After 80 hours of gameplay, after sinking the claws in the various contents that follow the credits and finally unlocking every playable character, we can say that Hyrule Warriors: The era of calamity was one of the most pleasant surprises of year, but if you've read our review at this point, you should have already understood. Having spent several hours in the company of the colorful cast, which has a total of twenty-three playable characters, we finally decided which are the ten heroes of Hyrule that we preferred to impersonate and we have described them in the next lines.
Obviously this is a SPOILER article that reveals the identity of some characters who meet throughout the story! Are you also playing Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity for Nintendo Switch? If so, what are your favorite characters? And what other characters would you like to see added in the future, perhaps via DLC?
1. Impa
The future old lady who will help us in Breath of the Wild was the character we preferred to play practically whenever it was possible to choose her. There are two main reasons. First: she's a goddamn ninja, stuff Naruto Uzumaki is an amateur by comparison. Second: it is relieved. Impa is one of the very first characters you will unlock, but also one of the most imaginative and spectacular. Her personal action allows her to generate symbols that she can then absorb with the strong attack for up to three: the more symbols Impa absorbs, the more illusions of herself she can deploy, and the more damage she can inflict with her attacks. At the same time, the special move will also change appearance depending on how many symbols are loaded at the time you use it, so the character offers more visual variety than most of the cast. That said, by wielding a weapon that boosts strong attack, special move, and special move bar recovery at a minimum, Impa becomes a true force of nature.
2. Link
It may seem like a trivial choice, but Link wins over so many Hyrule heroes because he is the only one who can use three different weapons, effectively changing combos and play style. We particularly appreciated his personal action when wielding a two-handed weapon such as broadswords and hammers because, although he consumes hearts that must be recovered quickly using the strong attack, the attacks in question make him invulnerable during the animation, and this means that the longer, more elaborate and complex ones will allow you to inflict a lot of damage without the enemies being able to interrupt you. We have customized three different weapons with the most suitable brands for the occasion; for example, we have prepared a "farm" spear with marks that increase the finding of monstrous and ancestral materials, while we have upgraded the Supreme Sword on the defensive side, as Link wields it along with the shield. Link is also one of our favorite characters for another simple reason: he can change his costume and wear many different clothes.
3. Sidon
You will meet Sidon as a child in the mission where you unlock Mipha but then, after a few hours, it will be the Sidon of the future we met in Breath of the Wild who will join the cast along with the other heirs of the Champions. And the adult Sidon is just a cool character. First, wield two tridents at the same time, and then ride a water shark when running for maps. And this already puts him a step above the others. We also really appreciated the way in which Koei Tecmo has integrated one of its peculiar characteristics, namely the habit of "posing" with a sparkling smile. When you complete a combo with the strong attack, a blue circle appears above Sidon for a moment: if you strike a pose, that is if you use personal action, at the right time, then Sidon will dramatically enhance the last attack. Later on, you will also unlock a further personal action improvement that makes Sidon invulnerable to imbalances, and in an instant this character will become even stronger and more fun to play as the Sheikah combos and runes, in practice, become real QTEs. to the beat.
4. King Rhoam
Zelda's grumpy dad is one of the last characters you'll unlock, but he's also one of the coolest and most fun to play thanks to personal action once again inspired by Breath of the Wild. King Rhoam fights wielding a giant claymore that deals powerful but very slow blows. By pressing the backbone, however, Rhoam instantly transforms into his "old form", the counterpart you meet at the beginning of Breath of the Wild: in this form, Rhoam wields a double-headed ax with which he inflicts lightning fast attacks in more areas. large, but also a little less powerful than the broadsword. The best part, however, has to come: if you use your personal action at the right time at the end of a combo, King Rhoam transforms into his counterpart and prolongs the combo with an enhanced final attack. In short, with a little skill, you can ring in practically infinite strings of attacks, wiping out all enemies relentlessly.
5. Zelda
The Princess of Hyrule may initially seem like a character a bit strange to use: his combos are very confusing and you have to learn to coordinate them with personal action, since the latter triggers some secondary effects, for example by blowing up the ice cubes materialized during attacks. Zelda is not a particularly powerful character, but her Sheikah runes recharge faster, so you will have access to more combinations and you can fight with a little creativity, without having to save the Sheikah runes for any counterattacks. However, towards the end of the game Zelda acquires a second weapon: the arc of light. At this point, the princess becomes a spectacular killing machine and can consume her special move indicator over time to levitate above the floor and completely change attacks, dealing far more area damage, especially to branded enemies who take even more damage. . Slap a nice mark on her weapons to refill her special move bar and complete tasks to increase the gauges to make her even more effective.
