Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition
There is so much content in Hyrule Warriors that you could play for hundreds of hours without seeing everything if you really wanted to. I have neither the time nor the attention span to commit so much to a single game, so I narrowed my focus to just the story mode, which could still constitute an entire game on its own. This mode is comprised of 32 stages across four campaigns. Three of the campaigns follow the same main narrative, just from different perspectives, and the fourth acts as a follow-up to introduce Wind Waker content. While I enjoy the Musou-style gameplay every once in a while, the game's original story is definitely its biggest draw.
Introducing a new Hyrule, along with its own iterations of Link, Zelda, Impa, and Ganondorf, Hyrule Warriors tells the story of two witches, one who is pure of spirit and one who is corrupted by desire. The latter has been fooled into helping resurrection the demon king Ganondorf by freeing the pieces of his soul that were sealed in different worlds, while the former leads the effort to stop her. The villains manage to open rifts between the worlds of Hyrule Warriors, Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, and Skyward Sword, creating overlapping spaces where familiar locations, enemies, and allies collide in one patchwork realm. Each chapter of the story plays out one of the major clashes between warring factions and puts the player in control of either a set of heroes or a set of villains. While the actual story beats aren't literary treasures by any means, it is a lot of fun to see how the recognizable characters from different games interact with one another, and I was surprised by how far off of the established Zelda formula that Koei Tecmo was allowed to go. However, while they took some risks with story, it feels like the gameplay template may have stayed a little more rigid.
If you've played a Musou game before, the gameplay here will be very familiar. Admittedly, my only other Musou experience is the other Hyrule Warriors game, but with two whole years between my playthroughs, I was surprised at how accustomed I felt to the formula right out of the gate. Koei Tecmo has really nailed down their one-vs-one-thousand blueprint, making some impressive hack-and-slash action that really makes you feel powerful but can also be quite repetitive. Battles can be incredibly tense, often requiring some quick-footed strategizing to balance defense and offense, but I soon figured out the pattern and was able to prepare my forces effectively before practically every ambush was revealed, and only found myself having trouble in combat with the boss monsters that become vulnerable only if you use an item at a specific moment. By the last few chapters, I was playing more out of a sense of obligation to finish than any real thrill, but I can't deny the fun I had when I had first started.
Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition is truly a massive game. The story mode is just a small part of the package, but it has a lot to offer for Zelda fans and is the primary reason I might choose to recommend this game to someone. The gameplay definitely gets to be repetitive towards the end, but even when that happens, success brings with it an awesome feeling of power and accomplishment. The story is also a blast, uniting a ton of familiar faces from some of the series' most popular entries while still crafting a fresh narrative that you just wouldn't find in any other Zelda game. If given the choice between this and a mainline entry in the Zelda franchise, I probably wouldn't pick Hyrule Warriors, but if I'm looking for a small dose of Zelda to play between the full experiences, this is an excellent option.
