The Dynasty Warriors series, traditionally a linear hack-and-slash experience, saw a departure with Dynasty Warriors 9's open world. This raises the question: does Dynasty Warriors: Origins follow suit?
Does Dynasty Warriors: Origins Feature an Open World?
No, Dynasty Warriors: Origins does not have an open world. The recent trend of incorporating open worlds into AAA titles hasn't always resulted in improved quality. Dynasty Warriors 9's open world, for example, was widely criticized for its emptiness and poorly implemented scale. The vastness diluted the impact of large-scale battles.
Thankfully, Dynasty Warriors: Origins avoids this pitfall. Instead of a sprawling open world, it features a condensed overworld map of ancient China.
Players navigate this smaller map, visiting towns to acquire weapons and items, and resting at inns. The map's compact size allows traversal in under a minute, rendering the fast travel option largely unnecessary. This overworld serves as a hub for interacting with NPCs to initiate side quests, discovering items (Pyroxene and Old Coins), engaging in optional battles to enhance proficiency and recruit soldiers, and triggering cutscenes to advance the storyline. While functional, the overworld's design is simple and doesn't significantly enhance gameplay, yet it's a considerable improvement over the largely empty open world of Dynasty Warriors 9.
Dynasty Warriors: Origins is currently available on PS5, PC, and Xbox Series X/S.
