Age of Imprisonment is officially canon

The latest episode of Nintendo’s lovely behind-the-scenes series, Creator’s Voice, is here – and it focuses on Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment. The game brings classic Dynasty Warriors combat to Nintendo’s epic franchise for a second time, and we’re eager to learn more ahead of release.

Ryota Matsushita and Yosuke Hayashi, Koei Tecmo’s producer and AAA games studio head, sit down to talk all things Hyrule Warriors in a four-minute video you can see right here. The pair promise that there are “secrets hidden in this ancient world” and recommend that we Zelda fans play it, as it shows us how the Imprisoning War played out way before the events of Tears of the Kingdom.

The upcoming Switch game lets us experience Zelda fighting alongside Rauru, Sonia, and Mineru in an ancient Hyrule. This is a canonical entry to the Zelda timeline, where Hyrule had to fight off the original Ganondorf. You will need to have played Tears of the Kingdom to get what’s going on here, as the mainline game shows snippets that Hyrule Warriors builds on.

Call me a fake fan, or whatever you will, but I love Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity. I’d never played a musou properly outside of getting a ten-minute go on my partner’s Dynasty Warriors save, and boy, was I having fun. I’m not usually one for fighting games, but getting to slay hundreds of bokoblins every second? Heck yes. However, I was sad to find that it was an add-on to the Zelda lore, and not a canon part of the story. That means Link eating the rock roast from the Gorons and other whimsical moments aren’t considered real, which is kinda sad.

Matsushita and Hayashi do touch on another important point. They mention that the Switch 2 made it possible to include “lots of enemies” in the Warriors games. This was a key issue with the first title – when diving into hefty battles against a horde of hundreds, the frame rate did suffer somewhat. While not game-breaking, it was noticeable. However, it appears that the Switch 2 can deal with that by adding a higher frame rate… and plenty more enemies.

Are you planning on picking up Hyrule Warriors, or any of the other best Zelda games? Perhaps you still need a Nintendo Switch 2 pre-order, in which case, we have a guide for you.