess breaks down in despair at her perceived failure, lamenting that her sealing magic still had not arrived. The small guardian notices her distress and plays her lullaby again as her tears hit its single blessed screw and time portals emerge from it to their surprise. They saw that Divine Beast Vah Medoh's circuity is still glowing blue which showed that Revali is still alive, but the Malice trailing from its wing also showed that he is in serious peril as are the other Champions. Impa realized that there is still hope in saving the Champions before the worst happens and rallies Zelda and Link to initiate a rescue operation for their sake and they rush off to save them.

During the EX The Princess and the King Scenario, Princess Zelda, Link, and Impa had managed to escape the castle unscathed and make their way through Lanayru Road's east gate, completely unaware that King Rhoam and his guard have barely survived and taking a separate route to the Great Plateau and the Temple of Time. The Hyrulean Army aids the trio as they make their way through the road to reach Mt. Lanayru, so that Zelda can start training at the Spring of Wisdom as their journey had been disrupted by Ganon's return earlier. The princess had no success in awakening her power, but she immediately sets off to rescue the endangered Champions.

Daruk engages in a duel against Fireblight Ganon for the control of Rudania and often used his forcefield to shield himself from its attacks and starts to struggle and Mipha also battles Waterblight Ganon in a fight for control of Ruta with the water having been frozen over to prevent her from gaining an edge. Fireblight manages to break Daruk's barrier, knocking him off-guard and tosses a fiery rock in an attempt to finish him off and Waterblight charges forward at the Zora Princess with its flail and Cryonic formations in an attempt to kill her. Before they can be killed, the time portals arrive, and Prince Sidon emerges and breaks down the ice-based weapons before they could hit Mipha refusing to lose her again, to Mipha's shock. At the same time, Yunobo also comes out and used Daruk's Protection to block Fireblight Ganon's attack, to Daruk's surprise to see another Goron use the same power as him and the young Goron assure him that he's here to help. Because Vah Rudania is surrounded by lava, the group decides to help free Vah Ruta and have Mipha use it to cool it to cross over. Thankfully Sidon's assistance to keep Mipha on her feet long enough paid off when Link arrived to deal with the water demon, and they managed to slay it. Mipha is exhausted from the battle and without any further threats inside Ruta, Sidon leaves her behind to join Link and the others to help Daruk by destroying an Igneo Talus that was creating lava flows. Mipha then takes advantage of Vah Ruta's trunk by spraying water to solidify the lava flow making it safe to cross over. Yunobo starts to panic as Fireblight starts to gain the upper hand until Daruk returns the same favor to him and rallies his spirits by reminding him why he's here. Fortunately, Yunobo's support to keep Daruk alive similarly bought the party enough time to reach them and destroy Fireblight Ganon. With two Divine Beasts and pilots safe, Daruk thanks Link for backing them up and Yunobo for saving his life. Mipha and Sidon also join them, and the former inquires of the latter if he really is her brother which he confirms and adds that he came from the future. Daruk laughs it off before putting up a serious face when he asks Zelda about Hyrule Castle's fate. When he learns of these events, Daruk and Yunobo team up to defend Eastern Hyrule from a barrage of monsters and corrupted Guardians that were attempting to take down an allied stronghold. They took down the bridges to keep reinforcements out and managed to take down the enemy stronghold nearby, securing the area.

