Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity + Expansion Pass |OT| Whatever Happened, Happened.

[TheMoon]

Developer: Omega Force / Supervision by Nintendo EPD
Publisher: Koei Tecmo (Japan) | Nintendo (NA/PAL)
Release: November 20, 2020 | Final Expansion Pass Content: October 29, 2021
Platforms: Nintendo Switch
Genre: Pikmin but Backwards + Swords
Multiplayer: Local splitscreen co-op for 2 players
Online: Still no :<
DLC: Expansion Pass available for 20$/€
Demo: Yes, saved progress carries over to the full game.
File Size: 10.8GB (base game)
eShop pages: EU | AU | NZ | US | CA | BR | JP
Original Base Game OT: Here

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity takes place 100 years before Breath of the Wild and tells a version of the events depicted in that game's "memories" chronicling the backstory.

While locking Calamity Ganon in place during its attack on Hyrule Castle in Breath of the Wild, Zelda's magic firing off causes a tiny Guardian to be sent back 100 years in time and it captured images of the catastrophic battle in the future. Link, Zelda, and Impa examine it with a Sheikah Slate that can somehow interact with the tiny Guardian...

Will it affect how events play out in the past?

Play the game and find out...

What game modes are there?
Unlike the original Hyrule Warriors, all the content from the various modes (such as Adventure Mode) has been seamelssly integrated into the world map from Breath of the Wild/Age of Calamity. This means that special challenges (like those found in Adventure Mode maps) and NPC interactions as well as things like crafting and upgrading are all accessed through locations on the same map screen used to navigate the "main story."

What's in the Expansion Pass?
The Expansion Pass is split into two waves and goes for $19.99 | €19.99 | £17.99 (cannot be purchased separately). As a purchase bonus, you get a new outfit and weapon for Link:

• Prototype Ancient Helm, Prototype Ancient Cuirass, Prototype Ancient Greaves, Prototype Ancient Short Sword

Pulse of the Ancients (Wave 1), released June 18, 2021:

• New playable character: Battle-Tested Guardian
• Two new weapon types: Flail for Link and Master Cycle for Zelda
• New location: Royal Ancient Tech Lab
• Apocalyptic difficulty mode
• New "Vicious Enemies"
• New challenges and side quests
• Four new music tracks

Guardian of Remembrance (Wave 2), released October 29, 2021:

• New story arcs (Battle for Kakariko Village, Battle of Goponga Village, and more)
• Two new playable characters: Purah & Robbie, Sooga
• New stages (Coliseum Lanayru Road, and more)
• New battle skills for existing characters

​

 

[Rafavert]

Hey! Minor typo:

• Two new playable characters: Purah & Robbie, Sooga

Bought this yesterday and got the Flail. Loving all the new stuff I'm seeing, and the second wave wasn't available yet! Hoping this DLC brings a lot of content. While AoC is great, it felt lacking compared to the original (though the original is a behemoth...).

 

[Kouriozan]

Finally, I've been waiting so long for this, I love this game so much I wanted to delve into it again.

 

[Lunchbox]

I haven't even unlocked the character it's making me play as LOL

 

[Strings]

 

[Nucarn]

Man.. I liked the base game even though I preferred the previous one more. The main issue is without a doubt the very rough performance. Game needed some optimization patch, even if it meant less enemies on screen.

Sooga and new maps are a welcome addition, which might convince me to buy the expansion pass and overlook again the performance.

 

[Razmos]

I was waiting for both of the expansions to come out before jumping back in, exciting.

Completely missed that Sooga was being made playable, I remember seeing Purah & Robbie being announced

 

[Keefe the Thief]

Let`s go! Preloaded and ready to 100% the game a second time.

 

[Lee Morris]

I'd really like to play this game but only on a theoretical Switch 2 where the games famerate isn't horrendous

 

[TΛPIVVΛ]

OP you're an absolute real one for including Australia & New Zealand eshop pages <3

 

[Efejota]

Waiting to hear some final opinions on the DLC overall to decide if it's worth it. As someone who completed everything within a month of release, I really wanted some extra modes to make use of my developed characters, as I don't have any interest in replaying it in a higher difficulty.

I guess getting new areas and challenges for the new characters should give enough new content, but I also hope it's more meaty than the epilogue, story-wise.

The base game was amazing in any case! Each character really felt unique and I loved how much the gameplay was intertwined with the story.

Nitpick on the OP, but EU =/= UK. Love the Pikmin joke, though, haha.

 

[BaconHat]

Finished the previous dlc yesterday in preparation, can't wait until im off work to play it.

 

[El Buga]

Brazilian eShop Page.

Can't wait to dive back into this game. I've clocked like 170 hours in it, already got to 100% and I'm eager for more.

 

[Kalor]

I was waiting for the last DLC before jumping in so curious to try it tonight, and seeing potentially what other stuff is in the pack that wasn't announced.

