Dynasty Warriors Origins’ Character Roster Is Worrying

The Dynasty Warriors series will make its return in 2025 with Dynasty Warriors Origins after seven years since the last mainline entry—Dynasty Warriors 9—came out in 2018. Koei Tecmo has been gradually revealing details of the new game, which will have an overhauled gameplay system that should better portray large-scale battles in classical-era China. However, the company also heavily hinted a small roster of playable characters in Dynasty Warriors Origins that might not sit well with long-time fans of the series.

A majority of Dynasty Warriors fans have been particularly fixated with a large number of unique characters of weapons. This is why many of them still regard Dynasty Warriors 8 (and its Xtreme Legends expansion) as the series’ peak, as it had around 80 characters with all having their own unique weapon sets. Even when Dynasty Warriors 9 had even more characters added to the list, its reception fell flat as Omega Force reduced the number of unique weapons following the adventurous implementation of the State Combo action system.

The new Dynasty Warriors Origins will have its action system return to the tried-and-true Charge Combo system from most of the series’ entries, where players can launch different strong attacks based on the normal attack chain position. However, many long-time fans raised their eyebrows when Omega Force all but confirmed the further reductions of playable unique characters and weapons.

Subsequent live streams during Tokyo Game Show 2024 gradually suggested that Omega Force will only feature nine out of the 94 that appeared in Dynasty Warriors 9 as playable characters in Origins. The game’s producer Tomohiko Sho added that most of the remaining characters, including the likes of Lu Bu and Diaochan, will only appear as unique NPCs in battles and cutscenes.

That also means Sun Shangxiang will be the only playable female character in the Dynasty Warriors Origins roster. None of the existing characters will be available to control for a long time either, as Omega Force will make them appear as companions for a new original protagonist, who also acts as the player’s avatar in the game’s story.

In addition, Sho has also confirmed that the new male protagonist will not be customizable beyond the input for his name. But to play devil’s advocate on this matter, perhaps Omega Force had to do it to distinguish the game from Team Ninja’s Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, which already featured a customizable protagonist in the same Chinese Three Kingdoms era.

The sudden roster reduction in Dynasty Warriors Origins could be very much attributed to Tomohiko Sho, who took over the producer’s helm from the series’ long-time producer Akihiro Suzuki. Sho was also in charge of Dynasty Warriors 6, which was also one of the series’ lowest points as it completely omitted several unique characters who had appeared in Dynasty Warriors 5, such as Sun Ce’s wife Da Qiao.

Although Sho had since promised that he would not omit any unique characters in Origins, the TGS presentations revealed that it would only apply to figures featured up until the Battle of Chi Bi (Red Cliffs) in 208 AD. That ultimately means characters who would only appear after the major battle still end up getting omitted entirely.

In addition, Sho also hinted in one of the TGS streams that Cao Cao’s son Cao Pi might not appear in Origins, and that might add a contradiction to the game’s roster and storyline. One of the gameplay showcases shown at TGS 2024 already confirmed the appearance of Cao Pi’s eventual wife Zhenji in the Battle of Guandu, which historically took place in 200 AD.

While Zhenji would not immediately surrender to Cao Cao’s army following this battle, the Romance of the Three Kingdoms novel had Cao Pi participate in his father’s conquest of the Yuan clan’s capital city Ye in 204 AD while taking Zhenji as his wife. If Cao Pi does indeed not appear in Dynasty Warriors Origins at all, the game would not feature this episode and run contrary to Producer Sho’s promise of depicting the covered period’s events in more detail.

In previous Warriors entries, Koei Tecmo would usually address the character roster issues by releasing DLC that would turn some of the NPCs into playables. But as of TGS 2024, the company has curiously still yet to even announce a season pass that would normally contain these extras.

Koei Tecmo and Omega Force had previously done a similar overhaul in character and weapon rosters with Samurai Warriors 5. But by branding the new game Dynasty Warriors Origins, the company and the studio does seem to have learned a lesson to properly mark the new game as a reboot.

However, while Omega Force may place its focus on improving the battles’ presentations and the uniqueness of each weapon type’s move set, all of those might be in vain if many of the long-time fans, who have grown attached to the series’ characters, renounce their support for the new game due to its dismal roster.

Dynasty Warriors Origins will be available for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC worldwide on January 17, 2025.