Dynasty Warriors: Origins Overwhelms in the Best Way

Dynasty Warriors: Origins is far from the first Dynasty Warriors game, and far from the first one that I’ve played. It’s the first one that’s fully captivated me, though, and for one main reason: it pulls it off.  It’s the first time I’ve seen this series give sufficient weight to its signature feature of a million billion enemies on-screen at the same time, and the most it has oriented its combat around an actual sense of strategy. Together that makes its hordes of enemies pose an actual challenge beyond their sheer numbers, as the series fully realizes what has often felt like a half-formed gimmick. The Dynasty Warriors games have always put us in control of godlike warlords steamrolling through countless grunts, but with Origins it finally feels genuinely overwhelming, not just in pure numbers but in how those armies move and act, and with combat that’s as thrilling as it is challenging.

If I hadn’t played a Dynasty Warriors before, I would’ve never seen this many (virtual, digital) men at one time in my entire life. My guy—the mute, enigmatic, supernatural warrior known only as Wanderer, who should totally be in a boy band—is adrift on a sea of fake humanity, with hundreds of ancient Chinese bandits swarming all around him whenever he steps on a large, open field. Their swells push him about like waves rocking a boat, and I can almost feel that crowd surge at home, like it’s traveling through the controller and bumping into me in my living room. Wanderer pushes back with his spear, or a sword, or his fists, and these fields of men fall like wheat before the scythe, buckling and collapsing as one. It’s powerful, and it’s sick as hell, and I like the way it makes me feel—like a combine harvester designed only for killing men, the murderous farm equipment in Prime Cut and The Secret of NIMH turned into an emotionless male model. I’ll gladly combo my way to the depths of hell as long as I can drag 10,000 enemies with me. 

These armies seem better defined than in the past, less like a legion of identical homunculi and more like an actual group of united individuals working towards a single goal. (That goal being tearing me apart, of course.) They’re not just nameless, faceless, interchangeable cannon fodder; sure, they are exactly that, but they’re also less predictable than previously, and with at least a little bit more personality. And that’s especially true for the various officers that command them and pose a more formidable threat; even when basic archetypes start to repeat, with similar patterns and attacks for each weapon type, these tricky duels rarely feel like cookie cutter encounters. There’s almost always a whole damn army to contend with at the same time, of course, which complicates the challenge, but something as simple as giving each officer a unique name injects a little bit of depth. 

Dynasty Warriors: Origins doesn’t offer as large of an arsenal as previous games, but it does give each of its weapons a distinct weight and depth of its own. The long sweep of a spear does not feel like the short jabs of a sword or the precisely timed thrusts of gauntleted fists, and the impact those differences have on strategy and approach give this seemingly blunt and direct combat a surprising level of nuance. It’s not just about wailing endlessly upon these masses of armed peasants, but understanding the scope and timing of each weapon, juggling that with proper defense and exact parries, and unleashing super powerful specials attacks (including tandem specials in conjunction with the NPC partners that often tag along) at the right moment to flatten an entire field’s worth of men. 

Origins has more detailed and human characters, as well as a clearer focus on storytelling, than prior games, and that’s been a main focus of much of the writing about this installment so far, including here at Paste. The combat has also been fine-tuned, though, and that’s been the biggest—and most welcome—surprise for me while playing it. It’s not just about sheer numbers, but about trying to implement a strategy in the face of those numbers. I am mulching up men left and right, sure, but only with clear thought and solid execution; if I just dove into these waters without preparation or the ability to think I’d break my neck against their pure, overwhelming volume. 

Combat’s always been the thing about Dynasty Warriors games, and the combat in Origins doesn’t stand pat. It’s as quietly evolutionary for the series as its narrative, and richly satisfying in a way it hasn’t been in the past. Dynasty Warriors: Origins doesn’t just try to beef up the parts of this series that have traditionally been lacking; it also rethinks what it has most often done the best, making it better across the board. It’s enough to keep me happily hacking and slashing through the vast throngs of foot soldiers until a story-concluding sequel eventually hits my console.

Senior editor Garrett Martin writes about videogames, TV, travel, theme parks, wrestling, music, and more. You can also find him on Blue Sky.