Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires

Ultimately, I came away from Dynasty Warriors 8 Empires extremely satisfied. The tactical elements outside of battle were well balanced as to be challenging while fair, and the combat carries over the best elements from the main game. It’s a bit of a specific niche it’s catering to — fans of Dynasty Warriors combat and long-term strategy elements — but if those two things are your jam, then Empires should have you hooked.

Familiar fun for fans of the series with deep customisation options and an impressive Empire Mode, but the repetitive combat formula hasn't evolved.

Trying to describe Dynasty Warriors' spin-off Empires series is a difficult proposition, even to someone who's familiar with the franchise's main instalments. At their core, the games are the same, in that gameplay still involves hacking and slashing your way through entire armies in a bid to conquer China, but it's everything that surrounds the property's trademark action that changes.

This is not your typical Dynasty Warriors sequel. Empire plays out like a game of Risk, where fast-paced action sequences replace rolling the dice. Unfortunately, the developer doesn't take the novel concept far enough. Fans may enjoy the fast-paced action and emphasis on character building, but everybody else will be left scratching their heads at the outdated graphics and repetitive gameplay.

At the end of the day, Empires mode is arguably where the crux of the experience lies and as such it really does add a lot of crucial depth to a series that is regarded in many circles as a largely one-trick pony. It’s just a shame that similar evolutions aren’t forthcoming in other areas of the game which, some nearly fifteen years on, are now starting to look really quite old in the tooth.

In summary, Empires is yet another instalment in the Warriors franchise that provides hours upon hours of fun for those who enjoy its tried and tested formula. With that said, it fails to do anything that really pushes the series forward, borrowing heavily from previous games while adding a few extra bells and whistles. Although some will revel in the notion of building their own kingdom and conquering all of China, others will find Empire’s repetitive mission grinding and narrow scope hard to overlook.

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One major gripe I had with the game overall is the fact that a lot of the processes can be extremely time-consuming; as half of the game is based around the politics, the action takes a back seat and things may not happen for a while. If you go out and attack too quickly, you can lose what you have accumulated in an instant, and if you take your time to build up an empire, it can be invaded consistently until you have nothing left. Some points of the game became a drag because of this, as the battles became few and far-between.