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Dynasty Warriors: Origins – Review

When it comes to providing players with a power trip, no video game franchise comes close to that of musou – the Japanese word for “unmatched” – games, a name aptly given to Koei Tecmo’s Warriors series, a string of third-person action titles featuring its genre staple “1 vs 1,000” gameplay system that pits players against literal hordes of enemies where every blow can wipe out hundreds of foes at once.

Dynasty Warriors Origins

Set against the backdrop of two main historical themes, the Warriors series is divided between Samurai Warriors, which follows the Sengoku period of Japanese history, and Dynasty Warriors, based on Romance of the Three Kingdoms, a 14th-century historical novel romanticising China’s history from 220 to 280 AD. 

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Despite having 14 numbered mainline titles across the two series since 1997, the Warriors franchise has struggled to leave an impact, especially among Western audiences, due to its simplistic, often monotonous core gameplay that prioritises spectacle over depth. Developer Omega Force hopes to change that with Dynasty Warriors: Origins, the tenth mainline entry in the series and its first Warriors title built from the ground up for current-generation consoles and hardware.

As its name suggests, the title follows the origins of the three kingdoms, providing both a new coat of paint and a host of gameplay additions and changes. Unlike prior games like 2013’s Dynasty Warriors 8, which covers events up to 280 AD, Origins spans a compressed timeline, playing through the events from the rise of the Yellow Turban Rebellion (184 AD) to the Battle of Chibi (208 AD) – a pivotal point subsequently leading to the formation of the three kingdoms. The biggest difference, though, is that instead of playing as various historical figures like Cao Cao, Liu Bei or Sun Quan, it places players solely in the shoes of the Wanderer, a travelling warrior with amnesia who rises the ranks alongside the three major opposing factions of the time, Shu, Wu, and Wei.

As a mysterious “Guardian of Peace”, a member of a warrior group with the goal of eliminating chaos, the Wanderer initially represents a neutral party among the warring kingdoms and setting the stage for him to participate in iconic battles, which should ring familiar for series veterans, such as the Yellow Turban Rebellion and the Battle of Hu Lao Gate.

With its newly focused period, the game offers a more in-depth look at the prominent figures of the time. Players will be able to form deeper relationships with iconic characters from history like never before, learning each faction’s ideologies and most importantly, their motivations behind taking part in the war. Learning each faction’s goals is especially pertinent, as players will eventually need to side with one of the three kingdoms, locking them into its associated story path – neutral beginnings notwithstanding. 

Despite the heavier emphasis on character interaction, its story is let down by unremarkable writing and poor English voice acting. The default English voice-overs are rooted in an awful mishmash of monotone line delivery, perplexing random pauses in between words, and most egregiously, a total mispronunciation of the names of its iconic characters, with Lu Bu and Sun Shangxiang being the worst offenders. Luckily, there is an option to choose between English and Japanese voice-overs, and the latter does sound far more natural in comparison, although it brings the downside of having to read subtitles and potentially missing out on the action occurring on-screen.

It’s fortunate then, that the enjoyment of Dynasty Warriors: Origins, much like all prior games in the franchise, stems not from its story, but from its gameplay and large-scale warfare action, and to this end, the title provides an engaging, if albeit vastly different, hack-and-slash experience. Gone is the open-world gimmick of the previous title, with the forthcoming outing revisiting its roots and presenting a series of battles set on moderately sized maps. 

To traverse between each level, it makes use of an overworld map that players can freely explore, with locations such as towns where they can purchase items and weapons, characters whom they can speak to and advance the story, or collectables to find for equipment upgrading. Apart from major story missions, the player will also be able to participate in optional side quests like small-scaled Skirmishes and medium-scaled Battles, each with their own rewards for completion.

Boasting familiar and fresh gameplay systems in place, battling is where the game comes alive. Similar to its predecessors, each level revolves around its associated victory and defeat conditions, usually boiling down to defeating a certain enemy commander or escorting a character to a point on the map. As the level progresses, combat zones appear throughout the map – battles of attrition between the opposing sides that can occur at either enemy or friendly bases, or out in the open – and it’s up to the player to decide which fights to take part in to tilt the battle in their favour. 

With the player controlling primarily the Wanderer, the game’s progression systems have also been adjusted to suit the change to a singular character. Players have access to nine weapons in total, each acquired throughout the game, and pick their weapon of choice before heading into battle. Even though this might seem like a huge step down from before, the biggest difference here is that each weapon not only has its individual move set, but also a unique playstyle. 

While one-handed swords play out like typical Dynasty Warriors affair, enabling different combos depending on the combination of light and heavy attacks, the other eight function vastly differently. Guantlets, for example, revolve around entering different stances with the heavy attack button, allowing for powerful follow-up attacks, while Wheels work by throwing the weapons outward like a boomerang and timing the heavy attack key just as they return to perform a finishing blow.

Using each of the nine weapons also ties into the game’s new progression system, which replaces the simple experience point progression of the past. Here, using weapons in battle generates proficiency points that go toward levelling them up gradually, allowing new moves to be unlocked per level and including a “Rank” point to raise the Wanderer’s level. As the player levels up, different skill trees are gained, where they can purchase passive bonuses or additional skills using skill points, earned via defeating enemies or fulfilling challenges provided by officers on the overworld map. The various progression mechanics may seem overwhelming, but they ultimately boil down to the efficient use of each of the nine weapons, encouraging players to try out and use all of them equally to quickly gain levels.

When it comes to moment-to-moment combat, Dynasty Warriors: Origins feels like a mix of its eighth and ninth entry, supplementing the aforementioned weapon combos with weapon-specific skills known as Battle Arts, powerful abilities that require Bravery, a mana-esque meter gained by landing attacks. Apart from weapon progression, these abilities can be bought at shops or found via overworld exploration. Musou and Rage attacks also return as devastating blows that can wipe out hundreds of enemies at once to turn the tide, remaining a sight to behold.

