During last week’s much-anticipated full-length Nintendo Direct, the announcement of Samurai Warriors 5 came out of nowhere. The shock comes from the fact that the last time Koei Tecmo even so much as mentioned the Samurai Warriors franchise was around 2017 when they stated they were working on a new SW game, before promptly not saying another word about it until last week.
The promised summer launch of Samurai Warriors 5 will not only end the drought of a new title in the series since 2016’s Spirit of Sanada spin-off, but also mark the first numbered entry since the oddly named Samurai Warriors 4-II in 2015. While it will release on all major consoles and PC, the biggest thing to note is that this will also mark the series debut in the west on the Nintendo Switch, as there have been some Japan-exclusive Switch ports in the past.
For those unfamiliar with the franchise, Samurai Warriors is the sister series of Koei Tecmo’s own Dynasty Warriors. As the name sort of implies, the games take place during the Sengoku/Warring States period of Japanese history. In keeping with the Koei Tecmo published, Omega Force developed Warriors-style games, the series utilises their signature 1-vs-100 (or 1-vs-1000 as the SW5 announcement trailer dubbed it) hack and slash gameplay.
The games are also more than just palette swaps of ancient China to feudal Japan. While maintaining the same core gameplay, there’s differences in the scope and focuses of each game, the hallmark Musou combat system works a little differently, and the games adopt a few Eastern RPG tropes, giving the games solid replay value.
Compared to Dynasty Warriors, which usually divides their stories based on one of the three (and later four) major historical factions of the era, Samurai Warriors and their clan-to-clan combat is a bit too messy to be split so evenly. Instead of faction based tales, they often tend to be more individual and usually loosely stick to one time frame of specific events.
The major exception to both of these is Spirit of Sanada, which focused only on one clan and its most notable members. With SW5 promising to focus on Nobunaga Oda and Mitsuide Akechi and their tumultuous relationship, it seems this may be the route they go once again, which I’m honestly all for. Outside of Spirit of Sanada, non-licensed Warrior games aren’t really known for their narrative power, but considering the dynamics and dramatics surrounding just these two men leading to an infamous betrayal, I have high hopes for it.
What has my nerves gripped the hardest, though, is the promise the game is a “fresh re-imagining.” While this explains why it took them longer than usual to crank out the next installment, considering the last “re-imagining” took place in the dumpster fire that was Dynasty Warriors 9, you can see how this phrase invites some apprehension.
The only thing that’s been shown to have really been overhauled so far is the character designs and visuals. I’ve seen some fan reservations about some of what they’ve shown, especially on the subjects of Nobunaga’s signature facial hair being absent and Mitsuhide’s design that looks like he’s wearing a bird in his hair. This is where I’m actually pretty excited. As mentioned, there hasn’t been a mainline Samurai Warriors game for a large portion of the last generation so there had to be some kind of update on aesthetics.
On top of that, I am in love with the classical Japanese sumi-e brush and watercolor technique they seem to be doing with some of the visuals. I know it doesn’t belong to just one work, but anything that bears resemblance to the gorgeous style of Okami will forever be in my win column. In addition, the characters also appear to have a hint of cel-shading, which I also go gaga over.
The youthfulness of the characters shown so far also shouldn’t be an area of concern. If they do keep the format of Spirit of Sanada, which follows the entire history of certain characters, it means they will almost certainly age. I’m sure this is something more historical or realism minded players will appreciate.
Despite these changes I’m very much on board with, there is also the looming threat of that dreaded m-word – microtransactions. As I noted when writing about the DW9: Empires reveal, Koei Tecmo has become obsessed with pumping out tons of DLC via season passes, most of which are entirely underwhelming.
In theory, this is perhaps a better alternative than what they did in years past of releasing three or four different versions of the same full-priced game with some added content. But, in practice, there is no excuse for games designed to be played with your brain turned off while demolishing hordes of mindless enemies expecting you to pony up $50-ish bucks multiple times for, at best, a couple of extra characters.
Another concern is on the narrative front. While I’m more than excited to dive deep into the Nobunaga/Mitsuhide relationship – and this may be spoilers for a war that ended 400+ years ago – neither man makes it past Act II of the four act late-Sengoku history, meaning they’re not around for half of the good shit.
If the game focuses on them, I’m all for it, but I’m really hoping the story doesn’t abruptly cut off after they leave the narrative and waste the potential of some of these new visuals to show us the whole war. Or even worse: they lock any post-Nobunaga/Mitsuhide story content behind season passes or some kind of “complete edition” later.
In any case, it appears as though the game will be getting a livestream on Feb. 25th in Japan (or Feb. 24th for some parts of the world) that could answer some questions. If you really want, you can follow development and features up until launch because the game will apparently be getting monthly livestream updates.
On the heels of fantastically received releases like Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity and Persona 5 Strikers, the bar for Warriors games has been elevated. I’m not saying SW5 is expected to be GOTY material, but my easily amused ass will be most interested to see how – or if – Koei Tecmo and Omega Force take the next step in their absurdly fun but oft-overlooked catalogue of Warriors games.
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