Dynasty Warriors Could Be a 2025 GOTY Hit

In a year that’s offering up Grand Theft Auto 6, Death Stranding 2, Avowed, Assassin’s Creed and a new Monster Hunter, Koei’s hack and slash series may not be an obvious GOTY contender. But the Dynasty Warriors: Origins demo paints a picture of a game hitting way above its budget roots.

Listen, I know how it sounds. I’ve been playing the Dynasty Warriors games since I got the second one with my PS2. I love it, but it’s never pushed the envelope. Often popular, yes, but without troubling any Best Of lists throughout the years.

That’s become more obvious with time. The moves have gotten slicker and the character roster has grown beyond belief. I’m pretty sure Dynasty Warriors 8 has a character for every person alive in China during the Three Kingdoms period. But the gameplay stagnated, right up until the ill-fated attempt at an open world. The series could have been dead and buried after 9.

The Origins demo now available on Steam, Xbox and PlayStaton, is the Dynasty Warriors game of our dreams. It what you imagined Dynasty Warriors should be while playing Dynasty Warriors. By borrowing some soulslike ideas and growing the sense of battlefield scale, this game finally justifies its scale.

Because in the past, the most important part of any level was five feet in front of you. Since the early PS2 games, which we quite hard, the 1 vs 1000 ethos has been taken quite literally. You are the secret weapon upon which the battle hinges. Actually, you’re the only weapon. Other characters exits, but mostly to push story or to give a sense that you’re not alone.

Origins redefines this whole thing. And the change has taken Dynasty Warriors from a guilty pleasure to a possible GOTY hit.

Dynasty Warriors – Back to the Future

I suppose it makes sense that they’ve picked the Origins subtitle. While they’ve gone back to basics in many ways, Koei are definitely looking forward. This is a new Dynasty Warriors for a new generation of players. And they’re in for a treat.

The sense of scale truly is immense. And not just in terms of soldiers, although you’ll see hundreds on screen at once. There are things happening all over the map, and they matter. You can control soldiers of you own, leading them to perform moves that can change the tide of battle around you. Markers all over the map point to tense skirmishes, each of which can make your life easier or harder depending on the outcome.

Your character’s moveset has improved too. Enemy officers now present a real threat to you, and you can parry or dodge their attacks to your hearts content. You never feel passive, simply hitting the Dynasty Warriors tradition of square, square, square, triangle.

Your Musou move will fling 300 people in the air. You’ll tackle giant armies who will charge into you and throw you around if you get too cocky.

This is the game Dynasty Warriors has always wanted to be. And while I have to keep reminding myself that all of this is based on a demo, if the full game can keep up that momentum we’re onto something unique. There’s never been very much like Koei’s Warriors franchise. Now it truly is doing something nobody else has even attempted.

I don’t think it’ll win GOTY. Come on. Grand Theft Auto 6 has that in the bag. Hell, even if we just get a trailer and a 2026 release date, GTA6 will probably win. They allow DLC now too, so why not?

But the fact that Dynasty Warriors might even deserve to be in the conversation is a development I never would have expected, even as a plucky little outsider. And this might be worth so much more than that. What a time to be alive.