 

[MayorSquirtle]

Purah and Robbie are the same character? lol

 

[Kouriozan]

Waiting to hear some final opinions on the DLC overall to decide if it's worth it. As someone who completed everything within a month of release, I really wanted some extra modes to make use of my developed characters, as I don't have any interest in replaying it in a higher difficulty.

I guess getting new areas and challenges for the new characters should give enough new content, but I also hope it's more meaty than the epilogue, story-wise.

The base game was amazing in any case! Each character really felt unique and I loved how much the gameplay was intertwined with the story.

Nitpick on the OP, but EU =/= UK. Love the Pikmin joke, though, haha.

Click to shrink...

The game is indeed much shorter to 100% than the Wii U, that said, the gameplay here makes up for it.
I found the first wave to be surprisingly meaty with the Sheikah tech tree, I expected less from it, this one seems pretty big in comparaison.
Too bad they didn't give playable Astor, like in the first Hyrule Warriors they gave us all villains as a free patch shortly after launch.

 

[Mandos]

The game is indeed much shorter to 100% than the Wii U, that said, the gameplay here makes up for it.
I found the first wave to be surprisingly meaty with the Sheikah tech tree, I expected less from it, this one seems pretty big in comparaison.
Too bad they didn't give playable Astor, like in the first Hyrule Warriors they gave us all villains as a free patch shortly after launch.

Click to shrink...

Yeah they streamlined a bunch of the grinding which is a good thing. The adventure maps were super clunky

 

[Efejota]

The game is indeed much shorter to 100% than the Wii U, that said, the gameplay here makes up for it.
I found the first wave to be surprisingly meaty with the Sheikah tech tree, I expected less from it, this one seems pretty big in comparaison.
Too bad they didn't give playable Astor, like in the first Hyrule Warriors they gave us all villains as a free patch shortly after launch.

Click to shrink...

I actually liked being able to say I completed the game. In this day and age there's always some random challenge that makes that impossible and the amount of (varied!) gameplay I got was much more than what I expected.

But yeah, if I'm going to pay for a DLC, I want it to provide enough content for those of us who completed all other missions already. It's good to know that the first wave surprised you in any case :)

Another thing I really liked was the weapon system. It felt great to customize them to get the best possible effects and I like that better than just leveling up the characters. It feels more like they are my own versions of those characters that way.

 

[Kouriozan]

For a moment I forgot a skill in the Sheikah tree give you chests locations, it feels like cheating with those new missions, haha.

 

[derFeef]

I have held off of the main game, maybe now it's time to jump in. I enjoyed the demo back then - did they ever make any improvements to it compared to the demo?

 

[ned_ballad]

lol so that main villain dude that does almost nothing didn't even end up becoming playable

complete waste of a character. Feels like he existed entirely to look cool in trailers

 

[Lukar]

Genre: Pikmin but Backwards + Swords

Click to shrink...

lmao

 

[steviestar3]

Sooga being playable is pretty exciting. Astor was a pretty nothing villain but I'm annoyed he's not playable too, just for completion's sake.

 

[TheMoon]

Hey! Minor typo:

• Two new playable characters: Purah & Robbie, Sooga

Click to shrink...

Not at typo :)
->

Purah and Robbie are the same character? lol

Click to shrink...

:D

OP you're an absolute real one for including Australia & New Zealand eshop pages <3

Click to shrink...

Only because long ago I saw someone use those direct links somewhere, otherwise I would've never known how to get to those!

Nitpick on the OP, but EU =/= UK. Love the Pikmin joke, though, haha.

Click to shrink...

EU=UK in terms of eShop pages. They're all entirely interchangeable. :)

Brazilian eShop Page.

Can't wait to dive back into this game. I've clocked like 170 hours in it, already got to 100% and I'm eager for more.

Click to shrink...

Thx, didn't realize BR had a web eShop too!

 

[Kalor]

I hope theres not more Terrako only missions after that first one. It was pretty bad since they feel so limited compared to every character. Never unlocked them in the normal game so maybe it's possible to play that mission upgraded.

 

[Morlas]

did any of the original characters get new weapons?

 

[Mimosa]

Do the story stuff make the DLC worth it or am I better off just watching the cutscenes on Youtube?

 

[Efejota]

EU=UK in terms of eShop pages. They're all entirely interchangeable. :)

Click to shrink...

Oh, earlier I noticed that I couldn't add the pass to my wish list, but I thought it was a region problem. Turns out you can only add the game itself, at least on the website.

 

[TheMoon]

Oh, earlier I noticed that I couldn't add the pass to my wish list, but I thought it was a region problem. Turns out you can only add the game itself, at least on the website.

Click to shrink...

yea the pages are weirdly inconsistent across Europe with DLC/expansions (DLC has its own pages but season passes/expansions don't and are embedded on the main game page without wishlist options). the AU/NZ store is so much better, everything on a sleek page that points you to DLC or bundles and whatnot

 

[jtmmachine]

I hope theres not more Terrako only missions after that first one. It was pretty bad since they feel so limited compared to every character. Never unlocked them in the normal game so maybe it's possible to play that mission upgraded.

