Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity

 is an upcoming game in. Story wise, it is a prequel to, taking place 100 years prior to the events of that game, during the second HWAoC:.

Chapter 1
At about the same time Zelda's powers manifested in the Second Great Calamity, a small Guardian emerges from a box in Hyrule Castle. As it sees the destruction caused by Calamity Ganon, it opens a portal that will take it back in time, narrowly avoiding a laser from a Guardian Stalker as it passes through. Unknown to it, a part of Calamity Ganon's essence has also made its way through the portal.

The Diminutive Guardian emerges in Hyrule Field before the Second Great Calamity began, where King Rhoam is rallying a group of Hylian soldiers (including Link) to drive off an incoming horde of monsters. Link comes across the seemingly inert Guardian in the ensuing battle, but before he can inspect it Impa arrives being pursued by Bokoblins. She stumbles and drops her Sheikah Slate, which causes the Guardian to awaken and raise a Sheikah Tower from underground.

When the battle ends, the Guardian rushes off until it finds Zelda. Zelda notices that the Slate has reacted to the Diminutive Guardian, and discovers that it came from a future in which Ganon reawakened to save her from the Calamity. Link is appointed as Zelda's bodyguard, and the three of them head to the Hateno Ancient Tech Lab at Impa's suggestion to bring the mysterious Guardian to Purah and Robbie. On their way there, part of Ganon's essence possesses a ruined Guardian and attacks Zelda's party. Though initially outmatched, the Diminutive Guardian manages to reactivate other ruined Guardians in the area, breaking the armor of the corrupted Guardian and allowing Link and his allies to destroy it. They eventually reach the Ancient Tech Lab, unaware that they are being watched by another small Guardian.

Robbie and Purah confirm that the Diminutive Guardian is a previously unknown form of Guardian able to amplify the effects of other ancient technology. They are also able to decode part of its memory, revealing to Zelda the devastation that will occur if the Calamity is not stopped.

Chapter 2
As Korok Forest is cut off by monsters and Zelda's sealing magic has not awakened, King Rhoam sends Link and Zelda to meet with the four candidates selected to pilot the Divine Beasts. With some reluctance, he allows the Diminutive Guardian to accompany them as well.

Gameplay
The gameplay is seemingly similar to 's which is itself a based on Koei Tecmo's  series of video games, in which characters fight large armies of enemies and generals on a battlefield, with the the setting and characters originating from, specifically from. As such, it is set to be much more combat-intensive that most Zelda games, with hordes of enemies on the screen at once.

The player controls multiple characters throughout the game including HWAoC:, HWAoC:, HWAoC:, HWAoC:, HWAoC:, HWAoC:, and HWAoC: through the story, with the player being able to switch characters on the fly depending on the scenario. Most of the hordes of enemies are based on weaker enemies, like NaN Bokoblins and HWAoC: clansmen, with stronger enemies like NaN Guardians, NaN Lynels and NaN Yiga Blademasters appear as stronger single units. Larger versions of Bokoblins acting as captains have also been seen. Characters also fight alongside regular NaN Soldiers and other playable characters, and the game will alert if an ally requires assistance. The game also features multiple locations throughout 's BotW: that function as battlefields, including the HWAoC:, HWAoC: and the HWAoC: region.

The player will also be able to use many abilities seen in such as BotW:, BotW:, BotW: and BotW:. The player will also be able to use multiple elemental rods, such as the BotW:, BotW:, and BotW:.

This game takes place over 100 years before HWAoC: awoke in the HWAoC:, so locations that were shown in ruins in such as BotW: and other towns and cities will be shown as they were before the calamity.

The game features local simultaneous multiplayer co-op, allowing players to split up to complete objectives and cover more ground more effectively.

Footage of Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity gameplay from the Nintendo Treehouse live event.

Development
By mid-2012, following the reception to SS -, producer Eiji Aonuma had determined that the franchise was in urgent need of reinvention, in order for it to remain relevant. Aonuma decided that the development team would focus on rethinking the conventions of Zelda, and that this would largely center around two misconceptions:


 * 1) That Zelda games needed to be linear
 * 2) That Zelda games were strictly meant to be single player experiences

The development team tackled the notion of non-linear Zelda games with and. While both games were in development, Nintendo was approached by Dynasty Warriors publisher Koei Tecmo, whose studios had previously worked with the company on titles like Metroid: Other M and Fatal Frame, with a proposal to develop a new kind of Zelda game. The original pitch by Koei Tecmo producer Yosuke Hayashi involved elements that were staples of Zelda, such as dungeon exploration, but Nintendo fellow Shigeru Miyamoto asked that Hayashi graft the world of Zelda onto Dynasty Warriors gameplay instead.

At the time, Aonuma had been playing One Piece: Pirate Warriors, another Warriors-style game developed by Koei Tecmo, and saw the potential in a similar crossover with Zelda. Development of this game, dubbed (Zelda Musou in Japan), was completed in 2014, making it the first multiplayer Zelda game since Four Swords Adventures. In parallel, a small portion of the Zelda team also worked with Grezzo, the studio responsible for and, to develop , a three-player Zelda game for the Nintendo 3DS.

As work progressed on, Aonuma began thinking of ways to explore another multiplayer Zelda title, this time using lessons the team had learnt from the development of that game. Once development had wrapped, Aonuma approached Hayashi and Koei Tecmo regarding the possibility of developing another Hyrule Warriors title, this time set within the world of specifically. The game would depict the that had taken place prior to the events of, as Aonuma felt the setting provided an appropriate backdrop for Warriors-style gameplay, which focused on battles against large armies of enemies. Hayashi and his team were asked to collaborate more closely with the Zelda development team at Nintendo this time around, on elements such as gameplay, graphics, the depiction of Hyrule, and all character dialogue.

Limited Edition
A limited treasure box edition of the game will be released in Japan. It will include a copy of the game, an acrylic art plate, a parasail blanket, and a metal charm.