[Original review based on ~25 hours of playtime, final edited review based on ~50 hours playtime. Completed all stages and side-objectives for both the first cycle and New Game+ w/ 100% achievements]

In a year with Unicorn Overlord, Shadow of the Erdtree, FF14 Dawntrail, Granblue Fantasy Relink, Hades II, P3 Reload, FF7 Rebirth, Like A Dragon Infinite Wealth, SMTV Vengeance, etc etc etc (all of them excellent)….never in a million years did I expect a strange little tower-defense action game to come along and take ALL my spare time and attention.

I won’t go into gameplay details as a demo is available and other reviews have already touched on a lot, but the overall experience is phenomenal: music, art design, progression and upgrades, difficulty, amount of content, gameplay, direction, story and writing, thoughtfulness w/ controls, UI, and graphics options - all *excellent*. It has a really unique vibe that teeters back and forth between being cool, silly, horrifying, zen, super intense, and very sweet / genuine…as a whole I don’t think I’ve ever played anything else quite like it. Hands-down the most creative thing I’ve seen come out of Capcom since Ōkami.

It’s not an insanely difficult strategy title, but I would never call it easy or mindless. Level to level I’ve been constantly kept on my toes while adapting to new situations and enemy types, there’s an awesome amount of variety in how the stages “work”, what units you need to prioritize, and some seriously great boss battles and set pieces. Everything hits just right.

Being a brand new property in a VERY niche style and genre, I do wish Capcom had actually promoted this + priced it at $40 to appeal to more people, but personally I couldn’t be happier with my purchase. I’ve seen a lot of comments such as “it’s like a PS2 8/10 game”, but I think that’s severely underselling it - whereas “things like this don’t get made anymore” feels scarily spot-on. Even if it’s outside of the usual type of game you enjoy, please try the demo and consider supporting Kunitsu-Gami. It’s beyond worth it and I’d love to see more companies take chances on non-AAA games.

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Final edit and note post New Game+ / 100% achievements = sad to shelf this game for now, but extremely satisfied with my time spent. All my original thoughts held through till the very end, I couldn't put it down until I had done everything.

New Game+ makes every stage handle a little differently, enemy types are changed up and there's a lot more coming your way with each wave. It's a blast to play around with the more upgraded units and see how your own strategy has improved since the first run. Each stage also gets two new side objectives to complete, and certain ones definitely make you step up your game / can take a few attempts + some patience to get through. Finally, there is one extra "super boss" at the very end to really test your skills, and it's a great trial to wrap everything up with.
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Kunitsu-Gami gets my highest recommendation. It’s weird and truly wonderful, I’m overjoyed it exists, and will be shoving it in the faces of friends / plugging it every chance I get in online comment sections for years to come. I hope you enjoy it!

Dynasty Warriors has been a moderate obsession of mine for over 20 years, I’ve played just about every mainline entry and most of the spinoffs since DW2’s PS2 release back in 2000. While I hate the term, it’s always been a “guilty-pleasure” sort of series and I have zero issue recognizing there have been some ups, major downs, and resounding mehs throughout…but, what we have here in DW Origins is actually really great overall.

…like, *REALLY*, shockingly, bordering on “absolutely brilliant GotY-level and it’s only January how the flying ♥♥♥♥ did they pull this off?!” great. Every aspect feels incredibly refined and well thought out, even after 50 hours of playtime I still can’t believe this exists as a DW game.

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(1) The gameplay:

They’ve absolutely nailed the gameplay. Finally. There is such an epic feeling and amount of tension to every battle, you really feel like you’re at war. The base combat itself has a weight to it that is so satisfying to play, and then there’s 10 unique weapon-types with multiple versions and randomized bonuses, assignable skills for each that you can rank up, solidly implemented horses, you can command your own mini-squad, partner up with a selection of big name characters from the series, work through multiple “skill tree” / leveling-type systems, roam around a beautiful mini-overworld in-between fights, rank up your relationships with over 40 members of the Three Kingdoms cast and complete related challenges for them, hack through a great variety of complex main missions vs quick pop in-and-out side quests + grind fights, there’s collectibles, duals, dedicated boss battles, the ability to rewind through stages if you fail, a parry and blocking system that actually feels fantastic….and more!

I feel warm and fuzzy every single time I start playing - it’s pure joy, plain and simple.

(2) The story / content:

This is an “origins” tale, so in context to other DW games and the Romance of the Three Kingdoms storyline we begin during the lead-up to the Yellow Turban Rebellion then conclude right after the Battle of Chibi. Every scene, historical occurrence, and big battle have all been greatly expanded on from previous titles, and the cast has so much more depth than ever before. Characterizations are just excellent all around and there’s a metric ton of interesting dialogue + fun dramatic scenes throughout.

When it comes to who you play as, you’re completely locked in for the entirety of the game as a generic silent amnesiac insert type. You have your own little storyline, and it serves its purpose as an excuse to be a part of what’s going on and to hang out with all the Three Kingdoms crews. Nothing too special, but inoffensive. Everyone else is VERY “you-sexual”, and if you like that sorta thing it’s kind of hilarious to experience all the bond rank-up scenes (very similar to recent Fire Emblems).

For reference, it took me about 35~40 hours of actual playtime to get through the Shu storyline - that’s with doing every side quest, some grind quests, maxing all the Shu character bonds, getting 20/44 achievements, and having only a few failed main mission retries. I still have New Game Plus to see through for Wei and Wu + a new extreme difficulty that adds per-stage challenges w/ new rewards, a new ultimate weapon customization mechanic, then the rest of my bonds and a few endgame items. So far I’m not feeling any burnout and am super excited to keep going - I could easily see myself getting 100~150+ hours here.

(3) Everything else:

There’s a lot I could continue to glow and ramble about - the music (better than ever), UI and menus, graphics, character / level / environmental design, pacing, etc…it’s all rock solid.


Outside of some minor PC port oddities that I’m hoping will get patched soon, I only have a couple actual complaints:

1. No local or online coop mode, single player only.
   
2. No way to customize your blank-slate main character, and only a few total costumes for him.

These are both, incredibly unfortunate. While I of course also miss having the obscenely large cast of playable characters to choose from (Ma Chao…my beloved 😭), if everyone “missing” was axed in order to make this title as well-balanced and focused as it is, then…well, it’s difficult to fault them for the decision. The game is still a total knock-out in every way and even without some of the series staples, they pulled it off expertly.

Having said that, a character creator with some unlockable referential character outfits and/or Wu-Shu-Wei specific looks would’ve gone a REALLY long way. Definitely dissapointed on this end along with the lack of coop, I would’ve loved to have played this with my partner.

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To wrap this up:

• If you’re brand new or have ever had an interest in the Dynasty Warriors series - start here and try the demo.
  
• If you’ve fallen off previous DW / musou titles or found them to be dull and overly button-mashy - try the demo.
  
• If you’re a longtime fan of the series - oh dear god try the demo.

If you come away from it thinking “huh, that seems like it could be fun” - buy it. It’s an extremely small taste of what you’ll get, and the full game does a great job with its progression, variety, difficulty curve, and content.

My biggest hope now is that DW Origins serves as an incredibly lengthy preview of the direction they’ll continue to build on for an Origins 2, DW10, and/or future titles. If they can do THIS (*gestures to literally everything about Origins*) while bringing back coop and adding in some character customization / variety, it’d be my own perfect dream-come-true game. …I genuinely was not expecting Origins to come so close to achieving that as it did.

Truly stellar job, Omega Force + Koei Tecmo. Please keep going and don’t stop here, you’ve started something truly special.