One of my favorite game franchises of the PS2 era, Dynasty Warriors, gets a lot of flack from the larger gaming community. It’s a button masher; you’re facing mostly hordes of helpless enemies, and you’re simply spamming until you can hit a single button and kill hundreds of people at a time. Exactly, that’s why it’s wonderful.
The story of the Three Kingdoms era is told through the series, its 1 vs 1000 gameplay premise, and all of the things that made the games memorable for me are back and improved in massive ways. Dynasty Warriors: Origins is getting more love than nearly any entry in the series, and it deserves every bit of praise.
Dynasty Warriors: Origins is essentially a reboot of the Three Kingdoms story. 150 years after the founding of the Han dynasty, famine is causing the people to doubt their government. A Yellow Turban rebellion forms, but power-hungry officers take this opportunity to inflict further suffering against the people. Your character, the Nameless Hero, gets caught up in the fray trying to save a child from harm, thrusting yourself into the ranks of fighters pushing back against the Yellow Turbans, and awakening powers within you that you can’t explain. You meet officers in the fight against the Yellow Turbans and unlock secrets of your past that are destined to shape the future.
Fans of the franchise will recognize the names of generals and officers immediately. You’re meeting classic characters like Cao Cao, Sun Jian, Guan Yu, and, unfortunately, foes like Lu Bu. Similarly, fans will recognize the game’s combat. You’re moving throughout a battlefield, mowing down enemies to reach higher-ranking officers and turn the tides of battle. Newer entries in the Dynasty Warriors franchise that introduced more tactics and expanded equipment load-outs are here as well, offering depth without bogging the player down in menus.
A huge plus for this game is how streamlined everything is. You move across a map in between battles and can take part in smaller skirmishes, visit towns to buy equipment and speak to fellow officers. The game moves you through its many challenges easily and keeps you involved every step of the way. The battles all feature a morale meter for you to track how your actions are impacting the battle, often resulting in either a victory or defeat based on your choices. Even at the normal difficulty, this is not a game you can breeze through. The gameplay feels more mature than my memory of past entries, offering a classic experience with deeper tactics considerations.
Battle areas marked by letters are where you need to focus your attention most often. Taking these areas boosts morale, which in turn pushes your forces forward in the fight. Charges and Ambushes are ways to use the hordes of soldiers against your opponent and vice versa, making it easy to punish those who feel a bit too cocky about their positioning. In terms of your personal combat experience, Musuo attacks still exist as your powerful, powered-up attack, as do the light and heavy basic attacks. Battle arts, which you can equip as you learn them, also offer variation to your attacks and include things like knocking enemies off-balance or even ensuring you will evade an incoming assault.
A parry system also forces you to take a step back and avoid button-mashing mindlessly. By parrying and evading, you’re often squaring up with higher-ranking officers in great battles that feel like 1v1 showdowns amid hundreds and thousands of soldiers. An Eyes of the Sacred Bird ability also allows you to see the battlefield in a bird’s eye view, marking weak points or discovering ploys your enemies use to best you. Truly, the game offers the player a lot of room to feel powerful and make the right tactical choices. That said, it does always feel like you’re meant to be doing a certain approach or strategy, taking away a fully subjective way to best your enemies in each battle.
If anything, that’s my most significant complaint about Dynasty Warriors: Origins. In the era of Souls-like games, I love feeling like my own discovery of tactics allows me a path to victory. Here, things are more linear, which isn’t bad, but certainly feels a bit more confined than what other similar action games offer in 2025. That said, this is a huge improvement to the Dynasty Warriors experience and one that feels like it has learned from the uptick in action games released in recent years. It allows itself to maintain its identity while still allowing more modern systems a place within its formula.
Dynasty Warriors: Origins is the game we’ve wanted to see from this franchise for years. Finally, the series feels like it has joined us in the present day in terms of gameplay and presentation. The gorgeous visuals and wonderful voice acting keep you invested in the story, while timeless Musuo-style gameplay feels more fun than ever. Although confined to a linear experience, most action game fans will find something to enjoy here. Between taking down hordes of enemies, you encounter boss battles that truly test your skills and knowledge of the combat systems. The right amount of challenge, a gorgeous presentation, and fun Dynasty Warriors nonsense make this a must-play.
An Xbox Series X review copy of Dynasty Warriors: Origins was provided by Koei Tecmo for this review.
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