Seven years on from the previous mainline entry, Dynasty Warriors: Origins‘ developers have opted for a few major changes to the series, hoping to revitalise the series after a period of increasingly prevalent “sense of déjà vu and monotony”.
It’s now been 25 years since the Warriors Series properly kicked off with Dynasty Warriors 2 on PS2. At the time there wasn’t anybody else making games featuring battles of such scale or even really exploring the now well-known setting of the end of the Han dynasty and run-up to the Three Kingdoms period. The ‘1 vs 1000’ niche that it carved out has been amazing, but the slowdown of core releases and underwhelming reaction to Dynasty Warriors 9 has led to more than a few major changes for Dynasty Warriors: Origins.
To clarify. I enjoyed Dynasty Warriors 9, but it was a victim of its own ambition. The developers rapidly tried to scale and innovate on a fully-functional formula by shotgun-blasting modern mechanics like crafting, traversal and open-world into gameplay that previously excelled through (in the case of the core games) letting you move around a shopping-mall sized battlefield, beating up officers and thousands of underlings in 15-30 minute blasts.
Koei Tecmo’s messaging hasn’t ever explicitly said that DW9 was a misstep, instead focusing on how things had been a bit samey and hinting that, yeah, after 9 mainline games and vastly more spin-offs and expansions, we’re familiar enough with the setting. That’s where the “sense of déjà vu and monotony” was from, after all.
Dynasty Warriors: Origins strips back a lot of the elements that have been gradually building up throughout the series and instead slots you directly into the story as, of all things, a 90s RPG-style amnesiac outsider. Now, I’ve got to admit that I quite enjoyed the way that later entries (especially Xtreme Legends ones) gave you sheer, insurmountable numbers of officers to play as through equally obscene numbers of scenarios and battles, however there’s is an appeal to stepping in as a mascot who can bind to each of the three factions and — through that protagonist — play through the core battles (from Yellow Turban Rebellion through to Chi Bi).
What’s really interesting though, is that you aren’t simply taking a step outside of the role of a previously established character. You’re character is from a fictional faction, which justifies some of the extra powers you gain, and gives you an opportunity to interact with some of the more famed officers in different ways. It also means that you’re a blank tablet when it comes to weapons, which allows for gradual unlocking of abilities and new weapons.
If Dynasty Warriors: Origins is starting to sound like it takes a lot from 90s and early-00s RPGs, then you’re on the right tracks.
You’ll do battle and gain experience with weapons which then, in turn, allows you to level up your character and select new abilities. Most of these abilities are passives, boosting various stats but ultimately making you stronger in some fashion, however more than a handful of them are Battle Arts, a selection of special moves that you use up bravery (gained through landing strong hits) to do. These Battle Arts can break enemy officer guards (more on that in a moment), cancel their moves or simply throw you — and subsequently your enemies — around the battlefield in classic Dynasty Warriors fashion.
In many ways, the Battle Arts replace the feeling of a lot of the more unique weapons from previous games, although there are still nine different types of weapons on offer here, and plenty of Battle Arts among them.
Combat has changed substantially, although still has the same feeling of power over smaller units. Combat against officers now feels closer to Adventure or Souls games, with Block, Evasion and Parrying playing slightly more of a role. You can still, if you’ve ground your level up on random levels around the overworld map, simply overpower most enemies, however a lot of the time you’ll be alternating between blocking and landing heavy hits so that you can interrupt enemies with Battle Arts or deploy your Musou attacks to take control of the battlefield.
The satisfaction of mowing through enemies is still there, however grunts and militia are much better at swarming and will get hits in against you, interrupting heavy combos if you’re surrounded. In addition to that, Morale and Courage of officers and their troops can result in troops forming up into Large Forces, where the smaller units work in unison and have to be cleverly whittled down so that they shatter. There are also Grand Tactics, which super-charge Large Forces and need you to complete an objective in order to stop it. It’s very possible for these to overwhelm you and your allies if you’re not paying attention.
Outside of combat and character, there’s also been major structure to the inter-level experience. You’ll wander around a map between the major battles, with smaller generic, but thematic, battles pitched as encounters around the map. Between these single-objective fights and large-scale battles you’ll visit towns and villages, resting to level up, complete missions for the heroes of the age and shop. Shopping is simple, with more items becoming available throughout, but there not really being more to most ‘upgrades’ than “+1” growing exponentially, however that’s more than fine for a game about hitting things with progressively cooler moves and bigger sticks.
All in all, Dynasty Warriors: Origins is a great entry but a fantastic ‘restart’ for a series that has always been about beating up loads of enemies. In modernising combat, taking a step back from the ‘open world’ and walking back the scale by introducing a (quite bland, to be honest) protagonist they’ve managed to create something that feels more like a complete package than ‘Just another Entry’.
Dynasty Warriors Origins is available now for PC, PS5 and the Xbox Series consoles.
