Is Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment 60 FPS on Nintendo Switch 2?

Following its reveal during the latest Nintendo Switch 2 Direct, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment is the next new chapter in Nintendo's beloved Legend of Zelda franchise as an action-packed musou game. With the upcoming entry set to arrive on the next-gen hybrid console, there have been concerns about how the game will run. Thankfully, the latest Creator's Voice showcase from developer Koei Tecmo suggests that 60 FPS will be feasible this time around.

As such, fans burned by performance problems on the prequel game, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, can rest easy. Read on to know more.

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Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment Creator's Voice reveals 60 FPS gameplay for Nintendo Switch 2

With the previously shown trailer suggesting a 30 FPS update similar to past entries, the same was expected this time around. However, as developers Ryota Matsuhita and Yosuke Hayashi confirm in the video interview, the power of the Nintendo Switch 2 has helped them improve the experience.

This is followed by a brief snippet of gameplay footage running at 60 FPS, showcasing King Rauru from The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom game mowing down swarms of foes with melee strikes and magic finisher attacks. This does bring up the question of why all the footage showcased thus far, including sections with Rauru, has been 30 FPS.

60 FPS alongside the largest enemy swarm count yet in a Hyrule Warriors game will be amazing to behold (Image via Nintendo)

While this is speculation on our part for now, perhaps Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment will feature a Quality and Performance mode offering varied visuals and FPS depending on the selected modes. The last time this effort was seen was in Fire Emblem Warriors, another musou collaboration between Nintendo and Koei Tecmo; the title was released for the original Nintendo Switch hardware in 2017.

Alternately, the 30 FPS footage shown in the Creator's Voice video was taken from the reveal trailer; as such, it is likely that the video is still encoded at 30 FPS while the new 60 FPS footage starring the King of Hyrule isn't. Whatever the case is, we'll need to wait a bit longer to find out, however, the inclusion of smooth performance will be good news for fans.

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity was critically panned back during its 2020 release for its poor frame rates on Nintendo Switch, particularly during ambitious set-pieces like the massive, pilotable Divine Beast segments. From what we've seen so far, that problem should be gone now, or at least mitigated to an extent, thanks to the much stronger hardware of the Nintendo Switch 2.