I want to thank KOEI TECMO GAMES CO., LTD. or the review key to this title.

Sometimes, game developers feel they need to step back and go back to the essentials after a series they worked on goes on long enough. In the case of Dynasty Warriors and how stale it was getting coupled with some really poor design and concept changes, I couldn't agree more. Dynasty Warriors: Origins is a side game that does a lot of experimenting, but makes a lot of good calls.

Some history before we continue. Dynasty Warriors' main entries are really just eight games, not counting spinoffs. The very first is a PS1 fighting game not even counted by the Japanese canon (and it's not really connected to the localized versions aside from the same developers and localized name). Dynasty Warriors 2-8 (the Japanese number it 1-7, counting DW2 as the first "true" game in the series) became the hack and slash games based on the Chinese novel "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" (ROTK), which in turn is based off the real history of China. Aside from the misstep that was Dynasty Warriors 6 (which chopped out characters, made some really dumb design decisions, featured bizarre out-of-character writing, and was just poorly conceived in general with a few good ideas lost in the shuffle), most fans would agree the games just got better, with DW8 Xtreme Legends being the peak for many fans.

Then they decided to hop on the open-world bandwagon much like Ubisoft with Dynasty Warriors 9. In theory, this would allow the developers to give a proper sense of scale to the real-world topography of China circa AD 184-250, and thus give a proper sense of grandeur to the idea of conquering China for your chosen side. In practice, it turned into a super samey and fairly empty open world that was tedious to traverse if you weren't just using a horse to get everywhere, had some bad voice acting (due to Koei being super cheap and denying the voice actors good direction and second takes), took a lot of patches to add things the game world should have had at release, and while it had some decent story writing in places, it overall left fans annoyed and bored. I thought it had potential, but while it has some entertainment and is not completely terrible after being patched (and some of the DLC stories were really, really good), I can see why it was panned nonetheless.

Postponing making another direct sequel, the developers instead decided to work on side games like Origins for a while, trying to go back to what worked while fleshing out ideas that had promise from DW9 in the process. And with that said, Origins goes back to the hack-and-slash style of the 2-8 titles but has its own new ideas as a spinoff title.

The story is basically the first third of real-world Chinese history starting with the Yellow Turban Rebellion circa AD 184 of the late Han empire era and ending with the Battle of Chibi circa AD 208-209. However, instead of playing as the characters of the novel (and in turn their historical inspirations), you play as an original character. This original character can be named whatever you like but will come to be known as Ziluan, after a mythical bird said to see corrupt kings fall and righteous kings succeed them. As Ziluan, a "Guardian of Peace", you will see all the sides of the conflict that will eventually become the Three Kingdoms of Wei, Wu, and Shu. Based on your choices, you will eventually choose one of them as the righteous ruler to succeed in the dying Han empire. It is even possible to change history so that one of them will eventually triumph despite the fact none of the three ultimately did.

First, it needs to be mentioned this game is a major departure from the ROTK dramatized account of this real-world period, with the writing doing a hard pivot towards real-world history. Novel-specific characters do appear and events common to both the novel and real-world history do occur, but the story writing is far more grounded, especially dwelling on the political and social reasons the late Han empire was dying and why the polities that would be known as the Three Kingdoms would rise from its ashes. Many of the more fantastical and theatrical elements from the novel and prior Dynasty Warriors games are absent as a result. The characters also lost a lot of the more fantastical elements, have period-appropriate dress (prior games got rather creative in this regard), and the cheesy theatrical personalities and dialogue are greatly toned down since this is a far more serious telling of the story.

In terms of gameplay, this game is more rooted in the earlier formulas established by the second through eighth games. A world map of sorts you can travel between areas replaces the open world sandbox from the ninth title. The counter system from the ninth game is further refined and rebalanced for use in combat, but otherwise, this title is meant to have many features from older games. Duels from the fourth game return, a variation of the advanced siege-breaking mechanics from the sixth game appear, and the character design strikes a balance between the eighth and ninth games.

The main gameplay will consist of your male original character traveling between various battlefields. They will take part in aiding the various story characters and basically getting an outside perspective on the story, at least until a certain point where they must make a choice which of the Three Kingdoms they will carry to their historical end, or, if the right conditions unfold, to a hypothetical victory they did not have historically. The combat levels take place in a hack-and-slash style, with the main character using a chosen weapon and set of skills and equipment to carry their side to victory in battles. They toned down the available weapon types to around nine playable choices compared to some of the more fantastical choices from earlier games, but each has widely varied move sets and specialties. A streamlined relationship mechanic was taken from DW9 and allows for certain bonuses in combat as well.