Urbosa is seen dueling Thunderblight Ganon for control over Naboris and she finds herself in a losing battle against the speedy monster. Revali fared no better as he is constantly pushed to the defensive and unable to land a shot. Urbosa is eventually pushed to the lower floor of her Divine Beast and drops to her knee, becoming fatigued from the battle, and Revali cries out in pain when Windblight managed to strike his wing throwing him off-balance, despite trying to brush it off as a mere scratch. Windblight aims its cannons at him and Thunderblight charges at Urbosa. The Gerudo Champion is unable to defend herself and Revali could only watch helplessly until a time portal arrives and Teba arrives by shooting arrows at Windblight's cannons before it could shoot the Rito Champion and Riju and Patricia arrive and slam into Thunderblight. As Urbosa voices her astonishment at their presence, Riju states that they need to focus on the battle. Because Vah Medoh was too high to reach at this point, the team instead head to Naboris to help Urbosa keep her control over Naboris. Urbosa is fluster over how fast Thunderblight was moving. Riju starts beating herself up over her own perceived carelessness over her thoughts that she can protect Urbosa, but the Gerudo Champion assures her that she managed to give her allies much needed time to reach them. Link and the group managed to defeat Thunderblight Ganon and with no further danger inside Naboris, Riju leaves Urbosa alone to join the group. Urbosa summons lightning from Naboris to strike Mount Rhoam to create a huge updraft that will bring them to Medoh. Teba distracts Windblight enough for Revali to get his much-needed revenge and fires bomb arrows from above, but Windblight blocks it. As Teba becomes frustrated by it still living, Revali assures him that the rescue party has arrived thanks to him. Link and his friends only managed to force it to retreat for a time being. After the dust clears and two of the Divine Beasts and pilots are secured, Urbosa takes a moment to thank Princess Zelda for aiding them in their time of need and she also thanks Riju for saving her life and Riju insists that they all fought as one. Revali approaches Link and with a brief stare towards him, he insists that he would have been just fine without him, but he realized that it was better that he was here. Teba noticed how abrasive Revali was and was about to comment on it before Urbosa cuts him off as to not have him saying anything hurtful about Revali before asking the princess about Hyrule Castle. Revali and Teba join forces and the latter protects the former from the Guardian Skywatchers and is pursued himself before Revali returns the favor, leaving Teba impressed by Revali's skill. With his signature smirk, Revali prepares to unleash the true might of Vah Medoh's power as they defend Western Hyrule from a surge of Guardians and monsters that infest it. As they take down the outposts, Windblight Ganon returns with the intent on not only killing Revali, but Teba as well in vengeance for interfering earlier. Fortunately, Revali was ready for it and managed to unleash his fury by destroying the demon with the very machine it sought to take for itself and they managed to secure the area. After having saved all four Champions and the Divine Beasts, Princess Zelda recalls in a flashback about Sidon's further explanation on how he arrived in the past to protect his sister. She realized that the Diminutive Guardian was responsible for the Champions' survival and the Divine Beasts being spared from infection and expresses eternal gratitude for rescuing them. They turn their attention to Akkala Citadel to help save the Hylian Soldiers stationed there and where Robbie had escaped to.

Meanwhile, when Astor saw that the Champion Pilots and the Divine Beasts ultimately survived their encounters with Ganon's creations, he betrays the Yiga Clan and begins harvesting the souls of these members that he had slain to revive the four fallen Blight Ganons. Master Kohga and Sooga demand an explanation for his extreme actions; Astor explains that their enemies have become stronger, and they must change tactics. Summoning a Hollow replica of Link, he declares that they can finally be of use for once in their lives. Sooga blocks the Link Hollow's attacks and urges Kohga to get away. He was about to, but he stops and refuses to leave his best lackey behind. With this resolve, Sooga vows to protect Kohga if it meant that he will likely die doing so. Astor further mocks them as he states that measure is being taken and echos his earlier words that they will have their parts to play as he breaks into a maniacal laughter, indicating that he is starting to descend into madness due to the heroes defying his prophesy.

Chapter 6
The soldiers at Akkala Citadel are besieged by a huge surge of monsters and Guardians and their morale was low when they saw that the citadel doesn't stand a chance. However, Robbie, who somehow managed to escape the Yiga Clan's grip, assured them that their luck will change and is proven true when Mipha and Sidon arrive aboard Divine Beast Vah Ruta to help them out. Link, Impa, and Princess Zelda arrive and as a Guardian was about to shoot Link, Mipha managed to destroy it and assures them that they have them covered. Mipha expresses pride in the Zora Sidon had become and the Zora Prince melancholically replies that they can, as he came from the timeline where his sister did not survive. When asked if he was ready, he joins his trident with hers. As the battle begins, Sidon takes control of Vah Ruta to keep out large numbers of foes while Mipha leaves to aid the Hylian soldiers by patching the wounds with her healing magic on their way to get to Robbie. When Vah Ruta is starting to break down and more powerful versions of monsters appear, Daruk and Yunobo arrive at Akkala Citadel just in time and managed to hold the line until Robbie and the Hylian military use the cannons to destroy the bridge just as the Malice Guardians cross over to prevent further attacks and they were destroyed in the process. With Akkala Citadel safe once more, Robbie directs them to Fort Hateno where Purah, who also escaped the Yiga Clan's grasp, was waiting for them.

