Dark or Light
logo
Logo

Side Quests: Dynasty Warriors: Origins Review

Hayes Madsen Posted:
Category:
Reviews Side Quests 0

After playing 60 hours of Dynasty Warriors: Origins, I had a hankering for even more, and booted up some good old Warriors Orochi 3. Within ten minutes, though, I started to wonder if I’d ever be able to look at past Warriors games the same way – Origins feels like that much of a step forward. 

Dynasty Warriors: Origins is a bit of a strange beast. At its core it's the same hack-and-slash massive battles that have defined the series. But layered on top of that is a rich action RPG with an expansive story filled with politics and military tactics – putting you right at the center of everything as a silent protagonist. All of it is tied together with an even bigger emphasis on character storytelling, and tight combat mechanics that shift away from the basic combo system.  

It’s a genuine radical shift for the franchise, but so much of what the game does works so well, pushing the franchise to new heights it's never seen. It’s easy to see how the cavalcade of changes might be hard for some fans to swallow, but this is the best Dynasty Warriors has been in over a decade – whether it’s your first game or your 20th. 

If you’re unfamiliar with Dynasty Warriors, it’s loosely ( the key word being loosely) based on a famous historical Chinese novel from the 14th century called Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The story takes place at the tail-end of the fall of the Han Dynasty when the country split into three warring kingdoms: Wei, Wu, and Shu. 

This time around, however, instead of assuming the role of historically-based characters, you play as a completely fictional protagonist. While you can name this character, they go by the nickname “Ziluan.” To set things up, you’ve lost your memory with the story playing out as you slowly uncover your history as part of a mystical organization known as the Guardians of Peace, who serve as the land’s protectors. 

Seeing the story through the eyes of a single character drastically changed how Origins’ narrative plays out in comparison to past games. While Dynasty Warriors has always featured memorable characters, the actual story has always been exceedingly dry in a lot of its emotion and presentation. 

While there are elements of dryness still present, especially in lengthy military tactics conversations, presenting Origins as an RPG with a continuous narrative really adds a lot of heft and emotion. And boy is there a lot of story, with a narrative that branches out depending on what faction you ally with, letting you see the conflict from three highly different angles. 

The entire game plays out on a world map of China, where you can run around and find different cities, talk to officers, take on side battles, hunt for hidden coins, and more. Think of the old Final Fantasy world maps where your oversized characters run around a topographical area.

Outside of the map and its gorgeous music, this presentation does a fantastic job of fleshing out the scale and layout of Dynasty Warriors world. It feels more tangible and realistic now. You can see prominent locations like Hulao Gate and its massive tiger statutes jutting out defiantly while wandering past villages gives you little tidbits of story like people barely scraping by with the government’s inflated tax policies. 

Anything and everything is seen through your character's eyes, tying you directly to the ensuing war and the emotion of its events. It also feels like Origins took a bit of inspiration from Koei Tecmo’s Fire Emblem spinoffs, letting you “bond” with the series’ famous officers with little one-on-one scenes that let you get to know the characters on a deeper, more intimate level – although just shy of actual romance. Origins’ philosophy of taking you through the world of Three Kingdoms reaches further than the story, permeating the other major aspect of the game and its crowning achievement: battles. 

Dynasty Warriors: Origins

I don’t think it’s an overstatement to say Origins has the biggest battles I’ve ever seen in a video game. Still, despite that overwhelming scale, it makes each one approachable through the sheer fluidity of its fantastic combat system. Ziluan can equip nearly a dozen different weapons, with each one having the basic combo attack system, but also having some kind of unique gimmick or moveset. For example, the Gauntlet has different martial arts forms you can transition into for different styles of attacks, like the Lance lets you soak up damage when you charge your special attacks, and the more damage you soak up, the more explosive your attack. 

While you can only play as one character in Origins, these weapons essentially work as different playstyles, each with its own experience system. When you gain a level with a weapon, you unlock some kind of new feature or skill, and your overall level goes up, boosting your stats and opening new skill panels to spend points on. 

There’s a lot of customization and progression to dig into, but Origins’ combat surprisingly gets even deeper from there. You now have access to a Sekiro-esque parry that lets you blast enemy’s attacks back on them, as well as a dodge, soldiers you can command with tactics, and four equippable skill slots that use a currency called Bravery, which charges as you attack and take damage. 

