Musou games—essentially games that are similar to Samurai or Dynasty Warriors—have crossed paths with numerous franchises in the last decade such as Berserk and even more recently Fire Emblem. On the Nintendo Wii U, one of these musou games came in the form of Hyrule Warriors which ripped Zelda, Link and other heroes/villains out of their adventure game formats and brought them into a more hack and slash orientated experience. Even long-time fans weren’t too angry to see Link’s normal style be removed and we agreed with that consensus here at Honey’s Anime. If you’ve always wanted to see what damage Link could unleash with a more action oriented focus, then you’re going to like Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition.

Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition returns players to the musou version of Zelda that first released on the Nintendo Wii U in 2014. Players will once more take control of various heroes and baddies—29 of them to be exact— from The Legend of Zelda lore as they beat down hundreds to thousands of enemy troops. With all the DLC releases for the original, Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition is truly a definitive edition offering improved visuals, better gameplay stability and a handful of new content. Whether you’re a newcomer or a returning player, Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition offers up the same solid experience but on the fabulous Nintendo Switch. Play in docked mode or on the go with Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition.

Long ago in a different Hyrule, Ganondorf was thwarted by a hero of Legend and his soul split to prevent his possible return. However, when Cia, a powerful sorceress, lets her love for the hero overcome her thoughts and spirit, the remaining essence that is Ganondorf uses this to force her inner light out and use it to open many gates into different realities. Ganondorf uses these portals to create a new army to take down the current Hyrule and regain his power. Meanwhile, a young soldier trainee named Link is working with others to train and finds himself thrust into a war that is caused by Volga and Wizzro. Link soon realizes though that within him is an ancient power called the Triforce and that will be what is needed to stop Ganondorf’s army from wreaking havoc on his lovely Hyrule. A new hero of time is about to arise in Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition!

Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition isn’t something we need to really discuss as it’s a pretty easy title to explain. Released 4 years ago for the Nintendo Wii U—and a few years later for the Nintendo 3DS—Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition is an updated port that now allows Nintendo Switch owners to see what all the fuss was about when Link was dropped into the musou gameplay style only developer Koei Tecmo Games can do so well. After having played several hours of this port, we have enough knowledge to unleash on you readers about Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition. Is it worth picking up again if you played it before or do you need to run to your local game store of choice right this very second? Let’s find out in our review of Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition.

Assuming for a moment that you’re new to Hyrule Warriors, let’s explain what you’ll be doing. Unlike the adventure elements of The Legend of Zelda games before, Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition is all about amassing tons of kills and unleashing beautiful special attacks with a few button presses. Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition is a musou game so that right there should tell you whether you’re going to want this title or not. However, if you’re on the fence about it, we can at least talk about what we liked—and didn’t like—about our time with Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition.

Gameplay wise, players enter various battlefields which look similar to The Legend of Zelda game’s numerous settings and kill enemies as well as take bases. The only time the formula changes slightly is when a boss or a high ranked enemy appears—which also will be familiar to Zelda fans—when you have to do a bit of dodging and weaving to survive, especially on the harder difficulties. Legend Mode—the primary mode you’ll probably enter in when playing Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition—is where you follow Link’s tale as he fights against Ganondorf’s new army and proves himself to be the true hero of time. Legend Mode is a solid experience that offers up a dozen hours of gameplay alone as you gain levels, strengthen Link and his allies you gain and experience a solid story that feels pretty good for a non-canon Zelda tale.

Outside of Legend Mode, there is Free Mode, Adventure Mode, and Challenge Mode. Free Mode allows players to use any hero on maps beaten in Legend Mode to level them up and just see some other characters outside of the Legend Mode set ones. Adventure Mode puts a retro spin on Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition making the game look like The Legend of Zelda from the past—at least on a map perspective—that tasks players with exploring a large map and defeating various challenges along the way. Challenge Mode ends off the main gameplay modes by having players undergo various situations such as kill 800 enemies as fast as possible or fight numerous bosses one after another. Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition has a ton of content that will keep musou fans happy for at least 40+ hours or more.

Graphically, Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition doesn’t do much different than the Wii U version. While clearly Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition has been polished a bit more for the Nintendo Switch, there are still some weaker environments here and there. Yet, the trade off is that unlike the very laggy Nintendo Wii U version, Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition on the Nintendo Switch runs silky smooth almost 98% of the time. We only had some minor issues here and there, but it was so minimal in comparison to the Wii U version, and that was in docked and portable mode. The soundtrack also returns strong too but that shouldn’t be a surprise to Zelda fans.

Now if we have any complaints, they come in the form of the still very repetitive gameplay—which should be obvious since it’s a musou game—the split screen multiplayer and the odd returning fairy mode. Like all musou games, your enjoyment of Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition will wane if you can’t find enjoyment out of constantly hitting the same buttons over and over again to kill enemies over and over again too. Yet, this is a comment we direct towards non-musou game fans as most will still love the action orientated elements of Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition. The multiplayer, while great on the TV—split screen wise—isn’t so great on the same screen if you’re in portable mode. This shouldn’t be a surprise and it’s not like we don’t give props to the developers for including it, but if you’re looking for multiplayer here, stay on the TV screen in docked mode. Lastly, we just wish to mention Fairy Mode—a feature that returns from the Nintendo 3DS version of Hyrule Warriors—as it still feels unneeded and kind of tacked on. If you love raising a fairy and customizing it with different apparel—and need it to help you in fights—then you’ll enjoy this mode, but for most, it will be something you skip past without a second thought.

While not a whole lot has been changed from the original Hyrule Warriors for the Wii U, Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition still packs a solid punch for a musou game. The graphics have been slightly upscaled, all the DLC is here and there’s a few extra goodies within Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition to give returning players an excuse to jump back into this untraditional Zelda experience. For newcomers though, Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition is the best way to go as you’re getting all the bells and whistles for a very reasonable price. Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition isn’t perfect and still suffers from the musou game issues where it can become repetitive and the fairy mode is a bit unnecessary but this is still one of our favorite musou-like games. Thus, it should be obvious what we’re going to say next. We fully recommend picking up Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition even if you poured hours into the original like we did back on the Wii U.

While Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition might be a port of a Nintendo Wii U game—with some elements from the Nintendo 3DS version—this is a port the Nintendo Switch needed for Zelda fans looking to see Link hack his way to victory. Even if its full priced, the amount of DLC you get with Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition makes up for the price tag and actually equates to a reasonable price overall. We love that now we can take Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition with us on the go and fight tons of enemies as Link, Zelda, Shiek and the dozen other warriors in one of the better musou crossover games made in the last few years. Have you already picked up Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition or plan to after having read our review? Share with us your thoughts in the comments down below. For even more gaming related articles and reviews, be sure to keep stuck to our hive here at Honey’s Anime!