A new Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity demo has been unleashed onto the eShop for the Switch, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity takes place 1,000 years before the first game in the brawler series, featuring much younger versions of various characters. it also looks like time travel is involved as Calamity Ganon has unleashed his hordes on Hyrule again.
Though you’re going to be mowing your way through legions of smaller and weaker foes, there are plenty of big threat stalking the fields of battle. The larger enemies like Moblins are no easy task to take down. So while you’re playing both the demo and the full game, it helps to know what you’re doing.
Is there multiplayer?
Multiplayer in this game is couch co-op only, so no internet play with friends around the globe. The brawler does support drop-in play though, making it easy to play multiplayer in Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity. To play in multiplayer mode, all you need to do is open the game map and click the left thumbstick, This puts you in multiplayer mode and will ask you to confirm. The other player must then connect a controller and you will both be dropped back into the game.
Multiplayer will put both players into a split-screen mode, but you can move somewhat independently. The mode only supports two players though. You can both run around and complete missions and take out enemies though, you don’t have to stick too close together.
Can you change between characters?
You can unlock new characters by playing the game. So far in the demo, Impa is unlocked pretty early on. In singleplayer you can swap between your unlocked roster by pressing up or down on the D-pad. Zelda can also be unlocked as a playable character.
All four of the Champions of Hyrule will be playable, as well as other characters like Impa.
Keep your guard up
Blocking and dodging are your best ways of avoiding being hit, and you will need to do that. Bigger enemies can easily kill your characters in 1 or 2 hits. And the sheer number of enemies on screen means that you’re going to want to avoid getting bogged down. You may be a legendary hero, but you’re not invincible.
Make use of your characters abilities
Each character has their own suite of special skills. Impa uses summoning abilities to bring her Sheikah techniques to bear. She can effectively create spiritual Guardians that look like clones to soak up damage. Carefully timed usage of these kinds of abilities to escape is key to victory. Conserve your abilities for when you really need them.
Keep your allies in the fight
You have the ability to command your armies in this game, as is common in the genre. You can command your heroic allies from the menu. Just pause the game using the + button to begin. You can swap between characters by pressing Y, then select various orders for each ally by pressing A to confirm the order.
Can you heal in battle?
Yes, you can, and the process is quite simple. Healing in the Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity demo is as simple as bringing up your quick menu. To bring up your quick menu press and hold the L button on the controller. These prompts that appear correspond to your four directional buttons on the D-pad. Press the arrow for the apple item and you will gain a short healing effect.
Each healing item will heal a certain amount of health. There is a catch though, you only have so many healing items. And for an added complication, healing items are shared between all your party members. So if you swap between Link and Impa, don’t expect to magically see your stocks replenish.