As they arrive, they saw that Fort Hateno also suffered the fate of being besieged by Ganon's army. Urbosa and Riju team up aboard Divine Beast Vah Naboris and the latter saw Hyrule's currently horrific state, while Urbosa states that she shouldn't have to sound defeated while Riju ruminates on the great numbers that they have to deal with. Urbosa then reminds Riju that she would not have lived if she hadn't come and because of her Naboris still has its pilot and asks for her hand. Feeling slightly assured, Riju does so as she is pulled into the frey. As they fought off the whole army, reinforcements arrive which frustrates Urbosa and Riju then has her turn in reminding Urbosa that they made it this far, which put the Gerudo Champion back in a better mood. Just then Vah Medoh, Vah Ruta, and Vah Rudania arrive to break down the reinforcements with Urbosa mulling in amusement on what took them so long. Without a large army to keep them from reaching the fort, Link, Impa, and Princess Zelda arrive with little trouble and as they enter, they saw Astor summoning the Blight Ganons and taunts the princess on her imminent death. Impa pulls Zelda away while Link fights all four of them at once, putting him in a hopeless battle. Remembering what happened to her father, she couldn't bear to lose Link either, so she pulls away and rushes back to Link calling out desperately. Her selfless act to protect Link allowed her to finally access her sealing magic she had been seeking all her life, which managed to purify the Guardians in the vicinity and stuns the Blight Ganons, Princess Zelda was extremely surprised by this before returning her focus on defending Fort Hateno while Astor was horrified as he withdrew. Purah eventually arrives and must be escorted to the failsafe based on the small Guardian's design, but the Blight Ganons were in the way, so Link and his party defeat Fireblight Ganon and Waterblight Ganon and once Thunderblight Ganon and Windblight Ganon are defeated, Purah succeeds in activating it to eliminate the majority of the Guardians that made up the main unit in Ganon's army, which shifted the tides to Hyrule's side.

With also her newfound confidence on how well things are now going, Princess Zelda rallies the soldiers at Fort Hateno telling them not to give in to despair and takes command of the entire army. Sometime later, Impa and the princess are met with a strange Hylian soldier, who reveals himself to be Master Kohga. Because of Astor's treachery, the loss of many of his footsoldiers, and the ambiguous fate of Sooga, Kohga and the remaining footsoldiers decide to defect to her side to get revenge on the seer and Ganon.

Chapter 7
When the party learns that there are remaining Hylian soldiers stationed at the Great Plateau, they rush to their aid. Since it would be too tedious to climb their way up, Purah reveals that she managed to restore power to the Sheikah Towers and enhanced its teleportation abilities and managed to bring them up there. The Yiga Clan notifies them that the path to the Temple of Time has been obstructed by rubble where most of the footsoldiers are. Purah has the idea of using the Shrine of Resurrection as a travel gate. After they take out the monsters, Impa informs Princess Zelda that someone is waiting for her inside the temple which intrigues her to meet with this person. They managed to get inside the temple where the princess meets with the very person who was thought to be dead: King Rhoam himself. In his flashback, Rhoam and his Royal Guard are apparently doomed by the Guardians when the device that Zelda gave him earlier started to react and he brings it up. He was thought to have been killed, but it was revealed that he raised the device at the last second and it turned into an ancient shield that easily deflected the lasers and it was the Guardians that were defeated, not Rhoam or his men. He takes the opportunity to flee from the castle before the automations recovered. He ends that the very device that she had given him had saved his life and father and daughter reconciled. He then directs the army to their final destination: Hyrule Castle.

The party arrives at Hyrule Field where Purah supercharges the Sheikah Towers and it summoned military units of all races, including the Champions and their Divine Beasts. Master Kohga is giddy at the chance to get their sweet revenge, Mipha is relieved that everything went well, and Sidon adds that destroying Calamity Ganon is their last step to total victory of the war, Daruk and Yunobo express excitement to finally put this nightmare behind them, Revali looks forward to flaunting their power in all its splendor with Teba telling him to make his people proud, and Riju is optimistic with these events as Urbosa tells the princess that they are waiting for her orders. With her father's approval, Princess Zelda rallies the united armies that Hyrule is their home and must be protected and with all of them working together, they cannot be stopped and will overcome this obstacle and directs them to the castle. As the armies take over the outposts, the castle is found to be shielded to prevent the Divine Beasts from attacking it, so they destroy the Malice monsters that generate it. The Princess uses her power to dispel it and orders the Champions to open fire and all four of them fire their lasers at the same time. The Blood Moon soon rises, reviving all the fallen monsters in the field. Despite this setback, the combined efforts of the armies were effective in breaking through.

