Breath of the Wild’s prequel: four things we learned

More Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity gameplay was revealed during Wednesday’s Nintendo Treehouse: Live stream.

The footage showed off new features, as well as the hack-and-slash gameplay fans of Hyrule Warriors can expect from the franchise — except with a with a Breath of the Wild twist. Players will be able to use Sheikah Slate abilities like Statis to help them fight, for example.

There was a lot of information in the 25-minute stream, but here are some of our favorite tidbits:

Hidden Koroks return

Image: Nintendo

Ya ha ha! Koroks are in this game as well, hidden among the levels. The example shown on stream showed the Korok pop up after interacting with a stray pinwheel on the ground, but more are definitely going to be hiding around the rest of Hyrule.

While it wasn’t announced what collecting the Korok Seeds will do for the player, or if they will be as prevalent as they were in BOTW, but hopefully there’s a sweet reward.

Yes, Zelda kicks major ass

Rather than using a sword, Zelda wields her Sheikah Slate and uses familiar slate abilities to knock out enemies. She’ll summon bombs, drag metal blocks around, and make ice blocks appear out of nowhere. Most importantly, she takes photos with the slate that apparently destroy the enemies.

Weapons won’t break

Image: Nintendo

Players will be able to slash away freely, as weapons won’t break. They can be upgraded and leveled up to be improved and used repeatedly over levels, but thankfully you’ll never have to say goodbye to them.

There are robots

During the first part of the stream, a tiny Guardian-like robot is seen following Link around. There’s also a larger robot that appears while Zelda is on control, and it produces a series of explosive bombs. Neat.

Bonus: On Tuesday, the Sheikah researchers, Robbie and Purah, were shown in a trailer, introducing their younger forms.

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity will release on Nov. 20 for Nintendo Switch.