

Overall, this wasn’t a very positive change in my opinion since the tiered battle system of chaining normal attacks and charge attacks just felt more satisfying. Every weapon has a unique signature attack meant for that weapon. If you combine it with flow motion you can launch enemies into the air from the ground, knock them down or even stun them from doing combos themselves. There is a button that opens up a tray of commands alongside this battle system to add a bit more depth. If you were running in the field, pressing the reaction attack would do a running attack that could be followed up in a normal attack combo. The charge attacks were replaced with a counter and reaction attack system. This is a simplified battle, allowing combos to be performed by pressing your normal attack button. Dynasty Warriors 9 introduced a whole new battle system to the franchise called Flow Motion.

I gave the whip to a guy model and the axe to a girl model, and due to the animations, they both looked pretty natural with them. The weapons like the whip, the flute, and even the Chakrams can fit with any model with their animations. Even the generic officers don’t all look the same as they did in previous titles. Omega Force looks like they brought over Nioh’s fantastic facial designs and made it a core part of the Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires experience. Faces look a lot more expressive and thanks to the new customization of characters, have a lot of variety. However, a lot of this Empires title is very character-driven, which is what I love. Fishing, crafting and resource gathering was removed for a lot less substance to this open world. Sadly, only the map and some of the landmarks and unlockables made it in. The open-world aspect had a lot to offer, especially in an Empires entry so I was excited they kept parts of it. I had high hopes for Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires because the building blocks to something great were in the previous game.

Platform(s): PS4, Xbox one, PC, Nintendo Switch Will it be up to my hopes that it will successfully refresh the franchise in a solid direction? Let’s find out! This time with Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires.

My hope was that they would combine the innovations with fan criticism like they did with the past when giving us Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires. Fan backlash has plagued the Dynasty Warriors series in the past, and it will probably continue to do so as more innovation continues. Though it did not do as well as they would have liked, Omega Force should be commended that they are still trying to innovate on the franchise. It was the team’s first take on an open-world Dynasty Warriors game. Dynasty Warriors 9 was released in 2018 with a large number of negative reviews.
