Dynasty Warriors Origins Adds New Twist to the Familiar Story (2024)

Dynasty Warriors has been around in its current style since Dynasty Warriors 2 launched alongside the PlayStation 2 24 years ago. Based on Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Dynasty Warriors games have long had the player step into the role of various figures from the historical novel and have them single-handedly kill hundreds or even thousands of enemies in a single battle. Each subsequent game added new officers and battles, with Dynasty Warriors 7 even going beyond the Three Kingdoms era with the introduction of the Jin kingdom. Dynasty Warriors Origins is taking the franchise in a different direction. Using the approach of addition by subtraction, the less is more approach is an attempt to breathe fresh air into the long-running series.

Dynasty Warriors Origins Demo Coming This Week

A small taste of the latest entry in the classic action series will be available soon.

Posts

The Three Kingdoms Saga

Dynasty Warriors games have always been a retelling of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms tales. Each successive game would add characters and build on what events were covered. Dynasty Warriors Origins takes a step back in this area. As many are aware, the character roster has been significantly cut from previous games, containing approximately half the officers that were around for Dynasty Warriors 9. The time frame of the events has also been shortened. Starting with Dynasty Warriors 7, the games expanded their timeline into the era of the Jin kingdom after the end of the Three Kingdoms era. Dynasty Warriors Origins concludes in the year 208, at the Battle of Chibi.

Dynasty Warriors Origins Adds New Twist to the Familiar Story (2)

The decision for this was to shift the emphasis in storytelling back to quality over quantity. With so many battles and officers, the details had to get watered down, as fitting so many events and characters into a game limits how much depth one can go into with them. By shrinking the roster and narrowing the timeframe, the developers are also taking a deeper dive into each character and event, giving a fuller experience in retelling the events that lead up to the rise of the Three Kingdoms.

This less-is-more approach to depth isn’t the only way the story of Dynasty Warriors Origins separates itself from the numerous games that preceded it. In addition to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms saga, a new parallel story of the protagonist will also unfold. The new warrior remembers nothing of his past when a chance encounter introduces him to Guan Yu. After demonstrating his battle skills, he quickly becomes an ally to the bearded giant. As the game progresses, the story of the new hero will unfold over the backdrop of the battles longtime Dynasty Warriors fans are familiar with. This approach is intended to give a fresh take on the story to longtime fans, while still being a good starting point where it’s easy for newcomers to learn about the Three Kingdoms saga.

Dynasty Warriors Origins Adds New Twist to the Familiar Story (3)

The Wanderer

This less-is-more approach to depth isn’t the only way the story of Dynasty Warriors Origins separates itself from the numerous games that preceded it.

The amnesiac wanderer begins equipped with a sword, but as the player progresses, more weapons and fighting styles will be unlocked. While the player will primarily control this newcomer, occasionally they'll be able to control familiar officers for brief periods of time on the battlefield. How many different weapon styles and the conditions for unlocking them at this time is unknown, but the protagonist will eventually have an arsenal of weapons and skills that are reminiscent of the familiar officers from previous games.

Progressing through Dynasty Warriors Origins seems like a middle ground between the open world experimentation of Dynasty Warriors 9 and self-contained episodic battles seen in previous games. There's a world map where a gigantamax version of the protagonist moves to towns and battlefields, also meeting with other larger-than-life versions of officers. The map of China is huge, and thankfully there are warp points that allow for fast travel without having to slowly trek across the map to reach every battle.

Dynasty Warriors Origins Adds New Twist to the Familiar Story (4)

One Vs One Thousand

It has been said half jokingly if you’ve played one Dynasty Warriors game, you’ve played them all. There's a bit of truth to this and that's why fans like these games. What's unappealing about charging into battle with the ability to slaughter hundreds or thousands of enemies on your own? Dynasty Warriors Origins doesn’t stray too far from the formula that built the franchise’s fanbase, but does put evolutionary steps into the battle system. Compared to previous games, defensive tactics play a greater role in attaining victory. Using the evade command can save the player from devastating unblockable attacks, while a well-timed parry and turn the tide on an assault by an enemy officer. Other defensive tactics can stop powerful attacks before they happen, adding more depth to the battle than simply hacking and slashing with the occasional block.

New Gameplay Details Emerge For Dynasty Warriors: Origins

Details emerge about the upcoming Dynasty Warriors game

Posts

Commanding troops is also an important key to winning battles. Battlefields are populated by enemy bases, and one of the best ways to boost ally morale is through hostile takeover. While Dynasty Warriors has always been a great power trip type of game where the player can dominate hordes of enemies on their own, sometimes they just don’t want to be bothered with it and have their troops do the dirty work for them. Unleashing commands and tactics can help get the battlefield under control without spreading the player too thin.

Dynasty Warriors Origins Adds New Twist to the Familiar Story (6)

Many fans were disappointed in Dynasty Warriors 9, as many felt that the implementation of new ideas and systems didn’t land as well as the developers had hoped. As such, seeing a new Dynasty Warriors game that also adds changes to the formula is likely to fill fans with equal parts of anticipation and apprehension. After playing a few hours of Dynasty Warriors Origins, it feels safe to be optimistic about the direction the game is taking. The elements that fans want from a Dynasty Warriors game remain intact, while the introduction of the new protagonist and revamped battle system seems to have hit the perfect mix of familiarity with a fresh take.

The changes to the battle system feel like a natural evolution of what was seen in previous Dynasty Warriors, adding more emphasis to tactics and defensive techniques while still keeping the sense of being able to dominate the battlefield. The amnesiac wanderer brings his own story over the Three Kingdoms backdrop, so the familiar events of the saga will still unfold as expected, but it'll be mixed with an original parallel story. The scaled-down roster with a greater emphasis on depth in storytelling will hopefully make the events more memorable, and if they stick the landing, open up the door for a sequel that covers the conflict of Shu, Wei and Wu after the Battle of the Chibi.

Dynasty Warriors Origins Adds New Twist to the Familiar Story (7)

Dynasty Warriors Origins is scheduled for release on January 17 for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. It'll be enhanced for PlayStation 5 Pro and the early build ran just fine on the Steam Deck. A demo for Dynasty Warriors Origins is set to launch on November 22. Hardcore Gamer will continue to provide coverage as more details on Dynasty Warriors Origins become available.