Hyrule Warriors: Twilight Princess Review – The True Master Quest

Once you get into the Twilight Princess Map, you’ll quickly realize why the level cap was raised to 150.  The game’s difficulty will ramp up quickly, as enemies begin to do more and more damage.  You, on the other hand, will need to expend quite a bit of effort when whittling down enemy health bars.  Even Link, whom I was convinced actually received the Triforce of Power through some divine clerical error, was finding himself bogged down by enemy might.  Don’t even think of taking anyone below level 50 into these battles, unless you like seeing the words “Defeat” appear on your screen time and time again.  Even then, there is no guarantee of an easy fight.  Unless you are careful, you will be taken down to a quarter-heart of health in seconds.  This is, of course, bad news to any newcomers looking to see the extent of what Hyrule Warriors’ newest DLC offers.  This is really a shame, because the Twilight Map is the outranks its predecessors.

With the enemy’s increased strength, A-Rank victories become more scarce, but this latest map requires far more “A’s” to progress than its counterparts, so be prepared to repeat some skirmishes quite a few times.  Luckily, Twilight Portals, which are peppered throughout the map. can provide an alternate route in case you are in a particularly difficult spot.

While the map is only half the size of the previous two, the campaign does not overstay it’s welcome.  The mode offers a new set of adventure items to get you through secret areas, such as the Spinner, Lantern, Jar, Tears of Light, and Ooccoo (or as you might recall: that freaky bird-human thing from Twilight Princess). 

Some areas in the game are covered in a Twilight veil, which dishes out a penalty (e.g. no items, no special gauge, no focus gauge) for that particular battle.  The veil’s other major penalty is that your map will no longer read enemy positions, which can be problematic when objectives call for defeating certain officers, or when your base is being attacked. In keeping with the Twilight Princess theme, peppered throughout the map are Twilight Portals.

Team Ninja have decided to change up the formula a bit by giving out new objectives.  At times, players will be asked to take on dark warriors which multiply after some damage is taken.  Other times, you team up with one or two allies of your choice in small skirmishes.  These types of battles bring a much-needed fresh feel to the gameplay.

Aside from the map, the Twilight Princess Pack adds Twilit Midna to the roster, with all three levels of her weapon unlocked.  While the character is fun to play, I would have preferred her being an extension to my already leveled Midna, so I could use her in the map in which she was included.  Instead, she can only sit on the sidelines until I raise enough rupees to get her in the game.

We are now halfway through the planned DLC’s for Hyrule Warriors, and it seems like Koei-Temco has improved with each iteration.  However, the challenge of these fights have also escalated, so it may be worth it to play these DLC’s in the order they came out in.  If you want to put your skills to the test, and are looking for fun, new varieties of Hyrule Warriors gameplay, I suggest you give the Twilight Princess DLC pack a look.