As to the flow of combat, the tired formula of wailing on tons of random soldiers and the occasional officer (named or otherwise) who is slightly tougher has been mixed up in a good way with a system of attack counters. Time these right and you can parry enemy attacks and turn the tables on them. Each type of weapon available is quite unique and all can lead you to victory depending on your play style, with repeated use giving you more attack and defense options in those styles. There is also an option to command troops to do additional actions to aid you in a fight, such as ordering charges and arrow volleys on select targets. This all said, a final note on the difficulty. While you can still mow down thousands of soldiers, they made officers a lot tougher. Mastery of the counter system for the game will be essential. Also, some characters will get Dark Souls style boss fights, where they will take advantage of every mistake, every counter is the difference between life and death, and they will take a lot of effort to put down. Even on the lowest difficulty you are expected to have put in the effort to master the game mechanics.

Graphically, this game is much like prior titles, presenting an accurate to the period depiction of Han China, and since the tone is more serious, character dress and appearance are largely based on the historical descriptions and the more ridiculous and flamboyant touches from prior titles are gone. Combat animations are fluid and character animation in general is quite good and responsive.

Sounds and music follow the usual Dynasty Warriors tradition of traditional Chinese instrumentals and crossing this with hard rock beats for battles. They did get a lot more creative this time though, with a gothic choir in some pivotal fights that I personally consider a lovely change of pace and it really makes certain battles feel rather epic. Not only do they do amazing remixes of prior series music, some of the new stuff is nailbitingly hardcore and had me hooked, like the new song for the final assault on Hulao Gate. As for the voice acting, Koei learned from their mistakes of DW9 (where they cut corners, hired a cheap second string cast, and denied them second takes to get it right), and aside from a few characters having some weird pauses to keep in tune with the lip sync, everyone sounds great.

The game can be played with a keyboard and mouse or any Steam-supported controller. I highly recommend the latter. Keys are remappable for either, but I found the default controls to be quite good and responsive. Got some hand cramps (mostly from nervous tension, battles can get INTENSE), but otherwise had fun.

Stability is pretty solid. Provided you meet or exceed minimum requirements, this is going to run great on PC. It runs natively on Windows, but it is rated Playable for Steam Deck and will run on Linux via Steam Proton.

Morally, given it's based on a story involving sordid politics, war, and general heavy themes, there are some moral issues.

Violence is hack-and-slash combat involving entire armies. No blood is depicted, nor gore (though a few implied instances are tastefully angled off-camera). All instances take place in the context of being a military officer for whatever faction you are aligned with.

Language is generally mild. Some instances of h*ll and d*mn and rare b**t**d, but the circumstances nor general dialogue tends towards anything harsher. Sexuality is definitely toned down, with the ladies in generally period-accurate dress, none of the super sexual designs from some of the more fantastical entries are in evidence here. Overall, it strikes a fine balance of the distinctive looks most of the males had from DW8, While the ladies draw from the more subdued designs from DW9. Of course, a few still manage to be mildly sexual like Diaochan's form-fitting outfit with bare shoulders (which is true to the novel, given her role as a honey trap for Dong Zhuo).

The occult and supernatural are toned down for the most part, with a hard pivot towards actual history, with the Yellow Turbans "magic" mostly attributed to illusions, though Zhang Jiao does get to have a boss battle where what he's doing can only be described as legitimately supernatural. Outside of that, the supernatural plays a fairly small role, as the pivot of the writing is more toward real-world events. The main character is attributed to a (made for the game) mythical order of warriors who helped the original Han emperor and are seen as arbiters of righteousness over the decadent, but this is generally more presented with a pivot to realism despite the occasional Chinese myth references.

Morally, it's the Romance of The Three Kingdoms and real-world history of a turbulent era of war, politics, and all the social injustice, poverty, and disunion it had, shown warts and all. You play as an outsider, initially bound to no faction, merely seeking to bring justice to the land when and where others can unite to do the same. But when the Three Kingdoms force a choice to be made, you must choose one of the three, and all three are presented evenly, with legitimate positives and negatives. While historically none of the three won, there are unlockable conditions to allow them the victory they did not have historically. Whichever one you deem the successor of righteous kingship over the dying Han is basically left to which side you deem to have the most enduring values. It's worth noting you have no outright evil or selfish options you can go with prior. For instance, you can never work with Dong Zhuo after he goes full mask off as a villain for instance. Nor can you work with petty power vendors like Yuan Shu or other factions who were doomed early on like the Yellow Turbans. Also, they spend a lot of time going over the reasons injustice and societal rot brought down the Han, with the message that whatever you believe the cause, it needs to end, but the question as to whom you believe could have brought the most equitable justice is ultimately yours to decide.

Overall, after Dynasty Warriors 9 made some key mistakes, Dynasty Warriors Origins is a fine return to form and shows Koei Temco learned well from their mistakes. It's rather pricey and I'd wait for a sale, but this game is worth getting if you love hack-and-slash games, the ROTK novel, or the real-world Chinese history behind it. Morally, it's got enough concerning elements its Teen rating is well deserved, but if you're that age or older, it's certainly a game I'd recommend. Given how Koei stumbled, this game is definitely proof they've made great strides to retain their footing.