Few games let you blast hundreds of enemies with powerful attacks as well as the long-running Dynasty Warriors series does, so in some ways the newest game, Dynasty Warriors Origins, competes with its former incarnation. However, with an improved combat system that rewards and encourages parrying and excellent dodging of enemy attacks, as well as a greater focus on telling the story of the Tales of the Three Kingdoms novel from a fresh perspective, it made a great first impression. All of these elements were waiting for me in the fresh Dynasty Warriors game, and playing it left me feeling a sense of wonder, intrigue, and hunger for more.
Playing Origins was one of those strange phenomena where the images on the screen finally matched what my younger brain had seen while playing earlier games in the series. The bases were bigger, the forests were lusher, and the screen was filled with more enemies for me to slash and punch my way to victory than ever before. The show and graphics in Origins are the best they’ve ever been, and that’s certainly due in huge part to the newfangled hardware, but it’s also the quality of everything that’s on screen. Gone are the barren lands and mostly identical trees of Dynasty Warriors 9’s open world, repeating textures on buildings, and rocks surrounding most levels in earlier games. The world and characters in Origins are full of life, and each of them is more detailed than ever, from armor to weapons.
Moreover, Dynasty Warriors Origins introduces a fresh world map mechanic, allowing you to move between battles. This diorama-style map can be explored to find different towns where items can be purchased, NPCs to talk to, and missions to complete. I only managed to see a compact portion of the map, but I did spot a swift travel button, which means there are most likely at least enough of these areas to explore to justify the need for such a system.
Origins’ story is told from the perspective of a fresh, original protagonist who will interact with significant warriors such as Liu Bei, Zhang Fei and Lu Bu. Yes, This Lu Bu. Origins’ story, as the title suggests, also takes place earlier than its predecessors, so recognizable allies and enemies gain fresh youthful energy both in and out of combat. By the way, this fight was great. Each swing of my sword or staff was responsive, and perfect parries or dodges were accompanied by striking animations, with perfect parries giving an even greater advantage in turning the tables on opponents. Combos work better than ever when combined with special moves and other abilities that are designed to pre-empt enemy attacks and keep them off balance. Add that to the sounds of an army of yellow turbans screaming in fear and death, and the cheers of my allies as my KO counter climbed into the hundreds, and it felt like the quintessential Dynasty Warriors experience I’d been missing for years.
Some people may be surprised or surprised to hear about things like perfect parries or dodges in Dynasty Warriors. I’m ecstatic to report that those who want to push their combos through hordes of enemies will be able to do so on lower difficulties just like in the older games, but for those who want to push themselves and challenge themselves with harder difficulties, they’ll have to take full advantage of these systems. When playing in hero mode, even regular enemies removed most of my health bar, which usually only happens when fighting named generals. I put it to the ultimate test against the man, the myth, the legend, Lu Bu, who fought the entire battle on his horse until he broke his guard. His introduction is nothing miniature of what veterans will expect from him; he entered the stage as if he were the main character of the game, instantly taking out entire squadrons of my allies and causing them to scream in terror. I don’t know how he scales between all the difficulties, but on the hardest one available in my demo (Hero difficulty), I was able to trigger the second phase of his fight and get him down to below 40% before he ran out of items healing items before attacking unblockable attacks that drained more than half of my health with each hit. This battle alone convinced me to fight Dynasty Warriors Origins.
The only immediate drawback I’ve found with Dynasty Warriors Origins so far is the lack of co-op play, as this series is a staple for those who want to play online or split-screen co-op with friends and siblings. While I have no intention of completely giving up on the developers, there is at least a built-in compromise: when preparing for a mission, you can choose an allied general to accompany you, and during a mission, you can take control of them for a miniature period of time. This helps turn the tide of battles, especially if you are low on health or want to destroy many enemies in a shorter time. These generals are much stronger than the main character at the beginning of the game, and although I only activated this ability twice, I learned two things. Firstly, it was incredibly fun and gave me a great taste of other weapons, and secondly, it was clear that this mechanic was intended to be one of those that would be activated when you needed to fight all the way.
Along the way, you also gain access to various tactics, such as commanding a squadron of archers that fire arrows at your enemies. These abilities are fine on their own, but if used at the right time and under the right conditions, they can have an even more powerful effect, destroying armies and lowering the morale of your opponents. Morale has always been another element of Dynasty Warriors, as whichever side has higher morale gains bonuses in combat. In Origins, this is best demonstrated by the red armor plates of enemy generals, which reduce the damage you deal until they are removed. Once all the yellow and red tiles are removed, they become vulnerable to powerful assault attacks that make you untargetable while dealing significant damage to both the routed enemy and any unlucky enemies nearby.
Meanwhile, the customization system returns, and throughout the story, the hero will gain access to several types of weapons and skills called arts. The more you apply different weapons and arts, the more proficiency you gain to unlock fresh arts or upgrades to your current arts. To complement your weapons and arts, there are also several skill trees that will unlock things like additional item slots to take into battle or enable fresh extreme musou attacks that allow you to combine with allies to perform even bigger, deadlier moves special ones that destroy crowds and stronger enemies. At first, I only had access to one sword. Still, after defeating the general, I unlocked the ability to wield their twin pikes in future missions, which will provide an incentive throughout the game to challenge all generals in a mission, not just those designated as mission objectives.
Dynasty Warriors Origins has the potential to become the crown jewel of this iconic series, thanks to its improved emphasis on combat, customization, and improved graphics. It’s been almost 20 years since I eagerly waited to play the latest Dynasty Warriors game, but thanks to the updates and improvements I’ve seen in Dynasty Warriors Origins so far, that streak is no more. I emerged from the two-hour demo session with a renewed interest in a series I once appreciated, and I look forward to more time when it comes out in January.
