Dynasty Warriors Origins – Review

Dynasty Warriors has become one of the most iconic games to be published by Koei Tecmo. Since the era of the PlayStation 1, this game has been using the same game mechanics in which players will face over 1000 enemies and conquer the battlefield through tactics and skills. But all of it has changed as the new Dynasty Warriors: Origins has been released. This game has changed the whole face of the series and has proven worth getting a high rating.

The Story of Dynasty Warriors: Origins is still focused on the story of the Three Kingdoms. However, instead of playing factions in this game, you are a nameless protagonist assisting various historical heroes across China. With a shrouded past and intense fighting skills, you can spread your name throughout the borders of China and become an unsung hero who helped push the era of the 3 Kingdoms.

In my opinion, this narrative format is very fresh and more appealing than the usual format. The developers have learned a lot since their last Dynasty Warriors game and wanted to give fans a better viewpoint than the usual choice of iconic Chinese heroes.

Choosing missions in the story mode is very different now compared to the previous Dynasty Warriors game. Instead of selecting missions, players will use the map interface to control their protagonist and walk across the different regions of China. Doing so will allow them to collect and farm materials needed for making accessories and unlocking new battle arts. Plus, players can find aside from main story missions, but also side quests to further improve one’s stats and skills. Interaction is an important feature in many games and Koei Tecmo improved on that aspect of development.

The gameplay remains largely the same as previous titles. It’s 1 vs 1000 but features a whole new combat system that now focuses on countering enemies and more. The combat features of Origins have changed greatly as it become challenging and fun to use. In certain situations, I have learned how to adapt to incoming strong attacks from enemy officers and various enemy tactics. For example, when headed to the enemy bases, a squad of enemy soldiers will glow orange and will signify that they will do charge attacks. It can be blocked or disrupted using certain battle arts. This added combat feature is something and I can say that it is one of those high-pressure situations where one needs to save up their energy costs. This type of feature reminds me of one of their early games that used a similar system, namely the one used in Fate Samurai Remnant.

Considering that they are using certain features similar to Fate Samurai Remnant, I could say that this moves the game to a whole new level. With the introduction of a point upgrade system to increase the stats of the protagonist and the weapon mastery to learn new skills, I would say Dynasty Warriors: Origins is properly reaching out to the opinions and voices of what DW fans want on the next-gen- consoles and that is adding more challenges.

As stated there are historical figures with which players can interact and team up through various quests. However, I noticed that the roster has gotten smaller and there is a proper reason for that. In Dynasty Warriors 9, there were 94 playable characters but now in Origin, there are only 47 characters. The reason for this is that DW Origins is a reboot of the series and since the launch of DW 9, fans such as myself felt disappointed that developers tried doing too many things in the last game, they must have felt that they needed to level up the playing to compete against other major game titles such as Assassin’s Creed, God of War, and more. Plus, I love how fresh and rendered the characters are now compared to the previous designs.

If there is one thing I feel that needs improvement in Dynasty Warriors Origins, it would be the quests and missions in the game. A problem common among 1 vs 1000 games is the repetitiveness of mission objectives, which is hard to address. Plus, I have noticed that there will be missions that will appear on the map and most of them have already been cleared. Truthfully, I am glad they are doing their best to make it appealing but at the same time, I felt a certain disappointment from it.

Dynasty Warriors: Origins overall is an excellent game to have. This rebooted version of the series gives me hope that Koei Tecmo has improved in terms of development and deliverance of what fans want on next-gen consoles. Despite the repetitiveness of missions, this game is truly worth getting and I believe that this will open a whole new challenge for the next musou games in the future.