Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires Reviews
Across the board, Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires is not really a bad game. It hits a certain niche and mixes in your typical Musou genre gameplay with strategic political choices. It’s not really a game for everyone and is quite repetitive, but then again the franchise is known for its repetition and has been around forever. It’s completely up to the player if they enjoy this type of rinse and repeat gameplay or not.
Dynasty Warriors 9: Empires is a niche version of an already divisive game and provides very little innovation to the musou formula. It honestly feels like a half-baked game, as if developer Koei Temco felt the need to keep the Empires spinoff line of games going simply because it has done it in the past. There are better musou games out there and better strategy games out there, and I honestly can't recommend this game to fans of either type of game. Ultimately, Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires won't hold your interest for any extended period of time unless you're already a fan of the franchise.
Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires is a title that will most likely only admirers of the particular combination of musou and management that has always distinguished this strand of the famous saga.
Review in Italian | Read full review
While Dynasty Warriors 9: Empires didn’t blow us away by doing something fresh with the franchise, that’s never been the point with Musou titles. The game gives you more of what you want: colossal battles in which you regularly rack up thousands of kills and see epic rivalries between great leaders emerge and die before your eyes.
Dynasty Warriors 9: Empires had imperial ambitions. I ended up with an identical game with additional option windows. Before we meet a thousand opponents, we will pretend to manage empires. And unfortunately, it will end with going. Production definitely not worth the price.
Review in Polish | Read full review
Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires is a game that continues a cult saga with not very good direction. It has notable points at the level of strategy and to be able to live a bit of the history/legends of China, but on the contrary, it has many aspects to improve like combat gameplay and the graphic section.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires is the depressing follow up to the most disappointing entry in the whole Koei Tecmo hack'n'slash series. The strategic aspect that allegeldy distinguishes it from the predecessor is barely there while the action mechanics are basically the same, with castle sieges being the only real new offer of the whole package. Some clever ideas are noticeable, but most of them are reused from previous iterations. What Omega Force packed in the game at launch is not enough to build an entire experience on repetition.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires combines the musou action of Dynasty Warriors with turn-based resource management games, achieving a remarkable game that will meet our expectations if the original Dynasty Warriors 9 fell a tad short.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires brings new gameplay features to the table, but remains the same Three Kingdoms era slaughter fest fans have been enjoying the past twenty years.
Omega Force manages to combine the musou style of Dynasty Warriors with elements of tactical action and turn-based strategy in a very entertaining title, although with the usual problem of the series: it is repetitive.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires has that great gameplay that really kept me motivating. The graphics on PS5 did the opposite, however - that world and the textures seem to have fallen out of time. Fans of the series will surely like the game, newcomers should check it out somewhere first.
Review in German | Read full review
Dynasty Warriors 9: Empires is a definite improvement on its predecessor - but that's not saying much. The return of set maps and straightforward objectives is welcome, and in typical Empires fashion, there's so much potential for interesting player-driven storylines. There is an addictive hack-and-slash loop at work here, and it's tempered by some decent tactical tweaks. But to fully enjoy it, you've got to wade through a mire of shockingly ugly visuals and boring battlefield design.
Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires almost feels like Omega Force trying to apologize for the misstep that was Dynasty Warriors 9. Whilst, admittedly, very little has been done to move the Empires series forward, I think this is exactly what Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires needed to be; comfort food for fans of the franchise who may have been concerned about the trajectory the franchise was on, following the failed open-world experiment. By focusing on providing a familiar blend of strategy and impeccable combat, Omega Force has delivered an experience that feels like it has the interests of the fans at its core. Where Omega Force goes from here with both the mainline entries and subsequent Empires games remains to be seen, but for now, fans can at least enjoy this return to form.
Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires has some interesting strategy elements, but the combat is so far behind other recent Musou games.
Dynasty Warriors Empires has always been for the die-hard fans. Those who enjoy the hack n' slash combat and love adding their own tactical twist. Those wanting to direct custom campaigns and create their own musou legend. Even if DW9 left a sour taste, there's some solace to be found here within its repurposed carcass, though redemption may still be lost.
Dynasty Warriors 9 Empire is a strategic rather bland, with fights in musou style just passable. The result is still a decent game, though clearly aimed only at fans of the genre.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires gives the player a wide and deeper range of possibilities than its predecessors to lead a successful campaign conquering third-century China. However, despite its deeper management and its simple (indeed solid) one-versus-thousands formula, it fails to complete develope its growth from the past, also struggling with a graphic engine still overwhelmed with fatigue and technical issues. Give it a try (even with the demo) and then decide.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Even wandering your territory to build your relationships can be done entirely in menus, removing the need to engage with the openworld. Unfortunately you'll still need to take part in battles, which should not be a downside in a Warriors game. If you can laser focus on the strategy elements, and maybe favor diplomacy over direct conflict, there is a playable though still rough experience here. But if you're looking for satisfying Warriors combat, there are plenty of better options already on Switch.
Over time you’ll notice little frustrations building up when playing DW9E. I think its focus on strategy and roleplaying is much more appealing to me this time around, even with some features being lost from prior Empires games (like quests and events from Dynasty Warriors 8 Empires). But despite some shortcomings, Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires offers a unique strategy experience you’ll be hard-pressed to find elsewhere.