All this is on top of the past elements of Dynasty Warriors, like Musuo attacks, horse mounts, and duels with enemy officers. This web of intermixing systems gives you a superb sense of progression and growth, truly feeling your character becomes a better warrior as he survives each battle. 

There are so many elements that weave into Origins’ combat, but its biggest strength is how fluid and satisfying it feels to use at all times. It’s not just a mindless hack-and-slash system, but a dynamic action RPG that requires precise timing and input, and some real critical snap judgment when you’re not wading through thousands of grunts, but fighting enemy officers. 

The cherry on top comes with the actual battle design, which really leans heavily into the 1vs1000 philosophy of Dynasty Warriors. The game’s maps are impeccably designed to be extremely reactive to your individual choices, and there’s some phenomenal variation with objectives and gimmicks. On one map, you have to try to make it to an escape point by cutting through bases while the terrifying Lu Bu smashes through all of your allies on your tail. In another, you need to distract the enemy’s frontal assault while you help allies sneak behind for a pincer attack. And another forces you to strike out from the group and take down catapults before they ground your allies to dust. 

While you do have allies that can hold their own, every battle in Origins can play out a few different ways, depending on what you choose to do. You need to watch how battles play out and wisely choose where your time and prowess are best spent. But a few extra wrinkles are thrown in to help make battles feel even more epic. 

There’s a new system called Large Forces, where hordes of thousands of enemies and dozens of officers gather together, getting a morale buff that makes them dangerous as you try and take it down piece by piece. Allies can also set up ambushes or charges that you can activate, sending your army screaming down hills into battle as the camera gets a cinematic zoom-in to make you feel like you’re in the thick of things. 

Charging alongside your hundreds of soldiers is a feeling that quite literally never gets old, even after you’ve done it thirty times. What’s even more remarkable is that across 60 hours, I never experienced a single instance of slowdown, not even when there are literally over 1000 characters on-screen, countless buildings on fire, and flashy attacks going off left and right. Origins runs like an absolute dream at every opportunity, and even on a sheer graphical level this is an astounding step up from anything this series has ever seen. Reeds and tall grass sway in the wind, embers from burning buildings buzz round like angry fireflies, and 

The main strength of Origins is that these battles feel like real, breathing affairs that play out whether you’re there or not – but integrally change based on the choices you make. Every major story battle has a unique element or objective that sets it apart, but some of the nearly infinite side battles can all start to blend together after a while. Still, it largely doesn’t influence the core experience as most of the side content is designed to be entirely optional, just a way to build more experience if you want it. 

Dynasty Warriors: Origins is an entrancing experience that draws you in and keeps you with a vice grip. I lost count of the nights I kept telling myself, “One more battle,” until it was four in the morning. There are small niggling issues here and there; I’d have preferred one or two more weapons, the storytelling still gets dry occasionally and cam suffer from slow pacing, and it’d be nice to have more visual customization for Ziluan. 

But Dynasty Warriors: Origins is such a success on the levels that really matter, an emotionally resonant story and unforgettable battles, that it hardly matters. It’s a game that both gets back to the basics of what makes a Dynasty Warriors game, while also striking out into new uncharted territory. If Dynasty Warriors 9 felt like a whimper that could end the franchise, Origins is a resounding shout that says it isn’t going anywhere just yet. 

Full Disclosure: A copy was provided by PR for the purposes of this review. Reviewed on PlayStation 5.

9.0 Amazing
Pros
  • More intimate story that shows a new side for returning players, and is easy to get into for newcomers
  • Fluid combat system with a lot of variation and satisfying progression
  • Massive battles that each feel unique and challening
  • Gorgeous graphical presentation, supported by an eclectic soundtrack that mixes hard rock and orchestral pieces
Cons
  • Story can be a bit dry and poorly-paced at times
  • One or two additional weapons could have helped with variation, especially in the endgame



Because everyone needs a break from the main quest sometimes. Side Quests is MMORPG's new general gaming column. While we love MMOs here, we do sometimes need a break from the grind and try other things. Side Quests is our place to talk about those things. Join us on a little side quest, won't you?


Solfleet

Hayes Madsen

A connoisseur of all things RPG related, and always looks for the deeper meaning in gaming. His love of Gundam is only matched by his love of Pizza.