Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition

Genre: Action Brawler

Players: 1-2 Co-Op (Local Split-Screen)

The Nintendo Switch 2 Difference

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Review:

Hyrule Warriors is an Action Brawler-style game with massive numbers of enemies similar to the Dynasty Warriors games, but with Zelda characters. Oh, did I say “similar to the Dynasty Warriors games”? I meant exactly like those games. As in, this is basically one of those games with a Zelda skin.

I don’t mean that as a knock on this game though, as the Dynasty Warriors formula actually wears the Zelda license pretty well, with lots of unique, colorful characters, distinct and interesting locales, and action-focused gameplay that kinda’ just makes it feel like what you’d get if Link decided that this time instead of raiding dungeons and solving puzzles, instead he and Zelda would muster their forces and go to war with the forces of evil.

Graphically, the game works well enough, although it definitely shows its age – there’s a massive number of characters on-screen at any given time, but there’s also a lot of pop-in of enemies just appearing in front of you. The environments look okay, but not especially detailed or impressive. On top of this, the framerates drop noticeably in split screen two-player mode. If you showed me this game running without any of the Zelda series characters or content and told me it was an Xbox 360 game, I wouldn’t bat an eye.

The core gameplay of Hyrule Warriors, much as with the Dynasty Warriors series, is satisfying albeit a bit repetitive, smashing through hordes of hapless enemies while keeping an eye on the overall battlefield map to see where your powerful influence is needed the most. However, the game does manage to keep things interesting by giving players unique tasks to accomplish goals, and often requiring players to find and use a new item to get past an obstacle. Although at times this can backfire, as some mission objectives aren’t exactly clear. Also, expect to struggle with the camera on occasion, and you’ll often find it easier to look at the dungeon map than to try and keep track of your character on the main screen.

However, where the game shines most is the split screen multiplayer mode, where two players can work together or split up to cover more of the map. This game is a blast in co-op… which makes it odd that this mode seems to have been added as an after-thought. To even access it, you need to have completed the first mission, and then you need to press in the left thumbstick on a character select screen for some reason, and then you must repeat this in every subsequent level. What’s worse, the game doesn’t make this information readily available – I’ve just given you more information on how to play this game multiplayer than the game itself seems to do. Given that this is in my opinion one of the game’s biggest selling points, that the game itself makes it such a disposable after-thought is really puzzling.

Oh, and for those wondering what’s “definitive” about this version of the game, it includes all of the content from both the Wii U and 3DS versions of the game, including all DLC content. So yeah, this is definitely the version of the game to get.

In the end, despite Hyrule Warrior’s flaws and frustrations, it is still a lot of fun to play, especially if you have a friend to play it with. Plowing through massive enemies is a wonderful, visceral experience, and the game adds in enough variety to keep it from getting too repetitive.

tl;dr – Hyrule Warriors is a Dynasty Warriors-style Action Brawler with a Zelda setting and characters. It looks a bit dated and has a few issues here and there, but it’s an absolute blast to play in co-op… once you look up online how to actually play in co-op.

Grade: A-

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The Nintendo Switch 2 Difference

Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition

Genre: Action Brawler

Players: 1-2 Co-Op (Local Split-Screen)

.

Review:

In deciding to check out the Hyrule Warriors games on Nintendo Switch 2, I have to admit that I expected the big potential for improvement to come with this game’s sequel, Age of Calamity, if only because there was so much room for improvement. But I was genuinely surprised at what a difference the Nintendo Switch 2 makes for the original Hyrule Warriors.

First, let’s talk about the framerates, which are now a stable 60FPS even in split-screen multiplayer mode, one of the few performance issues I complained about in my original review. It makes this game play much more smoothly all-around, making this extra-nice.

However, what I didn’t expect was the massive improvement to loading times. Loading into the game went from 30 seconds to 4 seconds! Loading into a map went from 28 seconds to 5 seconds! I report on improved loading times a lot, but this may well be the biggest percentage difference I have ever seen moving to Nintendo Switch. Again, the original game’s loading times weren’t especially terrible, but here it feels like you barely have time to register them before they’re gone.

Is any of this transformative? No, this is still pretty much the same game as on Nintendo Switch. But these improvements absolutely make this a better way to play the original Hyrule Warriors. Definitely give it a look!

tl;dr – Hyrule Warriors is a Dynasty Warriors-style Action Brawler with a Zelda setting and characters. It looks a bit dated and has a few issues here and there, but it’s an absolute blast to play in co-op… once you look up online how to actually play in co-op.

Grade: A-

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