For a moment there we were genuinely worried about what the future had in store for Dynasty Warriors. Despite being a flagship franchise for Koei over the years, it began to feel starved of innovation, rehashing the same core mechanics and retreading the same old story. Dynasty Warriors 9 tried to do something drastically different with its open-world setup but this was poorly executed, leaving players to explore barren landscapes populated by braindead enemy warbands. The fact that Nioh developer Team Ninja recently did their own spin on the Three Kingdoms story with Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty also hinted at DW’s uncertain future. However, it appears that Omega Force had been biding its time, going back to the drawing board, and rebuilding its beloved hack n’ slash epic from scratch instead of tacking a few new shiny features on a much-fatigued formula.
As the name implies, Origins is a reboot, and an ideal entry point for both new and lapsed fans. At the same time, this latest Dynasty Warriors game feels like it was made for series diehards, revising and reworking just about every core aspect while layering on intriguing new gameplay systems.
For the uninitiated, Dynasty Warriors is a historical action game set in Ancient China and based on Luo Guanzhong’s epic novel, “Romance of the Three Kingdoms”. While there have been 9 mainline entries in the series, each one has retold the same story over and over albeit with shinier graphics and incremental changes to the frenzied, hack n’ slash gameplay. DW has always been about “1 versus 1,000” battles where players obliterate entire armies by hammering out button combos and special “Musou” attacks.
Despite the many changes Omega Force has made in Dynasty Warriors: Origins, that concept is still at the very centre of the experience. If anything it has become more galvanised thanks to smartly evolved combat mechanics and the enhanced cinematic atmosphere of large-scale battles.
Hearing that Dynasty Warriors: Origins would only feature a limited roster of playable characters and weapons seemed like a major red flag. Dynasty Warriors 9 included almost 100 generals; a core part of the DW experience has been playing through each campaign to unlock new characters. However, this big change makes perfect sense from both in terms of narrative and gameplay.
Instead of selecting a faction and watching the events of the Three Kingdoms saga play out from their perspective, you are the ‘Wanderer’, a mysterious fighter with a hidden past who, during those early chapters of the story, remains neutral. It’s a clever change-up and one that allows you interact with various characters from each faction before ultimately deciding who to align with whereas previous games forced players to choose Shu, Wu, or Weight straight off the bat with little to no preamble.
If there’s one niggling flaw with the story, it’s the new cast ethereal characters who help the Wanderer piece together memories of his past life. They steer the game’s narrative in a slightly more supernatural directional though thankfully this doesn’t overshadow the historical Three Kingdoms timeline, giving fan favourite characters more time to shine.
Paradoxically, even though many of them aren’t directly playable, in Origins it feels like you learn more about each character through various cutscenes and other interactions. This is helped by the presence of English voiceovers. One gripe we’ve had with other games in the wider Musou franchise is the disconnect when attempting to read subtitles in the heat of battle, often missing vital information and a sense of atmosphere. Something else noticeable is the shift away from over-the-top caricature representations of certain historic figures such as Zhang Jiao and Dong Zhuo who are instead given some added thought and depth in Dynasty Warriors: Origins.
As previously mentioned, the number of weapons has also been dialled down. It was not that long ago that each and every character had a specific weapon complete with its own unique moveset and attack animations. We’re talking dozens of weapons, with myriad flavours of different swords and spears as well as exotic armaments such as Zuo Ci’s deck of cards, Ling Tong’s nunchucks, and Zhang He’s claws. Omega Force has opted for quality over quantity in Dynasty Warriors: Origins, giving each weapon class its own distinguishable depth and “feel”. Where the Sword and its strong attack combos should be familiar to DW fans, other weapons require a change in mindset. The Wheels, for instance, will send out a pair of arcing blades when performing a strong attack. After a couple of seconds these will return in a boomerang-like fashion, triggering an even more powerful attack with a well-timed button press.
While you can definitely get away with mindless button bashing on the lowest difficulty setting, Dynasty Warriors: Origins actively encourages mastery over its weapons, as well as its new combat features. Chief among these is the greatly empowered status of enemy officers. Not only do they have meatier health bars and a higher damage output, their attacks need to be countered either by dodging or parrying. Even regular soldiers pose more of a threat here, chipping away at your own health and occasionally rallying to perform unit-wide actions such as charges and arrow volleys. There’s a genuinely rewarding sense of challenge – a series’ first.
There’s also a surprising amount of depth. In past instalments it took maybe one or two battles to get the gist of how the entire game would play out whereas Origins continues to introduce new gameplay concepts throughout. For example, players can mix and match a growing list of Battle Arts and Tactics unlocked during the campaign alongside new mounts and items while also levelling up their weapon proficiency. Omega Force has even changed what players do off the battlefield. Instead of advancing to the next battle via a campaign menu, you are free to explore a vast world map, populated with shops, quest givers, collectables, and smaller side mission skirmishes.
It’s quite the visual spectacle, too. Character models may not have the uncanny lifelike detail of colossal budget AAA games, but they’re the best we’ve seen in a Musou game, some of them, including core cast members like Cao Cao and Liu Bei, ageing and changing appearance throughout the course of the campaign. Even the regular rank and file troops have received a facelift – impressive, when you consider how many of them are on-screen at any time. That said, the game’s performance remains silky smooth even during the most hectic of action set pieces.