Dynasty Warriors: Origins returns to the roots of the series

Dynasty Warriors: Origins (DW:O) is Koei Tecmo’s tenth mainline entry in the long-running action hack-and-slash series based upon the Romance of the Three Kingdoms novel. While the ninth title made some changes to the formula which were very divisive among the fan base, DW:O hopes to bring people back by stripping everything back to basics and concentrating on what works.

The biggest change comes with the playable character(s). Gone is the massive roster, leaving us with a nameless warrior who is new to the series. They are known as a Guardian of Peace and have all the RPG main character tropes. Amnesic? Check. Stoic and quiet? Check. Village burnt down? You get the idea.

To add variety, the Guardian is trained in all weapon types so the gameplay doesn’t get stale and rather than level up, you get weapon proficiency which gives you a sense of progression. I found this a welcome change as levelling up the different weapon archetypes was less taxing than having to level up all the various warriors of past games, which numbered up to 94 in previous titles.

The one vs one thousand gameplay is still here and feels tighter than ever. Simple combos can be performed with a combination of light and heavy attacks, holding a trigger and a face button gives access to “battle arts”, powerful attacks that can clear the immediate area and, of course, the “Musou” attacks which will devastate low-ranking soldiers.

Officers now have a mechanic called fortitude which is represented by shield icons above their health bar. While they still take regular damage if you break their “fortitude”, they will be left temporarily open for a devastating attack or a flashy finisher.

A parry mechanic is also first introduced in the series. Like many other games, hitting block just as an attack lands will leave a combatant open for a counterattack.

In certain battles, a group of officers can combine their units to make what the game calls a “large force”. These can act as a boss battle as they require more than just diving into the fray. You can rally your troops and form a special charge, leading units just like the Knights of Rohan in Lord of the Rings breaking through the front lines. Enemy or friendly officers can charge special attacks during these large force fights and if you complete the on-screen bonus objective you can either help or hinder this attack.

During prolonged battles, the morale of your army can change the fight drastically. Keep on the offensive and the enemy’s fighting spirit can be broken making officers easier to take down, but this can also be applied to yourself if the fight goes against you. Luckily continuing from a failure state is made painless as Dynasty Warriors: Origins keeps track of your progress during a battle so if you do fail you can “rewind” to a previous state like the game kept a save of your progress rather than a generic checkpoint system.

Unique to Dynasty Warriors: Origins is the Guardian’s special ability “Eyes of the Sacred Bird” which allows you to “see the flow of battle”. When activated this ability can pause the action and you can see enemy troops, officer lifebars, major conflicts and which way the battle is going. This is also used early as a plot device but soon becomes a regular piece of your move kit.

Later in the game, you gain access to troops of your own who will follow you around the battlefield and you can assign troop maneuvers like a charge or a volley of arrows. These abilities charge over time and having troops gives you access to battering rams for stronghold doors or attacks to take down large weapons. Troops can be depleted in prolonged battles but are easily resupplied in captured strongholds.

Even though you only get to play as the Guardian, a lot of the regular Dynasty Warriors cast do turn up in the story and can accompany you in certain battles. You can combine battle arts with them and certain Musou attacks.

When certain conditions are met you can switch and play as these companions and gain access to their move set. However, this is timed and finishes off with a flashy final move leaving them feeling more like a special move rather than switching to the character. Not everyone is available in this mode though and is limited to three or four officers from each family. You can interact with all the officers and increase your friendship bonds with them between battles and doing so opens up side missions, extra missions and bonus currency.

Rather than the open world of previous titles, we have a JRPG-style map of China which opens up more with story progression. Roaming around you have access to towns for weapons and supplies, inns for the limited crafting, you can find rare materials and flowers and have access to side missions.

Also, skirmishes can pop up on the map. These are random small battles, usually consisting of one platoon, which can be handy for getting some of the more grindy weapon quests. These are usually things like killing “X” amount of enemies with “Y” weapon attacks.

Speaking of weapons, we get access to nine weapon types in total. Some of the more fantastical are again absent (sorry Zheng He fans, his claws are still missing) and a lot of them are staff-based. Although weapons shops are plentiful, outside of the early game, I never felt the need to use them as drops were plentiful in missions and they always appeared more powerful than what was purchasable.

After your first completion “Luan weapons” are available which are ultimate weapons in their archetype and can only drop doing hidden objectives in certain battles. Also, I did notice that the enemy had two types that were unobtainable, a giant club and a fan. Maybe they are to be added later on?

Dynasty Warriors: Origins again retells the Three Kingdoms story beginning just before the formation of the Yellow Turbans (and you may be indirectly helping them) and ending at the battle of Chibi – the formation of the Three Kingdoms. Timeline-wise this is the shortest period covered in a mainline Dynasty Warriors game but this doesn’t mean this is a short game at all!

The Guardian meets all major players helping against the Yellow Turban Rebellion and the following major conflicts all whilst his own story to uncover his past is happening. About midway through the game, you will need to choose which of the three houses you will support and the remaining chapters will solely focus on them.

Upon first completion (which was around the 33 hr mark), you can continue and restart the story at any point. So I could go to the section where the choice was made, meaning I didn’t need to replay the earlier chapters if I didn’t want to. Although I would want to as it looks and sounds gorgeous.

We have some fantastic character models with stunning backdrops and battlefields; flashy effects with special moves; weapon clashes ring in the ear; and a soundtrack that goes from traditional soft Chinese ambience to exciting guitar riffing battle music. The amount of enemies Dynasty Warriors: Origins manages to fit on the screen is staggering. Cutscenes also portray gravitas and at points feel epic (Lu Bu’s introduction is a prime example). A “true ending” is also teased, although I’ve yet to reach this stage myself.

We get a full English voice cast and, although I didn’t recognise any of the talents, it was superbly acted and directed with the authentic pronunciation of names lending more authenticity than some of Dynasty Warriors’ earliest entries. Perhaps the oddest thing was, although the Guardian is mute in all cutscenes, he is voice acted as he will chirp up in battle saying “I’ve defeated the enemy officer” and such.

I did have a few minor niggles with the game, one main one was that during battles a message would pop up and pause the game, breaking the flow. This can be changed in the options and I found myself at odds with which one I preferred. They did contain important and useful information but more often my muscle memory kept trying to cancel the message, meaning I would accidentally use a special move that would require a recharge.

Dynasty Warriors: Origins is a return to form for the series, stripping back a lot of the bloat and focusing on core combat mechanics, real-time battle strategy and the dramatic story beats of the Three Kingdoms story. Being a new original character didn’t make me feel outside the story either, it drew me in more and I felt more connected to every character than ever before. This was a game I couldn’t put down and will be returning to time and time again.