Growing up, I had a few PlayStation 2 games that were in rotation, but none of them had nearly the playtime that Dynasty Warriors 3 got.
Dynasty Warriors 3 is arguably the game that popularized the musou genre, so it makes sense that Koei Tecmo would remaster it first. For decades, fans have argued whether the series peaked with this entry. With this stunning new remaster, Koei Tecmo has definitively answered that question. Rather than simply upscaling the old PS2 game, Omega Force has rebuilt the game completely in Unreal Engine 5, while keeping the soul of what made the original game so iconic in the first place.
A Beautiful Remaster
What I noticed immediately was the visual presentation. The game features a stunning graphical overhaul, which brings to life the battlefields of the Three Kingdoms. From the trenches of the Wu Zhang Plains, the verticality of Hu Lao Gate, and the forests of Yi Ling, every map has been painstakingly remade. I am also happy to see my favorite version of the Nanman campaign, elephants and all, beautifully reconstructed here.
Dynasty Warriors 3 also features the peak of the series’ character outfit design. For some reason, Koei Tecmo thought it imperative to constantly change the designs for the characters every release to differentiate them. Unfortunately for them, DW3 was the absolute best that any Three Kingdoms character has ever looked. With this remaster, these iconic and nostalgic outfits have been reconstructed beautifully. Seeing Zhao Yun’s teal outfit and Lu Bu’s towering, feathered headdress brought into the modern day like this gives me serious chills.
Nostalgic Sound
Impressively, Koei chose not to touch the audio whatsoever. Dynasty Warriors 3’s sound design is unforgettable. The original battle music is untouched, which means you’ll be tearing through the Yellow Turbans to the heavy-metal riffs of “Yellow Storm.” The sound effects are exactly the same. The metallic and visceral whoosh of Xiahou Dun’s podao has been stuck in my brain since I first heard it. Any attack blocked has the same metallic ping, and each defeated officer falls with the exact same dramatic audio cue.
What’s even crazier is that they preserved the original voice acting. The campy and horrendous English dub is entirely intact. It is still just as funny as it was when I was a child to hear Xiahou Dun mispronounce Cao Cao as “Cow Cow” or listen to Zhang Jiao scream about the power of his magic. I believe re-recording these lines would’ve stripped the game of its personality, and by leaving the audio untouched, Koei has honored the game’s legacy.
Underneath the gorgeous new coat of paint, I was surprised to see how much Koei was able to change about Dynasty Warriors 3 to modernize the gameplay. The combat has far more fluidity than the PlayStation 2 original, yet the core gameplay loop of managing morale, protecting your commander, and reacting to the shifting battlefield remains the heart of Dynasty Warriors 3.
Classic vs. Modern
When starting a campaign, the game makes you choose between Classic and Modern gameplay styles. Classic and Modern are massively different experiences, and I would argue that Modern is much harder.
While Classic mode adheres to the original stiffness of 2001, Modern mode retrofits the game with mechanics pulled directly from Dynasty Warriors: Origins. This drastically changes the moment-to-moment combat, turning what was at times a monotonous war of attrition into a highly reflex-driven action game. Because you have much more advanced defensive tools, the enemy AI has also powered up to match. The infamous and frustrating archers are deadlier than ever before, and enemy officers will pursue you relentlessly, hitting you with insane combo strings and devastating Musou attacks.
The original release was incredibly cruel, as dying meant that you had to completely restart the battle. Mid-battle checkpoints are here from Dynasty Warriors: Origins, and they are much appreciated. The checkpoints trigger after major battlefield events, such as capturing a gate, defeating an officer, or triggering a fire attack. No more spiking my controller from losing half an hour of progress to a stray arrow, and it also allows the developers to drastically increase the difficulty of individual encounters.
The original Dynasty Warriors 3 was so stiff and arcade-like to the point that you would have to jump out of the way of an attack. That is no longer necessary, as the developers have directly ported directional dodging from Dynasty Warriors: Origins in Modern mode. You can now cancel out of your charge attacks to dash away from incoming attacks. Against aggressive officers like Lu Bu, dodging is mandatory. The invincibility frames are extremely tight, so you need to get good at timing. Mastering the dodge is key for harder officers and difficulties.
Speaking of avoiding damage, holding the block button no longer guarantees your safety, as enemies in Modern mode can break your guard. Now, tapping the guard button right before an enemy attack triggers a Guard Parry, breaking their posture and opening them up for a massive juggle combo. If you whiff the parry, you are left wide open to taking potentially fatal damage.
Even the enemy peons are far more aggressive and bold than I originally remember. I was getting extremely frustrated at the privates, who would run around me while I was in a battle with an officer and peck me with their weapons. Because of these modernizations, I would recommend even veterans play it on Normal difficulty first to get a feel for the new standard.
Koei Succeeded
Dynasty Warriors 3 is a cult classic that defined the Musou genre, and remastering it for the modern era was a huge risk for Koei. Change too little, and the game feels like an ancient, clunky relic; change too much, and you lose the identity that made the game foundational for the genre. The gorgeous visuals provided by Unreal Engine 5 and the refined mechanics pulled from Dynasty Warriors: Origins bring Dynasty Warriors 3 into the current generation, while the original maps, iconic outfits, and campy voice acting keep the nostalgia intact from the PS2. Excluding Origins itself, this was the most fun that I’ve had with the series, and I am so happy to see it back in all of its glory.
Disclaimer: Koei Tecmo provided a PC (Steam) copy of Dynasty Warriors 3: Complete Edition Remastered for review purposes.
