Dynasty Warriors 8 Empires Reviews
A minor evolution, but a highly enjoyable one
The new features in the expansion are highly enjoyable and make Empires worth replaying, just to get the chance to try everything out. Having kids and using the enhanced stratagems are definitely the top changes; even if the battle system might feel old, it adds value to what already is a concrete battle system.
Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires doesn't want to innovate but it fails to provide long-time veterans with anything truly new and exciting. Even casual players will eventually be bored with the utter repetitiveness of combat.
At the end of the day, Empires mode is arguably where the crux of the experience lies and as such it really does add a lot of crucial depth to a series that is regarded in many circles as a largely one-trick pony. It's just a shame that similar evolutions aren't forthcoming in other areas of the game which, some nearly fifteen years on, are now starting to look really quite old in the tooth.
Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires manages to mix two largely different gameplay types into one game and makes it work. There's a lot of content to play through, and a great amount of customization. It provides hours upon hours of content without getting too boring or repetitive.
Also, until Koei Tecmo starts localising the Romance of the Three Kingdoms games again, this will be the closest we get to that superb series in English. While I do want to see the Romance games again as well, I'll take this in the meantime.
Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires breaks Omega Force's streak in releasing games that can change the minds of series critics. By reverting back to basics with so few modes, the title returns to something of a monotonous grind if you aren't playing as the kingdom leader. Campaigns blend into one another and have very few differentiating factors between them. The creation system is vast but not as much as the PS4 version, and the lack of modes makes the game feel quite small, even though the campaign can last countless hours. It spares Xbox One owners from dealing with a deluge of cosmetic DLC, and it doesn't have to compete with too many other Musou games on this platform. However, it is still the weakest in the series thus far and can only be recommended to lapsed fans and die-hard fans who play all of the entries.
Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires provides you with the tools to create your own epic tale of love, betrayal and war, but it won't spoon feed it to you; your imagination must do some of the work to flesh out the experience. The change of pace from the frantic combat offered by the strategic elements of Empire Mode helps keeps things fresh, but if you aren't able to invest interest in the characters and the kingdoms, or can't stomach the cathartic but repetitive combat, Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires may not win you over. For everyone else, Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires is quite possibly the best Dynasty Warriors game to date, on the verge of greatness.
Aside from these mild drawbacks, Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires is a solid, entertaining adventure that successfully mixes depth and over-the-top combat. When off the battlefield, it adopts the feel of a strategy game and when customizing and advancing your hero, you get that distinct RPG vibe. And when you hit the battlefield, the contest explodes all over that small screen.
Although Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires follows in the tradition of a core game followed by its Empires equivalent, the combat feels stale and despite its massive cast there is very little do with it.
Perhaps brush up on Dynasty Warriors 8 first, and if you like what it has to offer, then Empires might be for you.
I have to say, I had a lot of fun with Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires. The level of customization here is crazy, the political parts of the game are easy to understand, it’s fun to stroll around with officers, and the combat here is great. I feel like if I were playing this on a higher difficulty the strategy part would get insane, but there are a few different levels to choose from. This means every player can adjust this until it feels right to them. It took me around 10 hours to do one campaign and see a good bit of the events this one has to offer. There is still plenty of gameplay on the table here for me. If you are fan of these games, this one would certainly be worth the $59.99 asking price. There is a lot of meat here to keep players happy for a long time. If you want a graphically stunning version, the Switch version probably isn’t the way to go, but it runs well enough that if you want to have it on the go, it certainly isn’t a bad choice.