Each enemy cluster encountered throughout the level consists of large groups of fodder, weak soldiers that the player can usually dispatch with a few strikes, and named foes, commanders who require more effort to defeat. A new addition to the series, each commander now possesses a Fortitude bar, which serves as an armour level of sorts that the player can break through using the new parry system, done by blocking attacks at the last moment. Once parried, the opponent’s Fortitude can be whittled down via standard light and heavy attacks, and when it’s fully depleted, the enemy will enter a stunned state and enable an Assault, either killing them outright if they are on low health, or dealing massive damage.

Not all attacks can be blocked or parried, however, as the game also introduces three other types, each indicated by a coloured outline. Glowing orange attacks must be countered by using a special category of Battle Arts, white attacks are countered by any Battle Art, and red ones cannot be blocked and must be avoided. When faced with an especially powerful foe, a Duel opportunity may also pop up, providing a timed one-on-one battle where studying attack patterns becomes even more paramount to victory. With the addition of these systems, combat becomes far more tactical than in previous entries, requiring more strategy than simply button mashing. 

During certain missions, players are able to bring along one of nine iconic officers depending on the faction they are fighting for. These characters are mostly AI-controlled, traversing the battle alongside the player and lending their support by supplementing Battle Arts with a finishing strike, or enabling an Extreme Musou attack by pressing the associated button when near the officer. The swap gauge gradually fills up as battle progresses, and can be expended at maximum capacity to temporarily take control of the officer – each possessing unique Battle Arts of their own – and unleash a powerful Musou attack performed automatically at the end of the swap period.

Earlier in the game, players will gain a squad of allied soldiers who join them on the battlefield, providing support such as destroying enemy emplacements like ballistas and catapults or opening locked doors with rams. In addition, the squad can also perform Tactics, coordinated moves that can be used to both attack enemies and assist the player, like a volley of arrows, a forward charge or creating an area on the battlefield to increase offensive and defensive capabilities, further adding a tactical layer to combat.

Rounding out combat is Large Forces, arguably the game’s most impressive new feature. These are presented as areas on the battlefield with thousands of amped-up enemy forces gathered at once, an awe-inspiring formation that offers the game’s biggest challenges. To tackle the threat, players can make use of Ambushes and Charges, which are set up by entering zones created automatically by allied forces. Once activated, the entire allied army charges towards the enemy at once, either increasing allied power or decreasing that of the enemy depending on the type performed. These sequences never fail to get the blood pumping, as witnessing the clash between two armies provides some of the best spectacles from the series to date.

Once in the thick of a Large Force, here’s when the game’s iconic “1 v 1000” concept comes to life, requiring players to ultilise all the tools at their disposal to defeat the countless enemies on screen. With attacks coming from all sides, the game can get rather chaotic at these moments, but it doesn’t take away from the feeling that you are single-handedly wiping out the entire enemy army. Amid the action, Grand Tactics can sometimes occur from either side, presenting a timed opportunity to counter an enemy to reduce their army’s power or perform a special attack that can turn the tide of battle in an instant.

While these systems might seem overwhelming, they work together to provide some of the most complex and jaw-dropping combat encounters ever seen in a Warriors game thus far. With its artful blend of mindless hack-and-slash combat to tear through mobs of weaker enemies and tactical counter-based battles between officers, the game offers an engaging combat loop that will constantly keep players on their toes.

The Warriors games have always been big on spectacle and with the transition to current-generation hardware, the series has never looked better. Overall graphical fidelity has seen a noticeable improvement across the board, with high-quality textures for characters’ armour, facial expressions and movement animations, although its general art style and simple level design still retain its rustic charm. In short, Origins is Dynasty Warriors at its best visually, but don’t expect next-generation graphics for smaller elements like environmental detail.

The worthy tradeoff here is the mind-blowing increase in the number of units that can appear on screen at once. Enemy density has been ramped up to a scale unseen in the series thus far, and especially in the case of Large Forces, can present the player with thousands of troops lined up as far as the eye can see. It’s truly a sight to behold, a sensation further amplified once the player starts to mow down hundreds of foes with a single swing, and clearing out what was once a vast battlefield into nothing more than a few remaining enemy stragglers never fails to be a satisfying power trip.

What’s most impressive though, is just how smoothly the game runs even on a base PlayStation 5. Even when flanked by thousands of soldiers from all sides, the game’s framerate rarely dipped, and was barely noticeable on the rare occasion that it did – an achievement in and of itself. Kudos must be given to Omega Force for crafting such an optimised gameplay experience and defying expectations after the mess that was Dynasty Warriors 9.

Simply put, Dynasty Warriors: Origins promises the best musou game experience since the series’ previous high, Dynasty Warriors 8. Like all games in the franchise, the title places storytelling and character development in the backseat, instead going all-out on its action set pieces and, of course, its signature army exterminating core gameplay loop, which sees a dramatic step up in its scale. Dynasty Warriors is back, and now, more than ever, players can rightly feel like a true warrior of the Three Kingdoms.

GEEK REVIEW SCORE

Summary

The single protagonist and streamlined progression systems might take some getting used to, but Dynasty Warriors: Origins marks a comeback for the musou franchise, offering an unprecedented sense of scale and providing a power trip like no other.

Overall
8.5/10
8.5/10
  • Gameplay - 9/10
    9/10
  • Story - 6.5/10
    6.5/10
  • Presentation - 9/10
    9/10
  • Value - 8.5/10
    8.5/10
  • Geek Satisfaction - 9.5/10
    9.5/10