Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment is another strong Warriors title that provides plenty of enjoyment for Zelda fans and musou die-hards alike.

As I like to do in my reviews, allow me to lay out my background before I get into the specifics. I'm at something of a middle ground level of familiarity with both halves of this one. I've played and enjoyed plenty of Zelda titles over the years, and despite my preference for the adventures of my youth like Link to the Past, I think the series's incredible breadth is one of its big strengths. I've also missed a fair few titles in the mainline series – most critically here, I beat Breath of the Wild, but Tears of the Kingdom is still languishing in my backlog. Similarly, I love the Warriors games and have a deep affection for the series with a more historical bent – Dynasty Warriors, Samurai Warriors, etc. The spinoff series have mostly passed me by, save for the One Piece Pirate Warriors games.

It's fair to say I'm not a novice in either realm, but I can't readily compare this to prior Hyrule Warriors titles, nor can I weigh its effectiveness as a prequel to Tears of the Kingdom.

Still, I think Age of Imprisonment is a solid offering that brings a lot of bang for your buck. The tempo should be quite recognizable at this point: you will command powerful heroes in battle versus hundreds or even thousands of foes, with cutscenes and in-battle dialogue providing context and moving the story forward. After a battle, your heroes will gain experience, and you'll engage in several side activities: upgrading weapons, tackling side quests, fighting optional battles, and so forth. Then you'll take on the next big story mission and do it all again, unraveling the tumultuous events that lead into Tears of the Kingdom.

The real star of the show here is the moment-to-moment third-person action gameplay. There have been a lot of takes on this basic formula by developers Omega Force – all are a one-versus-many power fantasy, but the particulars do matter. For reference, I've been playing the more recent Samurai Warriors titles of late, and those tend to be much more over-the-top and lightning fast. Age of Imprisonment is a bit slower and more methodical, with smaller (but not necessarily small) battlefields. While you will still be slaying hundreds of enemies and using massive attacks to slay enemy leaders, you do have to pause and take your time to avoid being caught flat-footed.

This is mostly because of the way enemy leaders work. They usually have large amounts of armor that have to be chewed through to open them up to weak point attacks or more damaging combos. Additionally, they will use glowing red attacks that are more deadly to you, which really have to be avoided altogether or interrupted. The catch is that to interrupt these attacks, you have to use certain counter moves that will stop the attack cold and leave them open to follow-ups. Because the cooldowns on your abilities are all linked toa global cooldown and they recharge at a less-than-speedy rate, I often found myself poking and prodding until they used a red move so I could initiate the counter.

There are other abilities in the mix, too. Zonai devices can be assigned to your action buttons alongside your core abilities, but they do not share the same global cooldown limit. Instead, they use a battery charge that works like a standard fuel or ammunition system. This can allow you to still be active even while the other abilities are recharging, and can have a wide variety of effects, from element sprays to specialized bombs and more. You can recharge health and Zonai energy throughout the battle with a limited supply of items in your kit, as well as whatever else can be found throughout the map or at campsites.

Enemy leaders tend to be quite beefy. There are very few piddly lieutenants that act merely as speedbumps – they're genuine opposition. Giant monsters, powerful warriors, and the like will be active in trying to stop you and take more than mashing to put down. This is in addition to bespoke fights against unique enemies, some ranging from more capable one-on-one warriors to large-scale fights that are more akin to a Monster Hunter experience. Finding the right balance of abilities across your team of characters to be ready for whatever the enemy throws at you is a big part of the fun here.

The story is competently told and delivered. There's plenty of lore for those more inclined to dive deep into the various icebergs of Zelda continuity, and the progression of the story feels sensible. I have to admit that I was not on the edge of my seat or anything – I respect those who like wrestling with the various timelines and continuities of the franchise, though I myself do not partake – but it was sensible enough. The length of the game and time between play sessions made it a bit hard to stay emotionally invested, but of course, your mileage may vary. It certainly felt approachable for someone like myself who is not a Hyrulian Loremaster or anything of the sort.

The game's performance on Switch 2 was terrific. I mostly played in handheld mode, and I never noticed any performance drops or anything – something I could not always say for the Switch 1. Textures and models were crisp, and the varied character models were a delight to look at, providing a lot of visual variety for the game's playtime.

Despite all of these strengths, there are a few weaknesses in the mix. The more methodical gameplay requires more active participation, which is nice given the reputation Warriors titles have for passive enemies waiting to be battered by you mashing the same button a hundred times. At the same time, that resulted in a slower pace and longer levels, which is not always what I'm in the mood for when I boot up a Warriors game. The enemy leaders/bosses could also get a bit tiresome, given their large health pools and shrugging off any attack that didn't require a meter of some kind. Speaking of which, there's… a lot of meter management in this game. Between the abilities with cooldowns, team-up attacks, Zonai devices, and the way enemies will run you over if you're doing regular combo strings, it often felt like I was waiting for bars to refill more than I was fighting.

The core power fantasy of a Warriors game is somewhat muddied here. For myself, I like the feeling of being a mighty hero wading through enemy regiments. This game satisfies that quite when the enemies are humanoids. So when it's a bunch of Bokoblins or Gerudo soldiers, it's all good. But when fighting the little constructs or vague spirits, it just… loses something. Similarly, while the battles with the larger monsters are cool, the power fantasy is flipped on its head, and the system feels like it's being pushed to its limit trying to accommodate so many modes of play at once. I'm impressed that the game has such variety, but I'm not sure the combo structures and abilities work that well when facing the more monstrous foes.

The character roster is a bit of a mixed bag, sadly. While I like all of the characters on offer and think they stand out as a unique bunch with distinct playstyles, it's hard not to look at the roster and feel somewhat underwhelmed. Numbers aren't everything, of course, but the current roster is only 19 playable characters. That feels downright minuscule compared to other Warriors games. I'm not necessarily saying I expect the 80+ character roster of something like Dynasty Warriors 8, but is a couple dozen characters too much to ask? Maybe future DLC or updates can address this, and I would love to see new characters added.

I'd say these complaints are not deal-breakers, though. The fundamentals here are very strong. The game looks gorgeous and plays great in docked and handheld mode. The gameplay is thoughtful, varied, and engaging. There's a competent story here told clearly. And there's plenty of entertainment here if you're willing to dedicate the time to all the game's varied activities. In short, while this may not be my favorite Warriors game ever, it's a darn good time that I think will appeal to anyone who enjoys either the Zelda franchise or musou games.