Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires Review (Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5 & PC)

I’m between two conflicting opinions when it comes to Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires. On the one hand, I’m under its spell, enticed by its polished visuals and the general fact that it’s telling me that it’s a bigger, better, and bolder sequel. But on the other hand, I’m unable to shake the fact that there’s a sense of deja vu between the lines of the ninth installment and its predecessor. It seems that in one moment I’ll be unveiling a new facet, but then I’ll spot something—an attack, a piece of familiar dialogue, or a mechanic that feels awfully too close to home—and I’ll remind myself that it isn’t a new experience; it’s a recycled one with a fresh lick of paint. The world may be a lot bigger, but the mechanics-—the kingdom-building and the mindless button mashing, for example—are about as on the nose as you could possibly get.

Don’t get me wrong, the ninth installment of Empires does get a lot of things right. For example, it builds on the vacant open-world battlefields from the mainline entry and fills them with landmarks to explore and conquer. Moreover, it adds vast mid-battle strategic possibilities to the mix, which essentially gives you more control over the board and allows you to flex your inner tactician. It also features more options in the empire-building process, with more avenues to explore as both an Officer and a Ruler. But again, Empires 9 isn’t a perfect game; it’s just a follow-up to a rather mediocre mainline chapter that fixes a lot of its core problems.

The general objective of Empires 9 remains the same: unify the land and forge your own legacy across the usual Romance of the Three Kingdoms period. As a Free Officer, you have the ability to carve your own path, whether it’s by pledging your allegiance to another faction, forming a vagabond unit and establish your own kingdom, or simply playing the field and serving your own best interests. To that end, everything is the same. You make a choice each month, whether it’s to develop your kingdom through personal affairs, military training, or agricultural education, and on occasion, either invade a piece of the map or defend it from a warring faction. It’s a simple concept, and one that, frankly, hasn’t evolved all that much since the original incarnation. Nevertheless, Empires 9 brings a good amount of depth to the experience, with more avenues of exploration and a harsher emphasis on tactical gameplay.

During what I can only describe as a turbulent twelve-hour exploit through the Yellow Turban Rebellion, I managed to encounter a lot of good things, but just as many bad. The AI, for example, had a nasty habit of halting my progress by actively refusing to invade other kingdoms and keeping us in a perpetual cycle of defending the same piece of the map dozens of times over. And, that’s the annoying thing about Empires: if you’re an Officer, then you can’t make pivotal decisions until you either succeed the existing Ruler, or earn enough of a reputation (Merits, in this case) to be given the opportunity to act on behalf of the kingdom. Frustratingly, reaching such a point more or less requires you to complete the same battle over and over again until you gain enough experience and boost a few Relationship Levels along the way.

To say that the first eight hours of the campaign were tedious would be an understatement, truly. Although the option to branch out and form a vagabond unit was there, the fact that I couldn’t serve a kingdom under a competent ruler made it difficult to advance and explore different aspects of the journey. I’d make a suggestion to invade, but would be refused time and time again simply due to the fact that I lacked the credentials and experience. It became a lot easier, but it also took a long time to convince the empire to make tactical changes that would ultimately influence the board. I had no quarrel with the rags-to-riches format; I just hated the fact that I’d have to replay the same battlefield a dozen times in order to obtain experience and advance to the next official story beat.

Combat-wise, the art of whomping and wading into thousands of soldiers is still a lot of fun. It’s still hectic and a huge pain on the eyes I’ll admit, but if Empires is anything at all, it’s fluid in its ability to construct a good hack and slash experience with satisfying melee combat and buttery smooth combos. To add, Empires 9 features a separate mechanic known as Secret Plans, which allow you to devise your own strategy before entering the battlefield. For instance, if you choose to conjure a hailstorm or blazing inferno, then you must protect specific sorcerers located around the map. It doesn’t alter the gameplay by a great deal, but it does, thankfully, add a little extra weight to the tactical aspect of each conflict.

Unfortunately, while the combat is a lot better in the ninth episode, the battlefields, on the other hand, are perhaps the laziest in the series to date, in that they all contain the same basic elements. It doesn’t matter if it’s your first battle or your seventieth; if you’re in the fight, then you can guarantee that they’ll be a network of ram bases, watch towers, and a desolate castle with a handful of Officers and Generals. It’s great at first, for sure, but as time passes and you slowly begin to develop your kingdom, the world begins to feel more like an eye-rolling burden with a concerning amount of regurgitated assets. And that’s a shame, because beneath its repetitive pattern is a surprisingly fun and engaging kingdom-building experience.

All in all there’s a huge amount of content to shovel through here. In addition to the Eras and custom campaigns, Empires 9 also offers the chance to find a spouse, conceive a child, and form brotherhoods, as well as unlock hundreds, if not thousands of Gems, weapons, and Officers. But that’s Dynasty Warriors for you. Frankly, I’ve yet to find a chapter in the series that doesn’t flaunt the weight of a hundred-hour story.

Verdict

Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires might be a lot bigger than its predecessor in terms of world design and kingdom-building facets, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s a better game overall. Sadly, due to its recycled assets and barren battlefields, the repetition does dampen an otherwise great experience. What’s more, as it suffers from a half-baked AI system that prevents seamless access to a lot of its core content, it can often make for a rather tedious affair. It isn’t dreadful, but to call Empires 9 a flawless successor to its previous incarnation just wouldn’t be an accurate statement.

Suffice it to say that, if you enjoy the generic hook and all of the whomping and whooshing combat that comes with any traditional Dynasty Warriors game, then you’ll probably get a kick out of Empires 9. If you’re after the best Empires experience, however, then you might be better served with the eighth chapter in the anthology. Still on the fence about it? If so, then be sure to check out our original review of the series here.