The Legend of Zelda series will branch out into new genres in 2014. In addition to the long rumored entry into the series that may appear in 2014, Nintendo announced Monday in a Nintendo Direct that a new spinoff of the franchise will be coming to the Wii U in 2014. This spinoff will mix the characters and settings of the Legend of Zelda series with the kind of hack-and-slash gameplay found in the Dynasty Warriors series.

According to IGN, the working title of the game is Hyrule Warriors. The game is reportedly being developed for the Wii U by Tecmo Koei. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata clarified that Hyrule Warriors is not an official entry into the series, but will rather serve as a crossover spinoff game. This means that the rumored Legend of Zelda Wii U game could still be announced sometime in 2014.

Hyrule Warriors will play very much like past Dynasty Warriors games. The long-running series is famous for having huge amounts of warriors who single handedly defeat large armies using flashy moves and insane combos. It is not uncommon for players to kill hundreds or thousands of enemies in a single level of a Dynasty Warriors game.

This new crossover game will allow users to use Link and possibly others characters from the Legend of Zelda series to take on familiar enemies in huge numbers. This will give players that chance to punish the famous creatures in the Legend of Zelda series who have frustrated gamers for years. Players will also be able to switch up what weapons they can use in the game, so that players do not just have to use the Master Sword all the time. Other weapons and items seen in Hyrule Warriors include bombs, a fire rod, and the familiar Hyrule shield.

Hyrule Warriors sounds very promising. It will offer fans of the series a new Legend of Zelda game to play on the Wii U while at the same time mixing up the gameplay for the series. Dynasty Warriors is oftentimes criticized for using the same formula for each and every game in the series, so mixing that formula with the Legend of Zelda setting should be a shot in the arm to the series in general.