Hylian Skirmishes. Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition Review

Our Hyrule Warriors friendship story is the main epic of the summer. Colorful advertising materials for the game promised top-notch entertainment, and last year’s experience of getting acquainted with it Fire Emblem Warriors He suggested: pour the same soup into the “Zelda” plate, and you will be happy. Excited by fantasies on the subject, I didn’t even resist when I was chosen as a volunteer to write a review. After all, what could possibly not like it there?

The hour C came, and I didn’t like almost everything. The game made a, to put it mildly, bad first impression, and further relations developed with creaking, weekly breaks, and attempts to convey the popular argument “aaaa boring” to the management. The latter, however, remained unyielding and demanded the promised text until the conditional dawn. Well, or at least until the end of summer, if everything is really bad. There was nothing to do, the banquet needed to continue.

And here’s the funniest part: the forced attempts of 15-20 minutes gradually turned into full-hour sessions, and those – into round-the-clock sitting in front of the TV. Contrary to common sense, it hooked me, and I spent much more time in the pointless Dynasty Warriors than I should have. But now I can confidently say that the game, although not bad, is mediocre in every aspect.

I want to try new heroes, at least to see their super strikes that burn everything alive within a few meters radius.

The fact that slightly more recognizable fantasy anime heroes are performing instead of fantasy anime heroes does not fundamentally change the layout. The methodology remains the same – to clash all the somewhat well-known characters from the source material and hope that the mountains of fanservice somehow cover the gaping hole instead of a plot. The local script is almost more schematic than Marvel crossover films, so there is no need to expect any interesting interaction between generations of The Legend of Zelda. They are gathered here solely for the sake of massive and merciless combat.

The standard program is executed without a hitch: there are large arenas, there are forts that need to be captured, and of course, there are thousands of enemies who obediently fly away from your touch. Considering the centuries-old history of Warriors, this achievement is not that great, but any iteration of the series’ signature gameplay is always great. The ideas laid at its foundation are just too good.

Surprisingly, the characters are meticulously developed. Unlike Fire Emblem Warriors, where many squad members turn out to be shameless “copies”, here each character has a unique move set, and if you’re lucky, an additional weapon type. The flip side, however, is that it’s not interesting to play as everyone: compared to the swift attacks of Link or Impa, for example, Agitha’s abilities seem slow and frankly boring.

Nevertheless, the roster helps diversify an otherwise monotonous process of clicking on moblins and other registered merchandise. You want to try out new heroes at least to see their super strikes that burn everything alive within a few meters – it’s an extremely soothing spectacle, I must say.

Unfortunately, apart from the beautiful combos, Hyrule Warriors doesn’t offer much. The mission structure is still unoriginal: escort, capture, defend, find out that the main villain is not the main one, kill the main villain, repeat. Fire Emblem Warriors, suffering from the same ailment, at least compensated for it with a wide range of tactical possibilities; here, the range of available actions seems limited. No duets, no clever equipment combinations, no intricately composed orders to spice up the primitive meat grinder with Triforces.

There is, of course, adventure mechanics with gadgets that certain types of enemies are vulnerable to, but it is integrated too unobtrusively and controlled catastrophically inconveniently, so in most cases it is more profitable to simply ignore it. The only pleasant exception is boss battles that use a side arsenal to the fullest and require some cleverness on top of the ability to press two and a half buttons.

The artificial intelligence deserves a separate mention, which has criminally little in common with intelligence. Companions cannot resist the enemy at all: even if you leave a whole army to defend the fortress from a lone skeleton, after a minute the screen will be filled with panic messages and pleas for help. Backtracking adds a lot to this, and many missions drag on precisely because of the need to pull comrades out of the slightest trouble.

The game is not bad, but mediocre in every aspect.

Fortunately, in some aspects, Hyrule Warriors definitely surpasses the latest installment of the series. Firstly, there is a lot of content here. The Switch version includes absolutely all the additions released for the Wii U and 3DS, plus some new features like costumes from. Breath of the Wild, so if you get hooked, 100 hours of gameplay will definitely be enough. Built-in tamagotchi with fairies, mode.crazy grindChallenges with rewards, secret characters, cooperative play, increased difficulty levels – in short, everything your heart desires.

Secondly, the surroundings here are much more beautiful compared to the worn-out counterparts from Fire Emblem Warriors – thanks to the vibrant style of The Legend of Zelda. Of course, for the most part, they are still the same empty plains and canyons, but both in terms of color palette and overall mood, they are much richer and more expressive. You don’t even need to have nostalgic feelings for the corresponding worlds to feel it.

Truth be told, even though Hyrule Warriors came to us from the past, the Switch couldn’t handle its beauty. When playing on the TV, the console manages an acceptable frame rate, sometimes even reaching the coveted 60 frames per second, but in portable mode, it’s a disaster. Every battle is a jagged mess, every cutscene feels like a PowerPoint presentation. We didn’t bother with precise measurements, but it’s unnecessary when playing is simply uncomfortable.

The Definitive Edition doesn’t even seem to have tried to adapt to the Switch’s limitations. Even if we forgive the huge performance issues, the interface in the game is so small that many texts become unreadable on the tiny screen, and what’s happening on the shrunken mini-map is simply indiscernible.

The lack of voice acting adds fuel to the fire, as they didn’t bother adding it in three full releases. Well, there is voice acting, but only for the narrator between missions – during battles, the text blocks are accompanied by annoying grunts and sighs, signaling that we’re just a step away from eye strain.

Despite all the negativity, honey and tar in the barrel named Hyrule Warriors turned out to be in roughly equal proportions. It’s hard to call it a good game, especially in light of the existence of a much more successful and deep Fire Emblem Warriors, but there is no need to regret the time spent on “Zeldorubka”. Whether it’s Stockholm syndrome or something more, it’s hard to say right away.