6. Mipha
The Zora Champion who has a crush on Link is also a formidable warrior, very agile and fast. Mipha fights with a trident, but this is not what makes her special, but the range of her attacks, which is really very wide, as well as her personal action that works like this: when Mipha uses the strong attack, near the target she spawns a reel; at this point, by pressing the back button, Mipha disappears and immediately emerges from the reel in question, continuing the combo in mid-air. For this reason, it makes perfect sense to upgrade his weapons with marks that increase damage in the air. One of the tasks you'll unlock after the game is over even boosts the personal action, so the Zora damages enemies in the whirlpool area every time she climbs it. Mipha also has another unique feature: her special move not only deals a lot of damage in an area, but also regenerates a fair amount of hearts. This makes her a very useful character when you can form the team at will.
7. Master Koga
We are left to discover that Master Koga joins the cast rather than his disciple , the unprecedented ninja Supa. But when we got our hands on this wacky character, we immediately fell in love with his truly bizarre combat system. Mind you, you have to get carried away to get the best results: Koga's combos, in fact, increase a special stress indicator which, once loaded to the maximum, sends the leader of the Yiga into confusion, making him temporarily unplayable, and then resets. How does it work? Simple, first of all you can complete the combos with a strong attack which however will not inflict damage on the enemy, but will allow the Koga Master to eat a banana blade and slow down the growth of stress. Secondly, once you have accumulated enough stress, you can unload it using your personal action to project an optical beam that would make even Cyclops of the X-Men envious ... and above all that does a lot of damage to enemies. Koga is a strange, funny and extremely powerful antihero in capable hands.
8. Urbosa
The matriarch of the Gerudo is a bomb in every sense: she is not just a determined, wise woman and bossy, but also an agile and powerful warrior who fights by tapping into the power of lightning. Urbosa has a particular mechanic in the form of an indicator that it can charge when you hit the personal action bumper. This gauge - initially composed of four notches that double when completing a secondary assignment - discharges using the strong attack to close combos with electricity-enhanced strikes: if you then use your personal action at the right time, Urbosa automatically recharges at least one notch , allowing you to continue fighting without stopping to manually charge the gauge. We really enjoyed playing Urbosa for another reason, though, which is that it has a great variety of combos. Some are great for hitting individual targets in close combat, others deliver directional lightning strikes, and still others fill the surrounding air with electricity. Urbosa's arsenal has several variants and therefore different possibilities depending on the situation.
9. Daruk
The Champion of the Daruna is a slow, clumsy and clumsy character who leads like the incredible Hulk. Like, literally: his special move is the iconic clap with which the Marvel hero blasts enemies through the shockwave. Playing Daruk means feeling a sense of "violence" every time you complete a combo, especially if you crumble into his indestructible Aegis to roll in the face of enemies without them getting off balance or interrupting the attack animation. Daruk's strong attacks then generate real magma mines that you can use as a springboard or that you can detonate manually using personal action, inflicting damage on enemies and interrupting their possible attacks. After the campaign ends, you will unlock an assignment that also boosts Daruk's normal attacks: from then on, they will spawn explosive lava bombs. Try to set the marks on Daruk's weapons that increase attack speed to compensate for his excessive slowness.
10. Terrako
The little guardian from the future who ends up changing the Breath of the Wild's future story is one of the most important protagonists of Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity ... but you won't be able to play him before the game is over. In fact, you'll need to finish the campaign first, and then complete numerous side missions on the Hyrule map to collect 50 specific items. Once this is complete, you will unlock Terrako - and a new cinematic for the credits - and you can play it in as many missions as you want. It's worth doing this grind because Terrako is a very funny and bizarre character: her personal action is nothing more than a laser that you can fire at any time, even during combos, to maximize the damage you inflict. The combos are also quite imaginative and have several variations that you will have to memorize to give your best in combat, especially at the higher difficulty levels. And then, albeit in miniature, Terrako is a real guardian, complete with ancestral weapons, laser beams and so on.
