Samurai Warriors 5 Review

Koei Tecmo and Omega Force have not shied away from releasing their Warrior Musou games for the Nintendo Switch in recent years. If you want to cut through the Moblin slime of iconic characters and romance in the Three Kingdoms, you'll find it. Fighting battles need a reason to fight, and in Samurai Warriors 5 the story mode takes players back to the Sengoku period of Japanese history, when the young Nobunaga Oda is drawn against his friend-turned-foe Mitsuhide Akechi.

Nobunaga Oda, the legendary feudal lord of the 15th century Japan, has been portrayed in many Japanese media and video games as the villain but Samurai Warriors 5 is a rare case in which the young Oda turns out to be something of an antihero as the game depicts his early rise as a conqueror and unifier of Japan. For fans of fictionalized Japanese history, this is a cool spin on Nobunaga and the various other supporting characters have chemistry. As the first major foray into the series for a new generation of gaming, Samurai Warriors looks to perform the role well.

Based on the Japanese wargames, samurai warrior games built on previous entries by adding new characters and covering arcane historical ground. Samurai Warriors 5 may not break the mould of its many, many ancestors but it manages to polish its edges to become an impressive, feature-rich action game. It brings modern consoles and PC visuals, refreshes its cast of Japanese historical figures, and comes away with a safer, more satisfying experience.

At this point, I could still say two thousand words about Samurai Warriors 5, but for the sake of sanity I would like to say that this is one of the best Warriors games in a long time, not to mention a great start for anyone new to the series. A regular diet of Musou games can lead to malnutrition, but a game like this is a great reminder of how much fun they can be. In every game, including this one, there is at least a hint of repetition, but with its balanced, well-to-told story, fluid action, memorable characters and epic battles, it's a great way to immerse yourself in the franchise and a welcome new direction for long-time fans.

Samurai Warriors 5 on the Nintendo Switch is the best way to experience the game if you prefer portability more than tolerating cuts in different visual features. It feels like the performance on the handheld is slightly worse, but it's still better than most Warrior games on the system. While I was generally hoping for a more stable frame rate, Samurai Warriors 5 has an aesthetic that supports well, and it's a lot of fun to play.

The stories focus on Nobunaga and Mitsuhide, a dyad with strong tropical Naruto / Sasuke vibes, which leads to a useful shounen (manga-like) narrative. The game looks great, with cel-shaded, woodcut print-style art that is colorful and popping. The colors in the game are vibrant, and the attack effects are great, in part because the design has been brightened up in a way that looks like a Dang Cel shade, but with a much smoother touch.

For Japanese history buffs and more, it is a story that not only captivates, but also offers a robust cast, dozens of missions, many upgrades to unlock, and numerous opportunities to experience meaningless hours of action. It's less overwhelming, to say the least, than other games in the series. To be honest, the secondary modes in which you can participate in narrative-independent battles and get additional material rewards to upgrade your castle are the most attractive secondary gameplay mode I've ever experienced in a warrior game, and the main storytelling mode of the game is comprehensive, meaty and doesn't feel like anything changed in Samurai Warriors 5 over time.

I like this mode because it is one of the best done challenges, but it is not as deep as I would like it to develop into something special. By encouraging you to pay close attention to the context of the action you are playing, Koei Tecmo has done a good job of using targets to move you in the right direction around the battlefield. Outside of the main narrative mode of the games, you have the usual plethora of activities to undertake. There is also the option to play as one of the other 37 characters that appear from time to time, although most levels require you to spend time with the main hero when you first play through.

I can't remember the last time I cared so much about leveling the entire list of characters in a warrior game. We were surprised that No 10 didn't make the same choice. Samurai Warriors 5 (PS5, PS4) Review: 8 / 10 8 / 10 8 / 10 Summary Whether you are a grubby Musou genre veteran with a dirty thumb or a bubble-free newcomer to the genre, Samurai Warriors 5 is a great game.

This kind of thoughtlessness in a game like this serves as a nice change from the more demanding ones and as a reminder that Musou games are a niche for a reason. It is the struggle that makes them genre specific, but story and context are important, linked to the plot with something similar to reality. Like Final Fantasy, most Musou sequels resemble those before them.

When Dynasty Warriors 2 was released in the early days of PlayStation 2, it was undoubtedly an immediate technical showcase for future games. Hack-and-slash action games in the Musou style of Koei Tecmo (also known in English as warriors) have held over the last three generation games and even managed to expand to other IPs, including Nintendo. SW5 "s fight builds on the core of its immediate predecessor, with new elements such as ultimate skills that players of licensed Musou games such as Dragon Quest Heroes, Persona 5 and Strikers will be familiar with.