In 2018, when developer Koei Tecmo announced Dynasty Warriors 9 was going open world I was skeptical, to say the least. It felt like a needless way for one of my favorite series to chase a burgeoning trend, and unfortunately, upon release, those fears found purchase with one of the most disappointing games I’ve ever played in my life. Dynasty Warriors 9 was a catastrophic misstep that completely lost the soul of Dynasty Warriors, and for a while, I worried it might put the series in the ground. That’s exactly what makes the upcoming Dynasty Warriors: Origins so exciting — it looks to be embracing what makes the hack-and-slash games so special. After a wealth of new information was revealed at Tokyo Game Show, Origins feels like it could be the game to put Dynasty Warriors back on track.
The subtitle “Origins” carries a lot of weight in the title, as this truly looks like the Dynasty Warriors franchise going back to basics and re-evaluating its entire identity. Part of the problem with recent Dynasty Warriors games is that they’ve simply gotten too big — Dynasty Warriors 8 covered the entire Warring States period of Chinese history and the rise of the Jin Dynasty, and had an absurd 83 playable characters to boot. Not satisfied, Koei upped that to 94 in Dynasty Warriors 9 and integrated open world elements that made the action feel more dragged out and less meaningful, bloated the world and story, and generally just fit awkwardly into the series’ trademark massive battles.
It’s easy to see that one of the biggest problems with Dynasty Warriors 9 was that it was simply too “big.” Too ambitious for its own good, it deviated too far from the tried-and-true formula. Origins could be a drastic course correction, with Koei Tecmo hyper-focusing on the early part of the Dynasty Warriors story, and giving players a brand new protagonist.
Origins’ story only covers a very small window in the series’ timeline, covering the Yellow Turban Rebellion through the Battle of Chi Bi (208 AD). Most of the games in the series have at least gone through the Fall of the Shu Kingdom (263 AD), but Origins is choosing to portray a specific period of time with much greater detail.
That’s a wise choice that could allow for much richer storytelling, especially considering Origins will feature branching pathways after you choose an army alliance. Dynasty Warriors games usually have sweeping stories that cover conflicts from a broad view, and it’s going to be fascinating to see what Koei Tecmo can do with a tighter focus that packs in more characterization and emotion.
Coupled with that is the fact that this tighter focus allows for a highly dynamic protagonist with multiple combat styles and weapons, as well as a smaller cast of unique playable characters. Koei Tecmo has confirmed each faction will have three playable heroes, but past that, there will be unique characters and generals that will all have different appearances and abilities. Having that small cast of playable characters likely lets the development team devote resources to creating unique battles and scenarios, whereas in past games they’d have to really commit to those massive rosters.
But it’s not just the structure of Origins that looks like a step in the right direction, it’s the dazzling combat as well. Dynasty Warriors has always used a 1-versus-100 mentality, casting you as a kind of historical superhero that can unleash attacks to cut down hundreds of soldiers at a time. That’s been cranked up to eleven in Origins, with a new gameplay clip showing someone racking up nearly 1000 KOs with a single special attack — creating a shockwave that looks like it could topple mountains.
There’s no fluff put into Origins, no need to explore a massive map or meaningless traversal elements — it’s pure hack-and-slash action. That’s not to say there’s no compelling way to integrate those kind of elements, but the best Dynasty Warriors games are all about those battles and combat. It’s about getting into a kind of zen-like trance as you take the battlefield down step-by-step.
Origins is also looking to past entries for inspiration, bringing back one of the best ideas the series ever had — the duel feature from Dynasty Warriors 4. Sometimes during a battle, an enemy general will challenge you to a duel, and this results in the thousands of soldiers on-screen suddenly clearing space to create an arena for you. No one will interfere, it’s just you and the enemy until one is left standing.
Duels were such a brilliant idea that made battles feel more dynamic in Dynasty Warriors 4 but was sadly left by the wayside in later entries. Seeing it coming back is another highlight that makes it feel like Koei Tecmo is serious about this being the best Dynasty Warriors to date, or at least the one that embraces that core vision the most.
As someone who’s played Dynasty Warriors for nearly twenty years, it’s easy to feel excited about the bold new direction of Origins — the way it feels like Koei Tecmo is learning from the vital lessons of the past. There are few experiences as viscerally satisfying as unleashing wanton destruction in a Dynasty Warriors game, and Origins gets that.
