Dynasty Warriors: Origins delivers a significantly more challenging experience, thanks to a directive from producer Tomohiko Sho: "Go and kill the player." This philosophy reshaped the game's combat.
Dynasty Warriors: Origins: A More Brutal Battlefield
"Go and Kill the Player": A Development Mandate
In an interview with PlayStation.Blog, producer Tomohiko Sho revealed the driving force behind the increased enemy difficulty in Dynasty Warriors: Origins. His simple yet impactful instruction, "This time, go and kill the player," pushed the development team to create more formidable opponents. The goal? To inject a greater sense of realism into the battlefield; the struggle for survival isn't limited to the player character alone.
While significantly increasing the difficulty, Sho emphasized the importance of balanced challenge. The game aims to provide rewarding experiences, even for players less familiar with action games. He explained, "Even if you're not that good at action games, if you learn them in order, you can play comfortably and feel a sense of success." Balancing the series' signature "musou" exhilaration with the grittier realism of warfare proved a significant hurdle.
A Return to Origins: A New Approach to the Series
Dynasty Warriors: Origins marks a departure from the series' traditional numbering system. Instead of Dynasty Warriors 10, the game adopts a unique title, highlighting its focus on the earlier stages of Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
At the 2024 Tokyo Game Show, Sho further elaborated to TheGamer, explaining that the game's narrative covers only the events leading up to the pivotal Battle of Chibi (Battle of Red Cliffs). He stated, "We really wanted to be thorough and intense in telling this story; it’s one of the epic points, so we’re only focusing on up until that point."
Seven years in the making, Dynasty Warriors: Origins is the latest mainline entry in the long-running franchise, based on the classic Chinese novel, Romance of the Three Kingdoms. This iteration introduces an original protagonist, the Nameless Hero, embarking on a journey through war-torn China.
Released on January 17th, Dynasty Warriors: Origins is available now on PC (Steam), PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.
Check out Game8’s review of the game!
