Romance of the Three Kingdoms can be a thrilling story. While it is tragic, there’s a lot of frontline action and unique characters to meet. Dynasty Warriors: Origins puts you in the front seat of this epic saga, letting you experience the tale for yourself. It’s a bigger responsibility than you realise as you eventually decide how the story ends. You meet the big players from the start of the tale and ally with one of them to unite the kingdoms together.

Dynasty Warriors: Origins puts you in the role of an amnesiac protagonist who somehow gets involved in the conflicts. Despite having no memory, they still remember their amazing combat skills which gets them recognised by every nation. You join the protagonist as they participate in every major story battle while building relationships with the big players. Eventually, when the three nations begin their war, it’s up to you to choose a side and live with the consequences of your actions.

The story of Romance of the Three Kingdoms isn’t new and every Dynasty Warriors game repeats the same story beats. Every major narrative moment plays out the same way and you can’t make major changes. What makes Dynasty Warriors: Origins stand out is the protagonist making an impact. Everyone knows how well they fight and they want that combat power. The protagonist has their own storyline to follow to regain their memories.

Having a protagonist interact with these characters provides new perspectives into their behaviour. For example, most people know Dong Zhuo as a power-grabbing tyrant and that he must go down. But seeing his views of the world from someone who isn’t biased against him adds a new perspective. On the other end of the spectrum, you get to see how morally upright characters like Liu Bei feel when he goes against his values.

Previously, you only had a surface-level interaction with these characters. You know their motives and their desires but you don’t know them as people. Dynasty Warriors: Origins lets you see them in a new way, for better or for worse. You can’t prevent the story from happening and some of your new friends will die. But adding that nuance makes the characters relatable and helps immerse you in the story.

It also helps that you are working with considerably younger characters instead of wise old men. For example, Liu Bei and Cao Cao are often shown as aged, battle-hardened veterans. Now you see them in their youth and “grow up” with them through the story’s conflicts. Everyone’s character design has been upgraded while keeping their youthful vigour. It’s great to see every character get a modern touch while slowly evolving into the aged leaders you know and love.

The combat visuals are impressive as well, showing every movement and strike. It’s also apparent when area-of-effect moves are used or a character is charging up a move. Every environment is detailed and captures the look of ancient China, especially apparent in cutscenes. It really feels like you were transported to Ancient China or are fighting on a dangerous battlefield.

Unfortunately, the character designs and nuances are let down by their English voice acting. It feels emotionless, especially in poignant moments or intense sequences. The Japanese voice acting has fantastic delivery as it keeps those emotions. It feels like a shame that the English voice acting didn’t put as much effort since it would have added a nice touch. Proper pronunciation is also lacking which is also a shame since there’s been time to learn it well.

Most of the combat in Dynasty Warriors: Origins is similar to the previous games; it’s musou-style combat where you have a one-man army against waves of soldiers. However, you mainly control the protagonist throughout the game instead of choosing a character to follow. This means all of your attention is focused on them getting stronger and becoming a threat on the battlefield.

To prevent combat from getting stale too quickly, you obtain a number of weapons throughout the game. These weapons are reminiscent of those wielded by other characters in the story, letting you fight as you wish. To encourage you to use these weapons, the protagonist’s levels are tied to their proficiency in each. You also get training objectives from other characters that help strengthen the protagonist if they use certain weapons.

On one hand, it’s nice to focus on a single character and develop their prowess. It gives you the experience of ‘levelling up’ with other characters in the story. You can eventually control a few characters as companions like Guan Yu or Xiahou Dun, but it’s only temporary. This also lets you choose your preferred playstyle instead of having to learn how to use every single character. There are also plenty of opportunities to experiment with weapons to find what you like.

On the other hand, one of the main appeals of Dynasty Warriors is the chance to use any character from any era of the story. While you can play the protagonist like your favourite character, it’s not the same feeling. Your favourite character might not even be playable for a long time. It’s also a pure single-player game, unlike other titles where there was local co-op. It keeps you immersed as your protagonist but it feels lonelier than usual.

There are some RPG elements outside of combat, like taking on random encounters and buying equipment. You can even explore the world for Old Coin collectibles and travel with waypoints. It’s good to have a break between battles and reorganise your equipment. You also feel like you are travelling around ancient China and participating in events. This isn’t a big addition but it does add to the immersive experience.

Dynasty Warriors: Origins is a great improvement over previous titles in terms of story and visuals. Focusing on a single character and viewing the story as an outsider provides a unique perspective on the complex drama. Combat has a few improvements, particularly with the huge amount of enemies and chaos on screen at once, but it’s otherwise largely the same as before. There are a few areas where the game falls short but this is one of the better Dynasty Warriors titles. If you need an excuse to get into the series, you can’t go wrong here.