Two Minds, 2 cents.

[RazgrizAC]

As a boomer of DW3-5, and disliker of everything after weapon switching became a thing I think I can share a few opinions from the demo.
Firstly very pretty, crisp. Didn't really see any slowdown on pc, I used my xbox controller so it felt natural like most games of this ilk.
As a spinoff title I don't mind the idea of everyones fantasy of being an upcoming soldier in the 3 kingdoms war. Don't lie, everyone has dreamt at least once of being a godlike officer like Xaihau Dun or Ma Chao. So I think there is definitely a place for this game in the roster, but it is certainly 'not' a mainline game.

This is definitely a hero v hero game, killing soldiers seemed much a second thought really. After a few sweeps, the enemy officer would become easily accessible and soldiers would just be swept up in whatever i attacked the officer with. And when you kill the officer, the soldiers just vanish anyway.
In the few times I was fighting soldiers without an officer, like in the bases. It was easy, just sweep attacks and enemies just blow away. Didn't feel as visceral in the older games. Don't know if other weapons had better options, but older games had some guys knock a group in the air and stab them repeatedly. Or picking them up and throwing them at other soldiers. I felt very Neo in Matrix 4 with just push away attacks, rather than Matrix 1-3 with feeling like i was punting people.

Combat is.. odd. I'd have to say it's kind of slow, and despite having the 4 abilities, I tended (with the naginita) to just attack and special spam for the spinning aoe.
The 'assault' ability on 'stagger' (yes we need new jargon sadly) was a bit of a cop out. Looks cool, but most minor officers are executable from 1/3 hp with it. And the damage version just felt like some free unearned damage.

In a 1v1 scenario (duels ill mention later), fights felt kind of flat. A (parry) gutpunches you into a slomo where it's basically signposted 'attack me now'. And was quite easy to achieve on most enemies. Enemy attacks are extremely telegraphed, and if you're midcombo you can't just interrupt that so you're taking the L. And enemy musou attacks often have massive range and often are unblockable so i'd try to jump or run but i'd just misinput mounting horse, the lockon would break constantly so i'd just be blocking in the wrong direction. Was very clunky, and frankly not particularly enjoyable. It felt like some juxtaposition of DW and other genres of fighting games.
Blocking just feels wrong, doesn't work half the time and on hard actively punishes you.

Duels... frankly were a mistake from Day one, were removed from many mainstay games for a reason. In DW3 they were hard, but it was a battle of blocking, vs jumping knockdowns, vs timing of musou. Simple, effective and still felt like a tough battle.
All of the issues above I found when fighting Hua Xong. I'd either parry him and smack him repeatedly with basic attacks, as using abilities he'd likely break through you. Or he'd Musou and you can't really do much about it. Unless using that Mist walk ability thing which is just a free stagger if you can time it. Satisfying yes, but if you play on hard changes are you'll only get one use as if you block you lose all your bravery quickly.
The lack of health and instead a balance bar, an Okay touch but didn't sit right with me.

Lu Bu (whoever voiced 'Loi' Bu needs to be shot and killed) Was a cool view. Sucked the army vanished so it was a 1v1 immediately for me. Being hard mode, 1 shot kill. Standard for Lu Bu but I think with blocking being so weak, the fight is not fun. The long range grab, His triple wave slash that if you block will both empty bravery and stagger you. I didn't even bother duelling him. I'd only win it by cheesing it.
And honestly I'm done with all the magic effects. Old days it was some fire, which just made the swings look badass, maybe a small aoe fire circle on a stomp. But this just feels like an Elden ring boss, with magic lines of death, black and red shadow things that just kill ya if you aren't facing the right way (lock on sucks so this happened a lot).

DW in general has gotten silly with magic, Huang Gai, the legendary bomb throwing badass, wielding a boat with ocean and water magic attacks in Dw8. Wrong game to complain about here, but I miss the simpler times. Is this a action historical title, or warhammer fantasy.

The random prompt i saw during the final big battle where you can swap to a companion. Dunno what the point of that is. Fan service to be a main guy for a minute? A last gasp to be someone at full health before being thrust back into the wanderer. Did it once, don't think i'd ever use it again.

Can't comment on story, if it's re playable with multiple paths, or if it's just one direct story.
Lack of a character creator I've heard is just inexcusable. I don't think 90% of the players want an androgynous character. If it's a solo wanderer fantasy let people choose their looks to a degree. It's not as if the character is voiced, or their looks impacting anything.

The replay tool was a nice introduction, re playable at checkpoints is something new for me. Not sure if it's a bit OP, But then it's a different kind of game.
The group of soldiers you get, I like that and the abilities you can use them for. Frankly by the time i wanted to use them there would only be 3 alive, so you reacquire more at friendly bases.

My last comment, some of the officers comments were a tad... ♥♥♥♥ erotic for better words. A combination of the voice and the lines complimenting the player took me out of immersion and made me wince a tad. It's War, violent, death. I expect "Excellent display of skill and tactics!" more than "Mmm he moves with such, grace oh how i admire him". (Paraphrased for effect).

So TLDR I kinda like it, not sure if i'd buy it for more than £30, for what it is I think that's as far as I'd go.
I'd call this a streamlined single story driven game to fulfil a fantasy of being a hero in that ERA. If you are looking for some OG dynasty warriors, this isn't the game for that. The map was very small, doing anything outside of singling out and quickly dispatching minor officers felt inconsequential.
And a minor peeve I want health bars on enemy soldiers always visible, was often unable to tell who was friend and fo except when they turn orange for some group attack.

From the Demo i'd give it a 5/10. As a Dynasty warriors game, 2/10.

[0wnz0r]

i mostly agree. i mite try out dynasty warriors 8 legends xl or watever it is... i jus want some classic DW

[RazgrizAC]

For some OG, I reccomend DW5. Can use an emulator like PCSX2 and ROMS are available in many places so long as you make sure they are trusted sites. It's old, but classic :)