Princess Zelda leads the ground troops as Revali and Teba lead the air force as they charge towards Hyrule Castle. Astor confronts them at the castle where the corrupted Diminutive Guardian that was wreaking havoc on them earlier when they were recruiting the Champions is clearly visible and came from their own timeline while the Diminutive Guardian that accompanied the heroes came from another timeline. It transforms into a more monstrous form as the prophet madly rants that it is his destiny to destroy Zelda and her allies. As the Hyrulean Army fights their way through the interiors of the castle, they confront the Blight Ganons one last time and managed to permanently destroy them. Eventually, they confront Astor and Harbinger Ganon and managed to defeat them. Astor finally breaks as he orders Ganon to destroy the heroes, but he is soon devoured by Ganon's Malice to take on its true form: Calamity Ganon. As it was happening, the Diminutive Guardian becomes possessed by its Malice and turns against Link and the princess, leaving them no choice but to fight it. With the Diminutive Guardian critically damaged, Zelda is consumed with grief over her little friend, and it weakly managed to play her lullaby again as to comfort her. As Princess Zelda recalls assembling the Guardian as a child and shows it to her mother, in another scene it plays her lullaby to console her after her mother dies, and later confiscated by her father as he saw it as a simple toy against her wishes. Additionally, the Princess calls it by its true name: Terrako. The Champions managed to catch to them and were saddened by Terrako's broken state as it was responsible for Hyrule's shifting tides to victory. Princess Zelda's strength is resolved as are the rest of the warriors as she swears to ensure that Calamity Ganon falls once and for all as they charge upstairs where Ganon awaited them. Despite their best efforts, Calamity Ganon is impervious to all attacks and as it prepares for a devastating attack that the princess struggles to hold back, her power brings Terrako back up on its feet and it rushes upstairs and uses the last of its strength to jump into it and is destroyed, shattering Ganon's shield and leaving only its blessed screw behind. Terrako's sacrifice further motivates the Champions and with Ganon's shield gone, they are able to attack it and managed to weaken it. Link uses the Master Sword to critically wound the abomination as Princess Zelda uses her power to destroy him forever.

As Hyrule reverts to its peaceful state with the sun rising, the people across Hyrule rejoice to see that Calamity Ganon had fallen. As the Champions have a moment to enjoy what their efforts had brought them, Terrako's blessed screw glows and the future warriors, Sidon, Yunobo, Teba, and Riju are about to be sent back, but not without them saying good-bye to their ancestors and Zelda promises that she will cherish their friendships for all time as they vanish, and she wishes them a brighter future as they go.

Epilogue
Sometime after Calamity Ganon was destroyed, the warriors take part in finding Terrako's fifty components and bringing them to the Ancient Research Institute where Terrako is being reassembled in gratitude for making a positive impact on Hyrule. They were initially worried that they weren't successful until Zelda steps in front of it, causing it to fully function again and the Champions happily look on as Princess Zelda tearfully welcomes it back into their lives as Terrako plays her lullaby once more.

Terrako travels to various regions where it was greeted by Mipha, Daruk jumping for joy, Revali permitting it to ride on his back, being saved by Urbosa and meeting various other characters and returns to Hyrule Castle where the princess and the warriors appear. Daruk then pulls them all into a group hug.

Gameplay
Like the previous Hyrule Warriors, Age of Calamity mixes the hack and slash gameplay of Koei Tecmo's Dynasty Warriors series of video games with settings, characters, and other elements from Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda series. In addition to retaining the combat, material crafting, and weapon-upgrade systems from Hyrule Warriors, the game incorporates environmental puzzle solving and the use of the Sheikah Slate tool from Breath of the Wild. Confirmed playable characters include Link, Princess Zelda, the Four Champions – Daruk, Mipha, Revali, and Urbosa – and the Sheikah warrior, Impa. The game features compatibility with Nintendo's amiibo figures, with figures of the Four Champions having been re-released alongside the game.

