A surprise announcement during the latest State of Play, we're hoping that Dynasty Warriors: Origins will be a return to form for Koei Tecmo's hack and slash series. While not a traditional Dynasty Warriors experience in that you'll be playing as a "nameless hero" who's thrown into the Three Kingdoms chaos, this is starting to sound like the step forward that the franchise needs — particularly in terms of technical prowess.
Writing on the PlayStation Blog, Omega Force boss Tomohiko Sho says that this is simply "the most thrilling warfare we’ve ever been able to create". Now, Dynasty Warriors has always been sold on the back of its big battles. Even on PS2, these games were all about cleaving your way through hundreds — if not thousands — of enemy troops. And the developer's going back to the base concept.
"We’re making the most of the PS5 hardware specs, creating an all-new Warriors-like battlefield where you’re challenged by massive armies as far as the eye can see," Sho continues. "With the overwhelming number and scale of enemy armies pushing towards you, you’ll have to act fast and with force if you want to survive. In addition to your own striking power, you’ll need to coordinate with allied armies and enjoy the tactical aspects of gameplay in order to take out the hoard of enemies in our most tension-filled fights to date."
It certainly sounds impressive — and it looked pretty impressive in the reveal trailer — but we'll obviously need to see some raw gameplay before jumping to any conclusions. Still, we seem to be off to a promising start.