One of the surprises that Nintendo revealed on their Nintendo Direct back in December 2013 was the reveal of a new Zelda game. And not just any Zelda game but Zelda Hyrule Warriors by Temco Koei’s Omega Force, the development team behind the Dynasty Warriors games. And if you’re wondering how Zelda and Dynasty Warriors will work together, here’s the trailer that was shown during that Direct for December:
As for the story of the game, some of it was revealed in an upcoming issue of Famitsu and the rest was confirmed by a press release Nintendo sent out. The story is that in this version of Hyrule, Link is a warrior in Zelda’s army and like in all the past games, is very close to the princess. Shia, a witch that was once entrusted to help maintain the balance of the Triforce, has grown fond of Link and even harbors feelings for him. But she is driven mad with jealousy due to Link and Zelda being so close. He turns evil and declares war on Hyrule, kidnapping Zelda in the process. Now it is up to Link and the Hyrule army to bring Zelda back. But Link isn’t alone this time. Hyrulean Captain and Zelda’s loyal bodygurad Impa makes her first appearance as a playable character.
I think that having Temco Koei give Link the Warriors treatment is a great chance of pace for the Zelda franchise. Unlike Mario, the Zelda games tend to change up gameplay mechanics and story with each game. However now that the games have an official timeline of when each game took place, I think it was getting harder and harder to keep the series fresh. That and I’ve always wondered, if the army of Hyrule Castle knew that Zelda was kidnapped, why didn’t they offer Link any help or go out on their own after her?
Hyrule Warriors is set for an August 14 release in Japan with no date set for the West. However that might change since Hyrule Warriors will be at Nintendo’s both at E3 next month.
Source: Gematsu
