One of the better DW installments in my opinion. The historical and hypothetical routes gives you pretty much every scenario ever imagined so far for the series. Ambition mode is pretty interesting and really adds to the replay value. 5th and 6th weapons are for the most part a challenge to get so collectors have plenty to look forward to. I'm just really irked that they didn't include the original Japanese audio for this one. I've had it in previous DW games on consoles but for some reason they just decided not to include it.

I would definitely recommend this title to any DW fan. To those who are new to the series: It's a glorified hack'n'slash, set in the Three Kingdoms era of feudal China(following the story of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms). If that's the kind of game you enjoy, I also recommend this to you.

BREAKDOWN:

The story is given in various formats. Cinematic cutscenes are used to tell some more dramatic moments, while the stories of the battles themselves are told during gameplay through dialogue. Exposition and time skip filler story is presented in visual novel format. The story itself is, of course, the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. If you've played any other DW game before, you know what that means. If not, then honestly the DW games are probably the best way for you to experience that story.

Audio is standard DW, which is both a pro and a con. A pro because it's very concise and action packed, from SFX to BG music, so the audio really adds to the impact of the game. A con because it literally has not changed since like, PS2 days. The audio is more high definition, sure, but those death screams are the same death screams I heard as a child, slaughtering thousands of hapless Chinese peasants.

Gameplay is standard of a DW game. No weird gimmicks in this one like they've experimented with before, just pure and simple attacking, blocking, parrying. However, with the game's cast of 50+ playable characters, each with their own unique weapon, the gameplay can remain fresh for quite some time if you change up who you are playing or what weapons you are using.

EDIT: I forgot to mention the one new thing they did add this installment, which is the Weapon Attunement system. Basically it's a rock/paper/scissors(or in this case Heaven/Earth/Man) system where certain attuned weapons do more damage to and allow for storm rushes against enemy officers using an attunement that is weak to yours. You are allowed two weapons and the game(and I) recomment using two different attunements in order to prevent enemy officers from having an attunement advantage.

Graphics are... console port quality. To be fair, I doubt the studio ever put a lot of attention into the peons in the first place, but they look like clay soldiers when they do close ups of their faces. The officers themselves are much more defined, and they actually look good. It's also not very optimized to run in 1080p(which is an option on the PC version). I have a pretty beefy rig but I still notice huge frame drops when I first load a mission for seemingly no reason. It smooths out quickly though and will stay running smooth until the next time I launch the game.

OVERALL:
I'm leaning on a 7.5/10 for this one. Really is a lot of fun, but I think it's a very niche game.

PS:
About the multiplayer thing: It's been my experience that DW has never had online co-op. It's always been local co-op, so not sure what to say about that. I'm not sure if they will ever do online co-op for a Musou game so don't expect it to be a thing for this one.

One of the better DW installments in my opinion. The historical and hypothetical routes gives you pretty much every scenario ever imagined so far for the series. Ambition mode is pretty interesting and really adds to the replay value. 5th and 6th weapons are for the most part a challenge to get so collectors have plenty to look forward to. I'm just really irked that they didn't include the original Japanese audio for this one. I've had it in previous DW games on consoles but for some reason they just decided not to include it. I would definitely recommend this title to any DW fan. To those who are new to the series: It's a glorified hack'n'slash, set in the Three Kingdoms era of feudal China(following the story of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms). If that's the kind of game you enjoy, I also recommend this to you. BREAKDOWN: The story is given in various formats. Cinematic cutscenes are used to tell some more dramatic moments, while the stories of the battles themselves are told during gameplay through dialogue. Exposition and time skip filler story is presented in visual novel format. The story itself is, of course, the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. If you've played any other DW game before, you know what that means. If not, then honestly the DW games are probably the best way for you to experience that story. Audio is standard DW, which is both a pro and a con. A pro because it's very concise and action packed, from SFX to BG music, so the audio really adds to the impact of the game. A con because it literally has not changed since like, PS2 days. The audio is more high definition, sure, but those death screams are the same death screams I heard as a child, slaughtering thousands of hapless Chinese peasants. Gameplay is standard of a DW game. No weird gimmicks in this one like they've experimented with before, just pure and simple attacking, blocking, parrying. However, with the game's cast of 50+ playable characters, each with their own unique weapon, the gameplay can remain fresh for quite some time if you change up who you are playing or what weapons you are using. EDIT: I forgot to mention the one new thing they did add this installment, which is the Weapon Attunement system. Basically it's a rock/paper/scissors(or in this case Heaven/Earth/Man) system where certain attuned weapons do more damage to and allow for storm rushes against enemy officers using an attunement that is weak to yours. You are allowed two weapons and the game(and I) recomment using two different attunements in order to prevent enemy officers from having an attunement advantage. Graphics are... console port quality. To be fair, I doubt the studio ever put a lot of attention into the peons in the first place, but they look like clay soldiers when they do close ups of their faces. The officers themselves are much more defined, and they actually look good. It's also not very optimized to run in 1080p(which is an option on the PC version). I have a pretty beefy rig but I still notice huge frame drops when I first load a mission for seemingly no reason. It smooths out quickly though and will stay running smooth until the next time I launch the game. OVERALL: I'm leaning on a 7.5/10 for this one. Really is a lot of fun, but I think it's a very niche game. PS: About the multiplayer thing: It's been my experience that DW has never had online co-op. It's always been local co-op, so not sure what to say about that. I'm not sure if they will ever do online co-op for a Musou game so don't expect it to be a thing for this one.