Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires is the latest instalment to the long-running Dynasty Warriors series. Created by Omega Force and published by Koei Tecmo, it is a hack-and-slash game with side elements of battlefield strategy and political choices to form a stronger foothold in lands owned.

Players will have a set of campaigns to pick from, following events from Chinese history and will feature eras such as the Yellow Turban Rebellion and the Three Kingdoms War.

Upon picking a starting campaign, players then will pick which historical officer they want to play as, with up to 94 characters to pick from. There is also a character creator system, and Empires does not lock characters behind which kingdom they serve, so each time you load up a fresh campaign, the Lords of each area will be different and who they have in service will always be a mixed grab from the various kingdoms. If you are not playing a custom campaign, most of the time you will start off as an officer within a randomly placed army. Here, you are able to start gaining fame and form relationships to grow within the army, leading to being given more power over the land, and eventually, become a ruler yourself.

The game is heavy on loading screens and cutscenes and the battles are not as often fought compared to the base Dynasty Warriors game. You will find yourself doing tasks for the lands you serve, like raising gold to reinforce the defences of the lands you hold. As an officer, the actions you use out of combat are limited but will still help the kingdom in the long run, and as you advance through the ranks, you will be given more power to use, from dealing with traders that enter the city, to holding advance training to boost the officer’s stats. Do be aware though, that if you rule with an iron fist and treat peasants under your rule badly, you will find it harder to build alliances or scout officers from other kingdoms to join you.

Players can build bonds with other characters, and this will result in gifts being given out, brotherhood bonds being made, and also marriage arrangements. When you are fighting on the battlefield, you will tend to notice that after an officer is defeated, it will either say that they have retreated or were captured. If they have been captured, it is up to the lord to decide their fate, and if you are playing the role, you can either take them into your ranks, release them, or kill them. Paying attention to other kingdoms’ actions and who they are attacking or invading can result in some allegiance flips if you play the field right.

For the majority of the game, you will be in the hall of the kingdom and picking what actions to perform for the month, and you’ll do this until you have a war consul, where you see what direction the ruler wants to go in and if you will be invading the enemy lands. When you do finally make it into combat, don’t expect much for the size compared to other games in the series. After the open-world approach for Dynasty Warriors 9, they have downsized. At most, you will have one main garrison or a castle for a landmark, and then a bunch of outposts, and yet, even with a smaller battlefield, it still feels empty and void of the classic action that made the series great.

Combat still uses the Dynasty Warriors 9 scheme, which I did think they did right with the 9th game, and thankfully they have adjusted and added strategy cards that can be used during combat. These can range from a fire attack, surrounding the player for a few seconds, to health regeneration or damage and speed buffs to make you stronger and faster. The crafting system is now gone, and instead of having to farm for items to craft, you are can either buy gems or get them as rewards and gifts, and the rarity of the assigned gem will reflect on the weapon itself. You’ll also notice that healing items can no longer be found in combat or used, but sadly, with how often a fight lasts, you will not need any healing items anyway.

Graphically, Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires does not go for anything over the top. It has kept the style that it has used for many years with slight improvements over time. You will notice poorly textured areas, especially in cutscenes, which are unfortunately the majority of the game itself, and when you do get a chance to freely explore the land, you will notice it feels very empty, even in the cities, with a lack of AI villagers in the towns.

The soundtrack and audio for Dynasty Warriors have always been a win for me. A mix of calming music when out of combat doing the political side of things, and then a heavy mix of pumping beats to keep you in the mood for hacking and slashing the same map countless times over. The characters do speak but it will be in Japanese, which has always confused me given that they are Chinese. The older titles did include English dub overs, but that is a direction they have not gone with for a long time now, and this has become the default normal for me as a fan that plays each instalment.

In conclusion, if you are a long-serving Dynasty Warriors fan and are on the fence about 9 Empires, after how 9 went, I would say to give it a go. They have improved on the features that were not welcomed, and while they are still present, they are not a major aspect of Empires. As a fan, I do look forward to the series going back to its roots. Back to when it offered epic battles across a large map, as opposed to a small area that still managed to feel empty of combat. I do praise the idea to scrap the inventory and crafting systems that were introduced with 9, but they missed the mark by taking out healing items altogether, and given the advances in technology, they still have some more work to make use of all the spacing that 9 opened up. The cities and world look and feel very empty.

Written by: Shane Walsh