With the surprise announcement of Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, Nintendo has confirmed that they are expanding on the backstory of the immensely popular Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild with a new standalone prequel. This new game, in the style of Hyrule Warriors and Dynasty Warriors, will explore the events leading up to the Calamity and the destruction of Hyrule.
While Breath of the Wild covered some of the 100 year gap that Link was recovering via memory recollection, there are a lot of important questions that this new prequel could answer to fill in or expand the story of Breath of the Wild while potentially setting up interesting story beats for Breath of the Wild 2.
Zelda's Journey
In Breath of the Wild's recovered memories, Link accompanies Zelda on her quest to unlock her hidden abilities. Players see glimpses of that through the memories, but Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity has a great opportunity to flesh out Zelda's character more and fill in the gaps of Zelda's journey. Zelda struggled emotionally during her quest to unlock the Sealing Power, which made her one of the most relatable iterations of Zelda in franchise history, and Age of Calamity could very well continue that trend.
Zelda is playable in Age of Calamity, meaning players could experience her journey to the sacred sites firsthand, so players can see what Zelda had to endure to try to unlock her power. Some glimpses of gameplay in the reveal trailer showed Zelda using Stasis, though it seems to be like the Stasis rune rather than her full-blown sealing magic. A logical endpoint for the game would be Zelda putting the Master Sword back in the Lost Woods and confronting Ganon, but this is after her powers truly unlock, so there would definitely be some room for players to be able to play around with Zelda's true skill set.
Hyrule Warriors had several different weapon sets that each had their own set of skills, so perhaps Zelda will have a Sheikah Slate "weapon" and then her true Sealing Power would be a different weapon set. Zelda's journey would all depend on where Nintendo is starting the story for Age of Calamity, though flashback missions could definitely still be a big part of the game.
The Rise of the Four Champions
The Champions' Ballad DLC for Breath of the Wild did a fantastic job at giving small glimpses into the lives of the four Champions prior to the start of the Calamity, but Age of Calamity has the opportunity do to so much more. In brief glimpses of gameplay, all four of the champions can be seen exhibiting some of their iconic skill. Urbosa is dueling the Yiga Clan using her iconic scimitar imbued with electrical energy, Daruk causes pillars of rock to emerge from the ground and explode, Mipha uses torrents of water to soar through the air to send a Guardian flying, and Rivali sails above crowds of monsters to bring down a rain of arrows.
It seems as though the Champions will all be playable characters in this story, much like how many other side-characters were playable in the original Hyrule Warriors. In the first game, it featured several branching story paths that allowed players to learn more about side-characters. In Age of Calamity, hopefully this will be used to expand the backstories of the four Champions.
While Rivali and Daruk have few hints to their past in Breath of the Wild, Mipha and Urbosa both have some interesting stories that should be touched on in Age of Calamity. During the Champions' Ballad, Urbosa talks of a growing threat in with the Yiga Clan which definitely needs to be expanded on further. She's seen fighting them in the trailer, so hopefully that means that the Yiga Clan (and their strange obsession with bananas) will be explain in the prequel. With Mipha, the biggest question fans had was regarding her relationship with Link.
Through some dialogue and Mipha's diary, it's clear that she had feelings for Link and that they grew up together. Fans desperately want Nintendo to expand that further so fans can see younger Link and Mipha together. With Daruk and Rivali, Nintendo could show their rise to power and prominence in their respective villages, as clearly both were well-respected and quite talented fighters. That is true for all four Champions, who deserve more fleshed-out backstories. Considering Nintendo is re-releasing the Champion amiibos with the game, it's a fair assumption that they will be a big focal point.
Link's Backstory
Link has almost always been a blank slate when it comes to backstories, and Breath of the Wild Link is no exception. Throughout the journey of Breath of the Wild, players can learn that Link was just a Knight serving with the Hyrule Guard up until he was chosen by the Master Sword. Link had a reputation as the greatest swordsman in the land, and could best any foe that was thrown at him. However, outside of that little is known about the mysterious silent hero. Breath of the Wild left a lot of questions unanswered, like how the Leviathans became extinct, but Age of Calamity could very well answer some of these questions.
Fans see Link in his Knight garb in the trailer, and while this may just be cosmetic, the story may start before Link is given the Master Sword - meaning that players may have a quest to go to the Lost Woods as well. If the story is set before Link truly becomes the hero, it would be great to flesh out his backstory a little more to give more personality to this fan-favorite iteration of Link,
Calamity Ganon's First Defeat
It's well-known that Calamity Ganon was defeated 10,000 years prior to the start of The Calamity, thanks to the Sheikah and their advanced technology. Then, 100 years prior to the start of Breath of the Wild, a prophecy foretold his return and the destruction of Hyrule which starts the hunt for the Sheikah tech and the Champions for the Divine Beasts. When The Calamity arrived, Ganon was prepared for the technology that the denizens of Hyrule had at their disposal and used it against them.
This implies that Ganon learned a lot from his first defeat, and that the Skeikah tried similar strategies that were attempted the first time around. Age of Calamity could use this opportunity to reveal more about Calamity Ganon, his strategies, and how he was defeated the first time. With so much unknown about Calamity Ganon, it could be a great chance to flesh out this villain a bit more.
Purah and the Sheikah
One last big point that could really use some clarification are the Sheikah. This mysterious race of people are credited with the initial creation and discovery of the powerful technology that proved essential for the defeat (and then subsequent revival) of Calamity Ganon and his takeover of Hyrule. While some Sheikah still around during the time of Breath of the Wild, they played a much bigger role during the initial defeat on Ganon as well as during the time of The Calamity.
Some characters, like Impa and Purah, would be present during the time frame that Age of Calamity takes place - in fact, one Sheikah member is seen during the reveal trailer, though we currently don't know who. Hopefully, the Sheikah are expounded upon more so their role and significance to the Calamity arc is more well known, and perhaps they will play a big roll in Breath of the Wild 2 whenever it eventually releases.
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity could be a great framework to fill in narrative blanks that were left after Breath of the Wild. Due to Link's memory loss, lots of details about the Calamity, and of Ganon himself, were lost and unknown to the player. However, since Age of Calamity takes place before Breath of the Wild, it's a great way to answer man fans' questions about what happened before Link's injury, and before The Calamity itself. It also could serve as a perfect narrative tie-in for Breath of the Wild 2 so players have a better hold on the overarching story. Regardless, fans don't have too much longer to wait before they will see more of Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity.
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity launches November 20th 2020, exclusively for Nintendo Switch.