Dynasty Warriors: Origins Breathes New Life into a Long-Standing Series

Dynasty Warriors has always been my go-to for gaming comfort—a trusty series by Omega Force that consistently tells the sprawling saga of warring kingdoms. Every installment sticks to its “1 vs. 1000” combat promise, each new game building upon the last. I first got hooked with Dynasty Warriors 2, and over the past 25 years, I’ve kept coming back to watch this large cast bring the epic story to life. Naturally, I’ve picked my favorites over time (shout-out to Guan Yu).

So you can imagine my curiosity when I fired up Dynasty Warriors: Origins, the 10th main title. Just from the title, it’s clear it’s aiming for a reboot—a fresh start that brings more than just the incremental tweaks we fans usually expect.

For starters, Origins offers a tighter, more detailed narrative, focusing only on the first half of the classic story. Traditionally, Dynasty Warriors kicks off with an explosive take-down of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, setting the plot of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms—a dramatized historical account of ancient China—into motion. But this time, the game actually delves into the rise and fall of the Yellow Turbans, giving us the backstory for the series’ usual backstory.

Adding to this revamp is a new protagonist you can name yourself, an amnesiac warrior whose mysterious past unfolds with the progression of the game. This time, instead of choosing from a vast list of officers, you’ll lead this protagonist through a storyline that gradually introduces familiar faces—and yes, some of them will become playable characters as you advance.

This shake-up is refreshing. By ditching the open-world format from Dynasty Warriors 9, Origins allows players to delve into a much more customizable Story Mode. You’ll find yourself navigating an overworld between significant battles, hunting for secrets, getting creative with equipment, making allies, and even engaging in smaller skirmishes to level up.

Combat, the series’ standout feature, hasn’t been neglected either. While the core hack ‘n’ slash gameplay remains, there’s a heightened level of sophistication. Now, blocking, parrying, and dodging are crucial against bosses, a sprinkle of puzzle-solving spices up some encounters, and Battle Art special abilities let you tailor combat styles to your weapon of choice.

This doesn’t feel like change for change’s sake. Instead, it feels like a confident leap forward. The essence of being a 2nd-Century warrior is very much intact, but so is the deeper strategic element in each one-on-one fight.

Ultimately, Dynasty Warriors: Origins balances the old and the new perfectly. It’s still the series I’ve always known and loved, now enhanced with some unexpected twists. Good to have the classic comfort food on the table, but the recipe’s gotten an update.