Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity demo is out now

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity
(Image credit: Nintendo)

A Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity demo is available now, and you can bring all your progress over to the full version of the game.

The demo dropped at the end of Nintendo's latest showcase presentation after being leaked on the eShop earlier in the day. According to Nintendo, the Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity demo lets you play through all of the game's first chapter, which should be enough time to start rekindling those fond memories of Breath of the Wild's beautiful world.

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Nintendo also showed off a new trailer for the game, which teases some of the new story beats and characters you'll encounter along the way. The coolest part is finally seeing the Divine Beasts in action, doing what they're supposed to do. They're basically giant animal mechs that were made to fight in defense of Hyrule, after all, and in Breath of the Wild we only ever saw them in the midst of corruption or shooting a laser beam at Hyrule Castle.

If you're unfamiliar with Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity (or AOC, as people have confusingly been calling it), it's a musou hack-and-slash spin-off game, developed in partnership between Nintendo and Koei Tecmo. It's actually a prequel story to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, taking place 100 years before the opening events of the 2017 game, where Link awakens to find a ruined Hyrule being ruled by Calamity Ganon. If you're familiar with the events preceding Breath of the Wild, you'll know this prequel's likely going to be a tearjerker when it launches on November 20.

For a look at all the other games set to launch alongside or after Age of Calamity throughout the rest of the year, head over to our new games 2020 guide for more.

Hirun Cryer

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.