I have vivid memories of playing an earlyDynasty Warriorsgame with childlike wonder at a friend’s house after school. Historical China wasn’t a setting I’d been exposed to before, the game’s huge cast of characters blew me away, and, growing up as a Nintendo kid, I’d never experienced a game with a loot and gear system like this. This, I was convinced, was the future of video games.
However, as time passed and my gaming palate evolved, I felt the series get stale andnever touched it past Dynasty Warriors 5. So, I was intrigued to see just how far the series had come ahead of my hands-on session withDynasty Warriors: OriginsatTokyo Game Show.
The Return To Tactical Action
Speaking to Omega Force head and Dynasty Warriors producer Tomohiko Sho at the event, I was told the game would be going “back to the basics of the series - the tactical action.” Having not played since 5, it’s hard for me to say just how far the series has strayed from what made it so fun back in the ’00s, but as soon as I got my hands on Dynasty Warriors: Origins I could feel what Sho-san meant.
The vast battlefield felt very familiar, even after all this time. Pulling up my map, I saw around a dozen points that my generals and I needed to capture before heading to the enemy stronghold. It was certainly more Dynasty Warriors.
However, while the fundamentals of the demo felt the same as previous entries, there were a couple of things that stood out to me. Most notably, the scale.
Musou gamesare known for having, quite frankly, ludicrous numbers of enemies on the screen at any given time.It’s a staple of the genre. Origins, however, makes its predecessors look like child’s play.
Inmy interview with Sho-san, he told me that the programmers set themselves the goal of getting 10,000 enemies on the screen at any given time. Itseemedlike they were successful.
Everywhere I looked, hundreds upon hundreds of opposition soldiers went about their business, doing their best to minimize the threat of my army, often causing me some kind of issue. Often, as I was heading to my next location, hordes of adversaries rushed past me in the opposite direction, presenting me with my first tactical challenge. Do I halt my progress to stop them from inevitably taking one of my bases, or do I continue my journey and trust my army to hold its ground?
Everywhere I looked, hundreds upon hundreds of opposition soldiers went about their business, doing their best to minimize the threat of my army.
The sheer quantity of enemies made the need to capture bases more pivotal and more difficult. It was vital for progression to have locations for my army to regroup as close as possible to the final enemy stronghold, but having so many foes to fight made that challenge more tricky.
Thankfully, my ‘arts’ made things a little easier. These special attacks would often allow me to kill several hundred enemies in one fell swoop, which, if nothing else, served as a reminder of just how technically impressive Origins is.
I best understood Sho-san’s vision of tactical action when I was commanding my battlefield. As well as mowing down countless soldiers myself, I could order those around me as I saw fit. If I needed some ranged support, I called in the archers. If I wanted my armies to go all guns blazing, no dramas. And, most importantly, if I needed to retreat to spare some lives and regroup, I could.
It added another welcome level of strategy into a game that is otherwise just about swinging a weapon around and slicing through as many enemies as possible.
The Final Showdown
After making my way to the antagonist’s fortress, the final showdown began, and the sense of scale I’d previously felt truly came to a head. While I’d thought there were a lot of soldiers on screen before, this was an entirely different kettle of fish, to the point where I couldn’t even begin to fathom how many there were.
I asked Sho-san for an estimate on how many enemies I’d faced during that moment, and he said “a few thousand”, meaning there was scope for things to get even bigger.
I asked Sho-san for an estimate on how many enemies I’d faced during that moment, and he said ‘a few thousand’.
During the final battle, I was invited to take part in a duel by the stage’s big bad, and I duly accepted. Unfortunately, after such climatic battles leading up to this point, what followed was underwhelming.
Penned in by hordes of soldiers from both armies, I faced my adversary one-on-one. A fairly non-tactical slug-fest ensued, with both of us chipping away at each other’s respective health bars.
While it was a grand spectacle, the two army leaders facing off in one last hurrah, it didn’t really add much, if anything, to my experience. In fact, it probably broke immersion more than anything else.
Maybe my lack of knowledge on the specifics of historical battles is showing, but I struggle to see how, during a grueling battle spanning an entire region, both sides would stop fighting to encircle their leaders while they went head-to-head. This was, however, my only major gripe with what I played.
Although I had a blast with the game, I’m not sure Origins does enough differently to suck a lapsed fan such as myself back into the series. Those who have stuck with it through thick and thin, on the other hand, are in for an absolute treat.
Dynasty Warriors: Origins
WHERE TO PLAY
Fueled by exhilarating 1 vs. 1,000 action and the rush of massive armies, DYNASTY WARRIORS: ORIGINS delivers an unrivaled sense of realism to the battlefield! A nameless hero conquers the turbulent and chaotic Three Kingdoms alongside legendary figures in the latest entry of the DYNASTY WARRIORS series.The most exhilarating action in the series’ history: Tension-filled battlefields where you are challenged by a massive, endless army as far as the eye can see. How will you face the onslaught of enemies? In addition to your own military prowess, you can fight in tandem with your allies’ armies in tactical battles unique to the DYNASTY WARRIORS franchise and experience the most exhilarating action in series’ history.A new Three Kingdoms from the perspective of an original protagonistThe Three Kingdoms story is set in the vast Chinese continent, where beliefs of heroes intersect. See how this magnificent and alluring world is newly depicted through the eyes of the original protagonist, a “nameless hero”.
