Dynasty Warriors Origins review: Get ready to be a True Warrior of the Three Kingdoms

Dynasty Warriors Origins breathed life back into the Musou franchise, something it direly needed after the previous iteration. While I enjoyed the release of Dynasty Warriors 9, it was missing some things that the fanbase loved. Now, Origins isn’t as over-the-top when it comes to weapons and characters compared to DW8XL — but I do think there is a lot of heart and love in this game.

A few months back, I previewed Dynasty Warriors Origins at Koei Tecmo America and only had a chance to get a few hours deep. Now that I’ve spent over 70 hours obliterating tens of thousands of soldiers across Han China, I have to say — I’m in love with Dynasty Warriors all over again.

Dynasty Warriors Origins brings the franchise back to its glory days

Dynasty Warriors Origins brings players back to where the whole story began — around the era of the Yellow Turban Rebellion. However, unlike previous games, it goes deeper into the earliest moments of the San Guo Yan Yi — the Romance of the Three Kingdoms story. Instead of just one or two battles from this saga and moving on, there’s so much more to see and do.

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From the earliest days to some of the most tragic and perilous, you won't be lacking story content (Image via Koei Tecmo)

In return, this does make the story shorter, compared to previous games — we aren’t going to the Battle of Wuzhang Plains or the inevitable unification of China under the Jin faction. There are characters that, for this reason, don’t appear in the game, that I wish were.

However, you also get more at the same time since you get to play as all three factions, across multiple playthroughs. You’ll start factionless, join a faction later, and stay with them throughout the game. It would be interesting to be able to betray your faction, but that would make things entirely too complicated, which I certainly understand.

One thing that I didn’t think I would enjoy about the overall presentation, is that you don’t control one of the famous heroes — you control a relatively unknown man with amnesia. That is something that might disappoint some people, but I don’t think it will be bad.

It's so satisfying to swap in as one of the heroes and obliterate swathes of enemies (Image via Koei Tecmo)

I loved seeing their name and popularity grow and interact with the other generals of the Three Kingdoms Era. Do I miss playing as Zhang Liao? Of course, I do. You can use the Partner system to occasionally swap into the role of one of the most powerful warriors of the era, but again, it’s only temporary. Dynasty Warriors Origins is certainly a step back in the right direction, toward the style of game I remember.

Dynasty Warriors Origins makes the “One versus One Thousand” formula better with more tools to use in combat

Combat feels so incredible, and only gets the better the greater your mastery of the systems becomes (Image via Koei Tecmo)

One of the greatest things about Dynasty Warriors Origins is, of course, the combat — it’s the main focus. It’s still as easy as you remember — you equip a weapon, use basic attacks, and combo them with the heavy/charge attacks, to deal lots of damage and clear out waves of soldiers in no time. However, there aren’t as many weapons as you may be used to.

That said, I like the various weapons on offer, and they all feel powerful in one way or another. I do have favorites — in particular, the Podao and the Wheels — but every weapon has its strengths and weaknesses. You also have a new system called Bravery. As you attack, dodge, and parry, you build Bravery.

This is used on equipped skills you can apply to your weapons in the equipment menu. Some focus on specific weapons, others on generic (but powerful) skills. Among these are some that can cancel out/interrupt enemy abilities. It’s so important to have these equipped — at least one of them — to avoid damage and stop major attacks from ever happening.

Master your defensive moves and turn the tide at a moment's notice (Image via Koei Tecmo)

In addition to stopping attacks from named characters, you can use these to interrupt and assault huge groups of soldiers at once. Parrying and Dodging are more important than ever — like how they are in a Souls game. If you don’t master parrying or dodging — preferably both — there are bosses and situations you may never get past.

Thankfully, they aren’t incredibly hard to do — the game teaches you how. You can also get weapons that increase the window for both, so if you’re having trouble, consider this as well. I found it easier to master dodging first, and used it more — it grants you more bravery when perfectly done. Parries do a powerful counterattack that weakens an enemy's guard — this is just as important.

Officers/generals in Dynasty Warriors Origins have a series of shields near their health bar. You must strike them repeatedly to break them. When all shields are broken, they drop into a stunned state, letting you Assault them. Mash hard and fast to deal as much damage as possible, and repeat until that officer dies. It can be a little tedious, admittedly — damage is not very high in the early-mid game, that’s for sure.

The "Encourage" tactic makes your allies more aggressive, which can help in a pinch (Image via Koei Tecmo)

All of this leads to combat being far more intense and enjoyable than in previous games. In addition to skills, you also have a small group of soldiers you can command to use Tactics like Fire Arrows, Cavalry Charges, or even temporary buffs!

