Dynasty Warriors 7 Empires Review

As a critic with significant experience of the Warriors series, I often face questions from my peers about my fondness for it. It’s too simplistic, claim its detractors, too repetitive. There’s no depth. You just have to press the square button over and over to win. These are the most common criticisms, and they’re hard to completely dismiss. On the lowest difficulties, there’s a strong element of truth to those complaints. But that ignores a huge part of its appeal. It’s the empowering, escapist joy of being a badass warrior from Three Kingdoms-era China carrying a weapon almost as big as you. If you ever need to de-stress or unwind, try playing a Warriors game on Easy for a couple of hours – there are few games more therapeutic. It’s not designed to be played over long stretches, and that’s why the review process rarely does a series like this any favours.On the higher levels, however, Dynasty Warriors is much more strategic than many will acknowledge. On Hard mode or above, and even to a degree on Normal, at some point you’ll have to prioritise. Which bases are most territorially advantageous to capture? Which officers do I need to keep alive at all costs? Should I draw out my enemy into an ambush, or sacrifice defence for an all-out attack? Here, battles are much more closely fought, and it’s generally where you learn to pick your fights. DW7: Empires is all about doing the same – both on and off the battlefield. If you’ve enjoyed the limited strategic elements of Dynasty Warriors and wanted a deeper kind of experience, this is the ideal place to jump in.

Unlike the mainline titles, there’s just a single game mode. Start a game of Empires and you have a choice of several campaigns, from the Yellow Turban Rebellion in 184AD to the fight for power between Sima Yi and Cao Shuang in 249AD, but essentially each one is a land grab. The objective is to expand your kingdom’s reach by allying with and capturing other states. If the ultimate goal is the same, however, you’re given a number of options in how you achieve it.

If you’ve enjoyed the limited strategic elements of Dynasty Warriors and wanted a deeper kind of experience, this is the ideal place to jump in.

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For starters, your choice of officer makes a big difference to how the game is played. If you’re a ruler or a strategist, you can propose the policies for your kingdom for the next six months at War Council meetings. If you’re a subordinate, on the other hand, you’ll be given missions that reward you if you complete them successfully – from earning fame or wealth to winning skirmishes or requesting reinforcements from a neighbouring kingdom. The more you complete, the better chance you have of a promotion, and the more likely it is that any policy objections you voice will be listened to.

If you favour a more diplomatic approach, you can negotiate with kingdoms to obtain a strategic advantage, form temporary alliances to keep the peace or even request a joint attack to take down a more powerful opponent. A moderate approach tends to work for most leaders, but depending on the type of ruler you’re bargaining with, a more threatening tone may achieve the desired result. You can also talk with other officers to improve personal relationships: reach the top friendship rank and you have the option to become sworn siblings, or even marry an officer of the opposite gender (sadly, same-sex unions are not yet permitted), which conveys extra benefits when they’re fighting alongside you.

Alternatively, if you’re concerned about a rival officer, you can expend resources slandering their name to get your leader to banish them. Hey, they didn’t award me the title of Strategist for nothing, you know.

All the while you’re tasked with managing your three main resources: food, information and gold. You can encourage commerce to increase your flow of income, for example, or if you’re the more benevolent type, donate resources to your people. In turn, this affects your character’s Fame rating in a number of categories – Wise warriors tend to play the long game, while Affluent officers always make sure they’ve got plenty of funds in reserve. You get one turn per in-game month, so you need to make it count. Regardless of your approach, you can’t really afford to be too much of a pacifist – at some stage you’ll have to get your hands dirty. On occasion your territory will be invaded, and if you ignore it for three months you’ll lose that piece of land.

In other words, don’t expect too much difference in its fighting systems. If you didn’t like Dynasty Warriors’ combat before, you’ll see nothing here to change your mind.

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But does any of this off-field activity make a difference? On the lower levels it’s hard to notice a tangible change – I deliberately went into battle against a tougher opponent, but as I was doing most of the legwork, it wasn’t particularly difficult, if perhaps a little more time-consuming. Then again, a similar battle on a higher difficulty depleted my ranks to such a degree that the next skirmish turned into Cao Cao’s Last Stand. It’s important, therefore, not to simply hurl yourself into the fray month after month, but to properly prepare for combat. Those hoping to play Empires like a standard Warriors game will regularly find themselves short-handed. If you like a challenge, however, taking on 2500 men with just 800 troops of your own and winning is enormously satisfying, if rather damaging to your prospects of sustained success.

As you progress, you’ll unlock Stratagems to turn the tide during invasion battles, and it’s here that the game’s tactical side is at its most potent. You can take a handful of these cards into battle and deploy them under certain conditions, the options available determined by your level of fame in each category. If your bases are at risk of attack, for example, you can fortify them by locking the gates down. Or if an enemy flag is well defended, you might call in a volley of arrows to thin out numbers, ready for your army to step in and take down the stragglers. Evil officers, meanwhile, can opt to sacrifice the durability of their bases for an increase in their personal attack stat. As long as you’re playing on Normal difficulty or above you’ll find these can make a big difference if used skilfully, and it’s genuinely thrilling to turn the tables when you’re taking a battering. A triumphant comeback in a vital territorial battle makes such a huge difference to the policies for the coming six months. Hitting square over and over and jabbing the circle button for the occasional Musou attack simply isn’t going to cut it here; there’s much more to think about.

You can rewrite history if you so choose. A limited number of officers are recommended for each campaign, but there’s a wider selection if you want a change from the usual faces. Talking of new faces, you can create your own officer in Edit mode, and if you’re concerned about the restrictions of the five default scenarios, there’s another campaign that allows you to select any officer as a ruler along with your two senior subordinates and starting territory.

Beyond this, there’s one brand new officer in the form of the nimble Xu Shu, who wields a sword and hook, one of just two new weapons. Others have different weapons and new EX moves, but otherwise the tweaks are fairly minor. In other words, don’t expect too much difference in its fighting systems. If you didn’t like Dynasty Warriors’ combat before, you’ll see nothing here to change your mind.

Verdict

In other words, Empires is preaching to the converted, though series veterans certainly won’t be bothered by that news. It all depends what you’re after from a Warriors game: do you want more game modes and a focus on combat? Stick with Dynasty Warriors 7, or better still, the superb Warriors Orochi 3. If, however, you’re looking for a deeper strategic element to go with your hacking and slashing, Empires should fill that hole very nicely.

Dynasty Warriors 7 Empires Review - IGN (2024)

Verdict