Samurai Warriors 5 Reviews
Samurai Warriors 5 is an extremely over-the-top, ridiculous game. It’s a game where your character can slice his enormous sword at a battalion of soldiers, obliterating them in a massive fireball. It’s a game where you can ride your horse through hundreds of archers, cutting them down while barely getting a scratch on you. It’s a game where if you pull off the correct combination of moves, your character can basically “fly”, zipping around with inhuman speed while inflicting devastating power attacks. All of this from what is on paper supposed to be a realistic, historical action game. This juxtaposition of a relatively serious story with the ludicrous action is a formula that works surprisingly well, creating a core gameplay loop which is engaging, if sometimes a bit repetitive. If you accept the game for what it is, you’ll find a satisfying hack-and-slash with plenty of replayability.
Like all franchises that use a tried and tested formula, you could accuse Samurai Warriors 5 of being much of the same that we’ve seen in previous entries. And perhaps there’s some truth to that, but it stands to reason that I’m still playing these titles twenty years on without any sign of letting up. Yes, this is a traditional Musou title at its core, but it follows that formula in an engaging and entertaining manner whilst making enough improvements to keep the title fresh. There have been some additions to this entry which show clear indication that the series is constantly evolving and I’ve no doubt that they’ll keep on improving the formula in the future… Samurai Warriors 5: Empires soon, anyone? Add to that the slick and vibrant visual style and it’s clear that Samurai Warriors 5 isn’t only a lot of fun to play, but it’s also taking the Musou genre in a very positive direction.
Samurai Warriors 5 leaves the dissapointing last entry in the series behind it and offers similar to the quality of Warriors Orochi 4 the usual mass battles without an open world. The new art style is fitting for the setting and the new gameplay elements offer a lot of fun. Besides the big battles, the game fights with laborious menu controls and ressource managament, which could have been left out of the game. If you like musou games you still should definitely check it out.
Review in German | Read full review
Samurai Warriors 5 is just as confusing as the Sengoku period itself - there are some negative feelings around it but I still had a lot of fun with it.
Review in German | Read full review
Samurai Warriors tries to approach the younger audience and does so with a more attractive graphic style and youthful designs. The gameplay has hardly changed and has been cut both in game modes and in the number of playable characters, but even so, it continues to offer great entertainment for fans of the musou.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Samurai Warriors 5 is a strong musou game. It can be a bit repetitive and has some technical stuttering, but blowing through foes and experiencing the fascinating historical story are just too fun.
Samurai Warriors 5 is proof that you shouldn’t fix what isn’t broken. Instead of trying to deviate from its predecessors like Dynasty Warriors 9 did, it reverted back to the franchise’s characteristic formula of mindless-but-cathartic button mashing coupled with a shocking amount of content and unlockables. Be advised, this is a shallow game, and it’s meant to please a very specific niche. But boy oh boy, does it know how to please said niche with its simple yet addictive gameplay loop.