Compared to Breath of the Wild, the game is not completely open world but still rewards the player for completing missions and side quests in specific areas of Hyrule. The weapon durability system is also removed (in the original Breath of the Wild, all weapons except the Master Sword were breakable, and even that had a durability mechanic in the form of charges). Also, compared to the previous Hyrule Warriors, the Badge and Fairy systems are also removed, with quests now giving the rewards of added combos and Hearts. Battlefields are redesigned similar to One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4 to have a more naturalistic feel and less of an emphasis on securing strongholds and regular bases like its predecessor.

Many of the game's features are returning mechanics either from Breath of the Wild or Hyrule Warriors. Food can be cooked before every battle to provide a boost that lasts as long as that conflict. The recipes are mostly the same from BotW, with similar effects. Although weapons no longer degrade, they can be fused together like in HW, increasing their might and passing on useful skills that increase combat ability. Both of these resources thrive off of the materials available from the battles, which are the same goods found in BotW.

Modes
All of the modes of Age of Calamity are contained on one world map of Hyrule, which is exactly like the map from BotW. There are, however, several different functions offered on this shared map.


 * Story Mode - consists of seven chapters and 20 battles. They tell the story of how Hyrule prepared for and fought Calamity Ganon. This story follows a parallel timeline to the one from BotW, with a different ending than what was seen in the other game.
 * Challenges - These are typically shorter battles with special stipulations, like time limits, character limits, or extra objectives to fulfill. They are similar to the Adventure mode from Hyrule Warriors, but more manageable compared to Hyrule Warriors complete edition's full collection of maps.
 * Quests - These are static events that the player while playing the story mode. They provide increased comboes, extra heart containers, etc. at the cost of their requested materials. Completing enough of these in areas of the map earns large rewards of rare materials.
 * Services - They are locations on the map that sell goods, train characters' level (up to the highest leveled character the player possesses), dye clothing, upgrade and smith weapons, and test out combos on a neutral battle map. They are unlocked and upgraded as the story progresses, including permanent discounts. The merchant shops are all travelling, so they only have a chance to spawn between battles at the different stables unlocked.

Development
The game was revealed via a trailer that was released on September 8, 2020, presented by Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma and Koei Tecmo producer Yosuke Hayashi. The game features the same art assets as Breath of the Wild, but uses the more combat-focused gameplay style of the previous Hyrule Warriors game. More info was revealed at the Tokyo Game Show on September 26.

According to Hayashi, the game came into reality when Aonuma approached him to make a new Hyrule Warriors game about the events of the Great Calamity, which were never properly shown in Breath of the Wild. Aonuma felt that the battles would complement well with the style of a Warriors game. Nintendo's Zelda developers worked more closely with the development team at Koei Tecmo than on Hyrule Warriors, providing advisement and assistance on Age of Calamity 's gameplay direction, graphics, world, and dialogue.

Characters

 * Link
 * Impa
 * Zelda
 * Mipha
 * Daruk
 * Revali
 * Urbosa
 * Hestu
 * Sidon
 * Yunobo
 * Teba
 * Riju
 * Master Kohga
 * King Rhoam
 * Great Fairies
 * Maz Koshia
 * Terrako
 * Calamity Ganon

Non-Playable Characters

 * Purah
 * Robbie
 * Sooga
 * Astor
 * Harbinger Ganon

DLC-Unlockable Characters

 * Battle-Tested Guardian
 * Purah
 * Robbie
 * Sooga

Stages

 * Hyrule Field
 * Breach of Demise
 * Zora's Domain
 * Death Mountain
 * Tabantha Frontier
 * Gerudo Town
 * Hyrule Outpost
 * Great Hyrule Forest
 * Crenel Peak
 * Akkala Citadel
 * Yiga Clan Hideout
 * Damel Forest
 * Hyrule Castle
 * Lanayru Wetlands
 * Hyrule Ridge
 * Hateno Fort
 * Great Plateau
 * Hyrule Castle Town

DLC-Unlocked Stages

 * Goponga Village
 * Kakariko Village
 * Lanayru Road
 * Mount Daphnes