Sure I don’t have cannon lances, laser swords, or any ridiculous stuff, but that’s okay! The selection is solid, and while the movesets aren’t as varied as in previous games, there’s more than enough on offer to give your play sessions variety.

Dynasty Warriors Origin’s story offers lots of replayability

Join either of the three factions in whatever order you prefer - we chose Wei, Shu, then Wu (Image via Koei Tecmo)

One of the things that ultimately led me to feel a bit frustrated with Dynasty Warriors games in general, was replaying the same missions over and over 15+ times. The bigger the roster, the more likely this was going to happen. There are times I miss that, but there wasn’t a lot of variety to it. What Dian Wei does in a mission may not be too different from what Xu Huang did, as an example.

At some point in Dynasty Warriors Origins, you’ll pick a faction to join and start doing missions where they were influential. I love this, as each faction has missions where they interact with each other as well as those where they pick a fight with the other factions on the board.

Each map is unique and enjoyable to puzzle out in its own way (Image via Koei Tecmo)

A good example is that most Wu missions are focused in the Southlands — as they should be. Wei is more focused on conquering the Middle Kingdom and the northern territories — Yuan Shao, and the like. There’s overlap, of course, but not nearly as much as possible. You can break these up by doing missions for your allies, participating in random encounters, or just exploring the map for crafting items.

Once you’ve beaten the game, you can go back through Story Mode and play from different chapters and as different factions — after you’ve unlocked them. That gives Dynasty Warriors Origins players plenty of replayability and that’s only part of it. I want to leave some of it a surprise, after all. We don’t do spoilers here in reviews.

How hard is Dynasty Warriors Origins?

There are difficulty spikes, but most of it can be overcome just with skill and practice (Image via Koei Tecmo)

Dynasty Warriors Origins features difficulties ranging from Historian (Easy) to the unlocked Ultimate Musou (Very Hard). You cannot change difficulties mid-battle, but you can at any other time. The “Normal” difficulty is perfectly adequate for most gamers, that’s for sure.

However, roadblocks in the form of a few boss encounters may make you want to lower the difficulty. I wouldn’t blame you! You gain “ranks” by leveling up various weapons, and that’s where your stat growth comes from. This means you could overcome challenges by grinding a bit more, to make things easier.

However, it still comes down to skill. Even the hardest difficulties are child's play if you have mastered the defensive arts of parrying and dodging. I found the difficulty to be pretty reasonable in most situations.

The look of Dynasty Warriors Origins is undeniably great, but there are some issues in the voice work

It's very hard to get screenshots in this game, so enjoy this screengrab of Lady Zhenji (Image via Koei Tecmo)

Visually speaking, Dynasty Warriors Origins is a gorgeous game. The map is beautiful, the characters are well-designed, and everyone looks unique. Sure, the rank-and-file guys are all pretty generic, but that’s to be expected — that’s not a negative at all. Each stage has its own design, and fits the portion of China it’s located in.

However, I had minor qualms with the English dub in Dynasty Warriors Origins. I think it’s a very good dub and the overwhelming majority of it sounded great! However, there were incredibly weird pauses in some of the dialogue, where a sentence would have an awkward pause before continuing. I have no idea why that happened, and it didn’t ruin the game by any stretch. It did however happen, and I’m very curious about the why of it.

One thing I was glad for though, was the return of epic guitar solos in Han China! The soundtrack is exactly what I wanted and hoped it would be. When replaying stages on the Story Mode, you can also select the music track, picking from many of the classics from previous releases. What a great addition to the game!

That combined with Lu Bu’s theme automatically kicking in anytime he shows up on a normal stage was so cool. Then it would fade out when he rode off into the distance. Very nice touch, that.

In conclusion

There are so many epic battles to take part in across the Dynasty Warriors Origins timeline (Image via Koei Tecmo)

If you’ve ever loved Romance of the Three Kingdoms or Dynasty Warriors, you owe it to yourself to pick up Dynasty Warriors Origins. It’s easily one of the best games I’ve played in the series — even if it is trying some very new, unique things. Could some games in the franchise return to “the way things were”? Of course, accordion to Tomohiko Sho. But this game needs to do well first!

However, there is one more thing that really puzzled me. Though I adored spending 60-70 hours on this game — and I’m not done yet — some of the dialogue confused me. Certain characters sounded like they were bordering on being romantic partners — both male and female. I won’t spoil who, but there is no “relationship” mechanic in the game. It does seem like there almost was, but it was dropped. I cannot confirm that — that’s just how I feel.

The gameplay of Dynasty Warriors Origins is exceptional, the look is great, and the attention to detail on events of the Later Han Era filled me with joy. This is clearly made by people who appreciate the story and tell it in a way that feels satisfying.