Dynasty Warriors Origins preview: a hack-and-slash blast

Dynasty Warriors Origins does a superb job of introducing newcomers to the series, and hack-and-slash games in general.

I must confess, I wasn’t a fan of Dynasty Warriors before trying the new game. Not because they’re bad or I didn’t like them, I simply hadn’t played one to form an opinion about them. That said, I took comfort in the fact that Dynasty Warriors Origins was a game intended for those new to the series as well as seasoned veterans, and I don’t think it’ll disappoint on either fronts.

Take a look at the trailer for Dynasty Warriors Origins below

In-between play sessions I spoke to the game’s producer Tomohiko Sho, who said the goal of the game was to create something that would “appeal to existing fans of the series” but also something “that people all around the world can enjoy.” Sho-san explained newcomers to the series could struggle to grasp the story it’s telling, so the team wanted to create a game that was beginner-friendly.

As someone who hadn’t played a Dynasty Warriors game I reckon they succeeded. While I’m yet to experience the full story I never once felt like my lack of context was to my detriment. The game features characters that series veterans will know and love but with a fresh spin on them to keep things interesting. For those who haven’t played the previous games the introduction to these characters is a new and exciting experience, often shown through well-animated cutscenes.

My session involved English-dubbed audio, but personally I’d recommend switching it to the native-language setting, as while the English voice actors did a great job it did feel jarring as some of the voices didn’t quite match up to the characters on-screen.

The gameplay was fantastic though. I was familiar with the genre from playing both Hyrule Warriors games on the Nintendo Switch, something that made me wonder if the team at Koei Tecmo decided to go back to basics to capitalise on the new audience potentially discovering the hack-and-slash genre for the first time. Sho-san said: “those that have played the collaboration to the Warriors series will find this interesting, and I do hope that they pick up the game and play it but we really do hope that people that have never played the Warriors series, whether it's the main series or spin off games, would actually play this game.”

Koei Tecmo

It’s exactly what you’d expect it to be. The player carves their way through massive armies that wouldn’t be amiss in The Lord Of The Rings stories executing beautiful super moves and engaging in powerful one-on-ones with enemy captains and commanders. There’s also strategy involved as you’ll be rallying your own armies as you fight. Charging ahead without the proper reinforcements is a quick way to be overwhelmed, and if your side’s morale drops because you’re not there to help them you’ll quickly lose control of the battlefield, and potentially lose the game.

Winning boils down to working with your army and securing those small victories that bolster your forces, like taking control of points on the battlefield and eliminating the more dangerous enemies.

It was good fun and despite playing for several hours it never felt like it was getting tedious or boring, largely due to the sheer number of weapons and buffs you could equip to your character.

Player expression was apparently an important part of the game’s development, as Sho-san explained that there are “nine different weapon types, and each of the weapon types have their own kind of play style. So players can decide which weapon suits them the best, whether it’s just one weapon, or maybe several.” I did ask if he had a favourite weapon out of the bunch but he described the decision like choosing his favourite child.

In addition to weapons like swords, spears, axes and more there are several perks and skills you can equip to your character, and you acquire more by levelling up and scouring the overworld for crafting materials. Some will buff your attack/defence, others will restore health after killing a set amount of enemies, and some make one-on-one battles easier to manage. Combat expands further in the later chapters when you’re given more control of your army, like an ability that has them fire a volley of arrows at an area of your choosing but if you have enough troops.

The difficulty also felt solid as well. I played on the default difficulty and by the end of the my session I felt like I could have tackled the hard mode, but for those that would rather enjoy the story with minimal effort needed during gameplay there’s an option available for that.

I was also told the game does eventually branch out and allow the player to choose the direction of the story. This is down to personal preference and will determine the characters you interact with during the final missions of the game, but once you’ve seen one path you can go back and try the others.

Koei Tecmo

Dynasty Warriors Origins feels like a fresh-start for the series and one that’s both accommodating to new players while still providing something new for those who’ve experienced this story and gameplay before. The changes to the story make it easier to follow without losing those special moments fans will have fond memories of, and it was also said it’ll dive deeper into that story than ever before.

Again as someone who’s completely new to the Dynasty Warriors series, Origins piqued my interest almost immediately and I’m looking forward to experiencing the full game when it launches on 17 January 2025.