Test - Dynasty Warriors: Origins : Test: The art of button mashing

The battlefield spreads out in front of me, at the sight of thousands of enemies I grip my sword a little tighter, take another deep breath and then start running. Yellow Turban soldiers fly through the air every second and my body count quickly rises to levels that make even the Doom Slayer jealous. Dynasty Warriors: Origins offers the well-known Musou experience of the series, reworks it in important places and still flattens it out in places.

The term “Musou” describes the ultimate power fantasy of the lone warrior who faces thousands upon thousands of enemies and successfully sends them to the eternal hunting grounds. Loosely translated, the term means “unrivaled” and in a certain way it also fits the Warriors series from Koei Tecmo. Because it not only coined the term like From Software did with Souls-likes, it also represents the entire genre, with a few exceptions.

However, the last Dynasty Warriors spin-offs were not always well received. The story turned out to be too fragmented, which could perhaps be tolerated. But the outdated principle also caused some problems in the gameplay due to strange decisions. Too many playable characters spoiled the broth and the different weapons were fun on paper, but often played too similarly. So the development studio Omega Force thinks about iton old strengths without appearing outdated.

Without a plan in the three kingdoms

Where in previous parts of the series you were sometimes allowed to switch between dozens of characters, Dynasty Warriors: Origins takes a brave new path. You slip into the shoes of a single hero, who you can even give a name to. Otherwise, the game does not allow any customization; both the design and background story are predetermined. Your main character suffers from memory loss once again, travels haphazardly through China during the time of the Three Kingdoms and works as a free soldier.

Your old favorites like Cao Cao, Zhang Fei, Guan Yu appear, but only to a limited extent as playable characters. If this upsets you, there is at least a small ray of hope. During the big story battles, you can often switch into their skin for at least a short time and unleash a few juicy special attacks. However, I found the focus on one playable character quite refreshing and it negates the feeling of fatigue that dozens of characters brought with it.

The total of ten weapon types in Dynasty Warriors: Origins ensure playful variety. You unlock these gradually over the course of the game by finding them on the battlefield or purchasing them from merchants in cities. They offer completely different movesets and are suitable for special situations.

The sword offers a good compromise between range and damage, making it the ideal all-rounder. With the lance or the staff, however, you can quickly sweep large hordes off the screen thanks to their extensive attacks. In a direct duel with opposing generals, you should ideally use combat gloves or sickle blades. They score points with quick attacks and break through the enemy's position quickly and reliably.

In addition to light and heavy attacks, you also have various martial arts at your disposal, with which you can carry out long-range strikes, counter incoming attacks or even trigger elemental effects with firestorms or flying rocks. You can equip a maximum of four of these techniques at the same time, and you can unlock new ones in the best Skyrim style by using the respective weapon. By increasing weapon levels, your character also rises in level, which opens up new skill trees. However, these are very linear, you don't need to expect real options for creating builds - but that simply wouldn't fit Dynasty Warriors either. You can even command your own small troop of subordinates and have them fire arrows.

The fights against enemy generals are particularly interesting. Where previously simple dodging was enough and you rarely had to parry, Origins now shows you directly which skill will counter the next incoming attack. Omega Force thus creates the ideal balancing act between a simple experience and situational decisions that are very reminiscent of titles like Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Simple button mashing will only get you further against normal opponents.

You earn skill points through smaller missions that your allies give you. These are just tasks in the style of “Dodge perfectly five times” or “Eliminate five enemies with heavy spear attacks”. So they walk alongside you in a relaxed manner and also show that you should get on well with as many NPCs as possible. You will meet new acquaintances on the upper world, which is reminiscent of classics like Heroes of Might & Magic. You traipse from province to province, making new friends or leveling up existing relationships through conversations. From here you also start the heart of Dynasty Warriors: Origins: the battles.

Mixed platter once, please

Compared to previous parts of the series, the battles in the new Dynasty Warriors are less simple. Of course, you still knock hundreds of enemies off the screen within a few seconds and race across the battlefields at a rapid pace. In smaller, non-story-relevant quests it is usually enough to defeat a general or conquer a base; these little fights often last less than five minutes. So everything is the same.

But when it comes to the more extensive story battles, you as a veteran will probably have to get used to it. You already know the bases from the predecessors and can easily conquer them by eliminating all opponents in them. However, there is now a lot more focus on looking after your allies. On the map you have to regularly check how good the morale and lives of your generals are. If they take too much damage, they will flee, which has a bad effect on the fighting spirit of your troops.

In theory it makes sense to look after the generals of your own army, but in Dynasty Warriors: Origins it all too often turns into work. You're no longer running carefree across the battlefields and increasing your own body count; instead, in many missions you're more concerned with looking after your allies and racing to their aid. Often a criterion for the failure of a mission is that a certain NPC takes flight.

This seriously disrupts the flow of the game and that's a shame. Apart from that, the battles bring with them a lot of simple joys thanks to the different weapons and the spectacularly staged Musou special attacks. If you don't partially empty the corresponding bar with the iconic area attacks, but let it fill completely, this enables you to have a special rage mode. In this you don't take any damage, you deal it out harder and you can use your weapon skills virtually unlimitedly. When the phase comes to an end, you unleash a particularly powerful finisher, so patience is richly rewarded.

The omnipotence fantasy still works wonderfully in 2025 and even if the graphics are anything but impressive, it is still the most beautiful part of the series so far. Especially since the frame rate on the Playstation 5 is, with a few exceptions, in a pleasantly stable range and that is definitely more important than any visual opulence.

Planning before a battle is quite irrelevant in Origins. You hold the usual briefings in which you decide on your companions and equipment. Ultimately, your choice is hardly important, because you can switch between your weapons at any time within a mission. Although this represents an enormous increase in comfort, it also negates the effects of your decisions in advance.

Coming to terms with the past in a shallow way

The focus of the story is of course the desire to find out more about your past. Conveniently, mysterious figures keep appearing and making cryptic statements regarding the origins and actual mission of the amnesiac hero. This approach is quite interesting, especially since you can repeatedly make decisions about who you want to join as the game progresses.

Dynasty Warriors: Origins is also anchored in real Chinese history, but the choice of a fictional main character leaves certain freedoms. Unfortunately, your chosen following has little effect. It didn't really matter to me whether I rode for Dong Zhuo or Sun Jian. This additional information could certainly give the history nerds among you a kick, but it has little influence on the actual game.

Once again, Dynasty Warriors sees itself as a little history lesson in which you learn more about the uprising of the Yellow Turbans, who rebelled against the repressive government, only to mutate into the aggressor themselves. The story takes place over a longer period of time and also covers important events such as the Battle of Chibi. However, Dynasty Warriors: Origins also gets a bit lost over the course of the game. In order to do justice to the historical significance, the cutscenes are often too long and dry; in combination with the bombardment of names, you quickly lose the thread.

Omega Force also has some potential when it comes to friendships with the NPCs. The sheer number of allies makes it difficult to build real relationships and there are no emotional moments. Rather, the dialogues devolve into silly calendar sayings that want to talk about the importance of companionship, but rather exude the charm of a newspaper horoscope.