Click to shrink...

I remember Terrako definitely being a character who only shines once he's fully upgraded and gets some strong weapons.

I enjoyed Age of Calamity a lot, but its mission structure especially in the post-game fell victim to the game's commitment to being "realistic." Wherein the majority of the missions could theoretically have taken place during the narrative, unlike the Adventure Mode from the first Hyrule Warriors where anything goes. So despite having a battle system which could've made commander battles interesting, you end up instead with a lot of all-boss missions and maybe Astor showing up with a Malice copy or two.

 

[Kouriozan]

I usually pick one of my lowest leveled character when you have multiple choices, so I went into that new Kakariko map with the Great Fairies, huge mistake lmao, I failed one of the optional objective because you I couldn't pass through them.

 

[El Buga]

Thx, didn't realize BR had a web eShop too!

Click to shrink...

It's really recent, since March or so if I'm not mistaken. Better late than never lol

I miss the placeholder shop that sold codes tho. It let me buy games via bank slip (the famous "BOLETO"). =/

 

[Efejota]

I usually pick one of my lowest leveled character when you have multiple choices, so I went into that new Kakariko map with the Great Fairies, huge mistake lmao, I failed one of the optional objective because you I couldn't pass through them.

Click to shrink...

I thought they shrunk the flower in those situations. Does it have a limit for how much they can shrink then?

 

[Kouriozan]

I thought they shrunk the flower in those situations. Does it have a limit for how much they can shrink then?

Click to shrink...

I do remember them shrinking on some occasions but there it didn't at all, best way I could find was to walljump.
Maybe because I ordered them to fight someone. The issue is you have to play Yunobo as well and he's pretty big too.
Monsters appear very close to the center of the town and one objective is to prevent them reaching it.

 

[Tora]

How do you access the second pack? Do you have to make progress on the first pack?

 

[Kouriozan]

How do you access the second pack? Do you have to make progress on the first pack?

Click to shrink...

I don't know the requirements but a level 40 EX mission should have appeared, some of its story is about pff-screen events that happen in the later part of the main game.

 

[Tora]

I don't know the requirements but a level 40 EX mission should have appeared, some of its story is about pff-screen events that happen in the later part of the main game.

Click to shrink...

Thanks. Weirdly, nothing shows up for me so i'll just chip away at the first wave of DLC to see if that unlocks it

 

[Neiteio]

Might want to look at your OP on mobile, the text is jumbled next to each picture, like two letters per line. I don't usually read OPs that are just game overviews (more efficient to just ask for specific details), but in skimming this immediately jumped out.

 

[Neiteio]

Looks like this on mobile:

 

[Barrakketh]

OP looks fine to me in Firefox on Android.

 

[Kalor]

Thanks. Weirdly, nothing shows up for me so i'll just chip away at the first wave of DLC to see if that unlocks it

Click to shrink...

Has the second pack definitely downloaded? I never touched the first wave until the second came out and the second unlocked immediately.

 

[Dyle]

The Kakariko map is neat, nice to come back and play something new in Hyrule

 

[TheMoon]

Looks like this on mobile:

Click to shrink...

as the goddesses intended

sorry I never browse websites on my phone and thus never design OPs for that.

 

[Tora]

Has the second pack definitely downloaded? I never touched the first wave until the second came out and the second unlocked immediately.

Click to shrink...

Is there anyway to force a download? I'm on version 1.3.0

 

[gblues]

Do any of the DLC missions actually have any battlefield management?

My biggest gripe with the base game is that there's almost no tension around maintaining g/losing control of outposts like in HW:DE.

 

[LiC]

Is there anyway to force a download? I'm on version 1.3.0

Click to shrink...

I got it by going to the Redownload tab in the eShop. I didn't have to delete anything, there was just a redownload button already available for the DLC.

 

[The Awesomest]

What a shame that Astor won't be playable. I wanted to know how he connected to Cia, given how the two of them share some moves.

 

[Tora]

I got it by going to the Redownload tab in the eShop. I didn't have to delete anything, there was just a redownload button already available for the DLC.

Click to shrink...

Worked for me, thanks :)

Just realised I didn't have it installed because of the recent switch to the OLED

 

[Kouriozan]

What a shame that Astor won't be playable. I wanted to know how he connected to Cia, given how the two of them share some moves.

Click to shrink...

The DLC kinda show the origin of Astor being evil, so he got a little bit more presence.
BTW, fighting him he says stuff like playable characters like "I'm shocked!" when you electrocute him, very suspicious.
I don't remember if that happened before.

Edit : I have now 100% completed the game + DLCs, took me 92 hours, really enjoyed this game but I wish there was more to do, haha.

 

[LiC]

The first new mission seems to have insane drop rates from cutting grass. Might be useful if you need to farm those materials. Also, seems like they fixed the bug(?) where the bottom stable was always occupied by the same trader. There's not much left I need, but it would have been nice if they'd made it if a trader would always spawn in every stable (I'm sure some people are playing the main game just now).