From October 9 to October 13, I had the chance to attend the Brasil Game Show 2024 gaming convention. And let me tell you, the afternoon of the day prior to the event’s first day starting, Koei Tecmo announced that the Tokyo Game Show 2024 demo for Dynasty Warriors: Origins would be at the event, alongside Fairy Tail 2.
Finding the Dynasty Warriors: Origins demo was a bit of a challenge due to how it wasn’t in a booth that strictly said Koei Tecmo. Instead, it was in Samsung’s booth. Regardless, I was definitely interested in trying out this newest entry in the Dynasty Warriors series, especially after some renewed interest in the musou genre in the past few months and how Koei Tecmo claims that this is a return to the series’ roots.
*Note: Recording the game’s screen wasn’t allowed, so my first impressions have a combination of promotional screenshots from the game’s official website and some pictures taken from the demo at the showfloor. Some elements might change in future demos or the game’s full release.
A Sneak Peek into the Flames of War
As is with many of Koei Tecmo’s demos, this was a timed demo of 15 minutes, and it puts you right into the Battle of Sishui Gate, which, in Chinese history, is the first in a series of battles to topple the tyrant Dong Zhuo. Now, this would hint me into thinking this is very early on, but given that, before the timer began, you had a choice of three weapons to choose from, as well as three companions, and the Wanderer was Level 22, this might be just a little bit after the prologue.
First, you’re greeted with a small cutscene where you’re briefed on your victory conditions and how the map looks at first, which I feel is typical for Dynasty Warriors. The moment you’re ready and hit “Commence Battle,” the clock begins, forcibly ending the battle you’re currently in as a defeat when it runs out of time.
A Mix of Old and New Features
Many features of the series seem to have returned in Dynasty Warriors: Origins, such as certain enemies challenging you to a quick duel. There are also new features, such as the Tactics system, where you can briefly issue orders to the troops nearby to perform a special move that, if used properly, can deal some serious damage to an enemy commander or reduce their forces in their base. Accessing this menu briefly slows down time, during which you aim at where you wish to use a certain skill.
If the Wanderer is slain in combat, two options appear. The first option is the simple “restart from the beginning”. The second one involves how the game secretly saves major points of the battle as checkpoints, allowing you to rewind to specific points, including the very beginning. I really enjoyed this system because it also gives you a brief rundown of how the map looks at that specific point and quickly resumes from that point onwards.
Musous and Keyboards Mix Like Water and Oil
Samsung’s booth was clearly designed so you could try out the games on their shiny new line of Odyssey monitors. And as such, all of the stations were using keyboard and mouse controls…with the PC version. And well, this is where I think that this is designed to play with either a keyboard or a mouse, as the inputs kept switching between a mouse and keyboard key icon.
Skills require a combination of the Control key plus one of the letters, and clicking the mouse wheel while your Companion is close to you can trigger an Extreme Musou attack, where the both of you tag together to make a massive attack. You can also temporarily switch to your chosen Companion, and unleash their ultimate skill. However, this is where I cleanly admit that I’m not suited to use a keyboard and mouse when I’m gaming.
Executing the combos had my hand strewn across the keyboard, and I had a lot of trouble trying to dodge attacks and even time certain attacks, which caused me to die a couple of times. Despite not being used to it, however, combat felt really smooth. However, none of the cutscenes or the battlefield audio were voiced, despite there being an audio language toggle, but I am willing to just brush that off as typical demo behavior.
A Return to its Roots
Dynasty Warriors: Origins looks to be quite the promising title. Personally, whether this title will sell to the average player is still yet to be decided, though the team over at Koei Tecmo seems to be adamant about bringing the series back to its roots by bringing both old features from previous titles while also introducing some new ones.
It’s truly a shame that such a great demo was basically shoved into a nondescript corner of a big-name brand that honestly seemed to just want to showcase their new line rather than try to market the games to the masses, leaving it as a “hidden gem” for others to find at the show floor.
Still, even as someone who only played spin-off games like Hyrule Warriors, I still enjoyed the time I had with the Dynasty Warriors: Origins demo, and I can’t wait to see more of the game when it releases next year on January 17, 2025.
