Our Verdict
Dynasty Warriors Origins takes the series’ crowd combat and visuals to the next level while plumbing new narrative depths. I’d have liked to put my own stamp on its dull protagonist, but this is still an essential ARPG for fresh-faced players and grizzled veterans alike.
I have a surprising amount of nostalgia for Dynasty Warriors. I was unaware of this before playing Dynasty Warriors Origins. This was a pleasant surprise. The last entry I played extensively was three, which feels like a million years ago, yet when The Battle of Hulao Gate popped up on my screen in Origins, I knew exactly what was coming, and I couldn’t wait.
Dynasty Warriors Origins is an ARPG hack-and-slash game set in 3rd-century AD China. It follows the story of the Three Kingdoms and involves a lot of people with very pointy weapons trying to hack each other to bits. You’ll wander a sizeable overworld map – think Final Fantasy 7 – having little chats, collecting trinkets, and looking for battles. This is the good stuff.
Dynasty Warriors’ combat is so distinctly its own that even those who haven’t played it will undoubtedly have a grasp on its calm chaos. Thousands of units flood the screen at once, most of whom are baying for your blood, and you, the ultimate warrior, must cut through swathes of them to get to your intended target. It’s known as Musou, but some refer to it as ‘crowd-combat’, which fits well.
Regular soldiers offer little to no resistance; they are the gravy to your roast dinner. I can’t tell you just how satisfying it is watching hundreds of people flying through the air each time you perform a special attack, the kill count rising sharply as you mash your buttons. Dynasty Warriors nailed epic combat long ago, and Origins is the new pinnacle of this action style.
Officers and named enemies are the real delight, though. Each fight is a back-and-forth of blocks and parries requiring you to take advantage of any opening and never let up. Most of your opponents are mere cannon fodder, so when you come up against someone (almost) equal to yourself, it hits that much harder, and so do they. Scouring a chaotic battlefield for the commanding officer, cutting a way through the crowd to get them; it feels truly cinematic.
While Dynasty Warriors Origins isn’t the best-looking action game out there, with its PS2 roots still poking out from the sides, Koei Tecmo has put immense effort into upgrading the visuals while never letting performance dip, despite combat often devolving into a whirl of color and steel. It’s impressive from front to back, and even though the campaign extends beyond 30 hours, I never got tired of diving headlong into a huge crowd, watching bodies fly like so many bowling pins.
Dynasty Warriors Origins doesn’t have a huge roster of playable characters like you may be used to; instead, it introduces an original player in the Three Kingdoms, and rather than being tied to one specific fighting style, they take on a job-like system whereby your weapon dictates your moveset.
Each weapon has pros and cons, with spears able to dispatch huge groups of enemies with ease, swords specializing in one-on-one combat, and so on. They all feel powerful and unique for the most part – even the multiple polearm offerings are different in their way. After much experimentation, I settled on the staff; I enjoyed the mix of crowd control and single-target damage – plus, the ability to sprint through the enemy ranks while whirling a big stick is always amazing.
The player character, named ‘Wanderer’ by default, is a self-insert tourist in this grand narrative. He’s universally loved, despite having no personality, and instantly becomes the favorite of whoever you choose to side with. He has no voice lines other than in combat, with a blank expression and a wry smile apparently enough to convey any point outside of that. Think Lassie trying to tell the kids that Gan Ning is trapped down a well.
You can name the Wanderer whatever you like, but this is the only real bit of cosmetic customization available; you don’t don the colors of your chosen faction, and while his outfit changes once during the story, it’s still just a generic black number. He feels a bit like what ten-year-old me would have found cool, and when you compare him to Guan Yu and his ilk, he looks dreadfully boring.
It’s a shame I couldn’t customize my character’s aggressively neutral appearance, as it would have helped me connect with them a little more. Having a blank canvas enables you to view these stories from a different perspective, which I get, but at least let me add a little of my own flair, even if I don’t get the plaudits at the end.
The huge cast of characters I met on my jollies are fairly distinct (and they would have to be, considering the sheer number of them). This clashed with the drab nature of the protagonist; The Wanderer has their own side story, not connected to the main thrust, but I was so disinterested that it felt like busywork before I got to beat Cao Cao senseless. Again.
The combat was a constant joy, however, and while the narrative initially left me befuddled due to the huge cast, I eventually tuned in and was driven forward by the story, with battles being little treats littering the path. It was a delight. After I’d finished the main campaign, I was met with an additional mode, extra weapon types, and an even harder difficulty setting. The value is through the roof, and despite the combat being quite similar from battlefield to battlefield, it’s so satisfying that I never minded another fight.
Fans of the series will love this, I feel, and for those who haven’t experienced this very specific brand of crowd combat before, Dynasty Warriors Origins is the best place to start. I’d be eyeing another playthrough right now, but siding with that arse Cao Cao is a dishonor too heavy to bear.