preview Is Dynasty Warriors Origins a revolution for one of the greatest action video game sagas?
Seven long years after the release of the last part, the flagship saga “Dynasty Warriors” is celebrating its comeback in early 2025 with an episode that looks like a reboot. It must be said that after the failure of the ninth work, the franchise really had to question itself. So is Dynasty Warriors Origins a successful new beginning for the franchise? We were able to play it for 4 hours and this is what we thought!
If you're a fairly regular gamer, you've probably played a muso at some point in your life, and maybe even without knowing it. Behind this term is We refer to a subgenre of action game, similar to Beat 'Em Up, in which the player controls a character on a battlefield facing entire armies of enemies that can be easily swept away in just a few moves. In recent years the genre has been gifted with a large number of derivative games that you surely know, such as One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4, Persona 5 Strikers, Fire Emblem Warriors, but especially Hyrule Warriors: Age of Scourge, set in the Zelda universe and who is also the best-selling muso of all time.
Beyond their genre, what these games all have in common is that they are developed and published by the same companies, namely Omega Force and Koei Tecmo. But before spawning spin-offs, these two major players in Japanese video games created the Muso formula with a series of games that became their flagship franchise: Dynasty Warriors. This saga has always been inspired by the Three Kingdoms, a period in Chinese history between 220 and 280 in which the country is divided into three camps and which marks the beginning of medieval China. After Dynasty Warriors 9, which was a critical failure, the license returns seven years later with Dynasty Warriors: Origins, an episode that looks like a reboot. Although the game is scheduled for release on January 17, 2025, we were able to play it for four hours a few months before its release and here's what we thought of this return of Dynasty Warriors.
A unique approach to the history of the Three Kingdoms
For the first time in the saga Dynasty Warriors Origins lets us play an original character. Even though he's obviously mute and amnesiac, this hackneyed video game cliché at least has the advantage of clearly introducing the history of the Three Kingdoms to those who don't know it. This is also one of Koei Tecmo's wishes, Make the plot more linear to make it more accessible to new audiences. At the same time, veterans are not penalized because their greater involvement opens up a new perspective on this history that they know by heart. Furthermore, to make this plot more captivating, We can tell that Omega Force put a lot of effort into the cinematics. From now on you will benefit from much more careful stagingwith character models that are more beautiful than ever and make immersion easier. Beginning during the Yellow Turban Uprising, the story aims to get us to know the powers present before ultimately choosing a side. We hope this promises some replay value as three truly different campaigns unfold.
So that we can follow this plot, Dynasty Warriors Origins' story mode takes place on a top-down map that can be explored like an old-fashioned JRPG or 4X. We move around freely to collect items scattered throughout this small recreation of medieval China, buy items in the cities or even take part in small battles that earn us skill points. In addition, we have a slight social dimension, as we can chat with officers between battles to get closer to them so that they can help us on the ground. Aside from that, In this story mode we play almost exclusively as the original character, while the franchise's iconic heroes can be temporarily played as they accompany us. At the time of writing these lines we do not yet know if this DWO will offer a free mode like the previous episodes of the saga to play the officers we want in each battle. But hey, it's hard to imagine Dynasty Warriors without this iconic mode!
Dynamics as a key word in gameplay
Now that we've covered the entire narrative portion of this episode, it's time to focus on the heart of the experience, which is the combat. The first thing you notice in Dynasty Warriors Origins is that the camera is closer than ever to better immerse us in the battlefield and make the action even more dynamic. With this in mind, the blowing animations have been completely overhauled to be more spectacular than ever. Really We think a lot of work went into staging the attacks to make them more impressiveespecially those End trains who defeat enemy officers. Aside from the series' signature pleasant feeling of sweeping away dozens of soldiers at once, Origins particularly enlivens the saga's gameplay with two additions that seem straight out of Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty.
This leads firstly to an evasion, which gives you increased mobility, but above all to a parry, which, if timed successfully, provokes an exhilarating counterattack. Thanks to these two elements, Dynasty Warriors Origins improves the quality of its duels, making clashes against a crowd just as effective as against a single officer. Because yes, this episode reintroduces the dueling mechanics that were already present in old works. To bring it up to date, we are entitled to a point system in the form of shields that we must break in order to destabilize the opponent and inflict a series of blows that can defeat him. An approach reminiscent of Hyrule Warriors: Age of Scourge that still works wonders here due to its effectiveness.
An experience enriched with different genres
To complicate gameplay and make it relevant over time, Dynasty Warriors Origins includes a more distinct light RPG dimension. Thus, we are entitled to a classic skill tree in which we can distribute the points as we wish, while each weapon has its own rarity, statistics and other passive bonuses as we could find in old episodes of the saga. On the other hand, This new work has in the past chosen to offer fewer weapons, with only 9 at launch, but all of which offer radically different gameplaybe it in their power, the distance of their shots or even their speed.
Over and beyond We note the presence of a somewhat more tactical dimensionwith a type of “eagle vision” that allows you to pause the action to see the troops present on the battlefield. Also note that Experience also gains in ergonomics with an option that pauses the game when there are new objectives just to have time to read them, which was often difficult in previous episodes. Additionally, you can issue commands to your squad, such as firing a volley of arrows, although we haven't seen the full extent of this dimension in our preview yet. But above all The most important aspect concerns the morale of the troops This can empower enemy officers by giving them additional shield points, making them more difficult to destabilize and therefore defeat. In this way, mastering the battlefield seems more important than ever, improving immersion even further.
More epic battles thanks to a real visual gap
In addition to all these elements that put the series back on a good foundation, Dynasty Warriors Origins feels like the saga has reached a new level from a visual standpoint. While the license was known for having a certain graphical lag, this new episode finally seems to be up to date without being one of the most beautiful games of all time. And then, thanks to the power of current consoles, The franchise can present so many enemies that live up to its ambitions while still giving them believable behavior. In the past we were used to facing dozens of fairly passive enemies, but now they are as numerous as they are aggressive, making the battles more immersive and satisfying because of the challenge they offer.
Origins even allows for epic shots by moving the camera backwards to show the full extent of the battles. In fact, we sometimes feel like we're reliving the Helm's Deep scene from The Lord of the Rings when we see a cavalry charge charging at full speed into an allied army. And then, when we arrive at a crucial moment in the fight, the game often gives us a certain number of timed objectives to complete in order to gain the upper hand, adding to that heady sense of urgency. However, It must be acknowledged that certain flaws inherent to the genre and the series still exist, namely lack of readability and camera problems when there are too many people on the screen. But that's exactly what makes the saga so charming!
No impressions
With Origins, Dynasty Warriors seems to be starting on the best possible footing to make us forget the ninth episode and satisfy both new players and veterans. This reboot-style work is more impressive than ever, offering epic battles with gameplay that gains momentum to be as effective against an army as in a duel. If the experience goes even further into excess, it also benefits from a slightly lighter RPG and tactical dimension than before and, above all, from better thought-out ergonomics. And then there is the rather linear but promising campaign mode, with which Dynasty Warriors Origins should allow all viewers to discover the history of the Three Kingdoms in a new light. See you on January 17th to see if Dynasty Warriors Origins is as exciting as the preview showed.
Editorial opinion
Exciting
Table of Contents
