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It’s a pretty good time to be a Switch 2 owner who missed out on major releases on other platforms like Final Fantasy VII Remakeand Dynasty Warriors: Origins. It’s basically the year of games that might not look as sharp or perform as spectacularly on Nintendo’s new console as other platforms, but are still quite impressive for how things turned out. I feel like this is especially noticeable with Koei Tecmo’s title. Musou games are great at pointing out when systems can’t keep up, but the Switch 2 version still feels strong even with its compromises
To start, Dynasty Warriors: Origins is a means of exploring Romance of the Three Kingdoms in a more extensive manner. We follow our amnesiac avatar Ziluan. We make choices that determine how our presence affects Cao Cao, Liu Bei, or Sun Jian and their fight to bring China together. Since this is more focused, we don’t see the full campaign, but it does get about halfway through since we reach and finish the Battle of Chibi. It means we see basically every pivotal fight from this period and get a better sense of the political and societal situation, especially since ones we haven’t seen in the mainline series like Battle of Lujiang show up. So performance aside, we’re seeing an incredibly comprehensive approach to the story. And I appreciate that, as well as the sense of choice and character relationship development.
As a Musou game, Dynasty Warriors: Origins involves cutting through hordes of enemies as our avatar and other notable figures from Chinese history fight back. Do we have NPC allies? Sure. Are they cutting down 300 to 1,000 enemies over the course of a battle? Nope! We take control of key points and cut down major figures to decrease opponents’ morale and bolster our own army’s to turn the tide. Different type of opponents are best handled with certain attacks, such as needing to use a Battle Art to ensure a shield bearer drops their guard. We also have our standard attacks of varying strength, the ability to dodge, evade, and parry to counter. The best assaults can build to major Musou Attacks, with some of these being specials and others being tied to Musou rage and Ultimate Musou.
In short, it’s very flashy. There are more enemies onscreen at once in Dynasty Warriors: Origins than in the other Switch 2 Musou out now, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment. Even from the outset, you will see dozens coming at you at once of varying types. I played exclusively in handheld mode, since that feels like the real draw here, and Omega Force handled it like a champ. This does mean that some finer details and textures are sacrificed. Foliage and hair textures especially fall victim, as do character faces. But then, with how swiftly we’re cutting through enemies, I found some of the general folks weren’t on their feet long enough for me to notice their hair is choppy or I couldn’t make out if they even had eyes before I leveled them. It’s more noticeable with major characters, but then I didn’t realize some issues until I reviewed the handful of screenshots I took after.
I was also impressed with the variable frame rate option. When you head into graphics, you can choose between it and locked 30fps in Dynasty Warriors: Origin on the Switch 2. I found it definitely made a difference. Is it PS5 quality? Of course not. Is it great for what it is and way more stable than I expected? Yes. It tried both options and appreciated the noticeable difference variable offered in combat, and it seemed like it helped in general when exploring the map or going through other elements.
There are two other optional elements in Dynasty Warriors: Origins on Switch 2 that I worried might have a negative effect performance on this less powerful device, but turned out to just offer helpful tactical assistance or ambiance. In the display options, you can opt to have semi-transparent soldiers. I worried it might be taxing to offer that, but it didn’t have any influence on performance. The same goes for choosing for defeated soldiers to remain visible on the battlefield instead of immediately disappearing. Frame rates weren’t a problem.
There is only one problem I did experience, and it’s something that I’ve found happens a lot in both Switch and Switch 2 games. The font is too small. Yes, accessibility options included an opportunity to change it. But large isn’t large enough. If an extra large option that was a bit bigger had been present, that would have made a marked difference. As is, eyestrain did end up being an issue for me when I attempted to follow along with situations where there’d be tons of text in dialogue or menus.
Dynasty Warriors: Origins is another good example of an existing game working well on the Switch 2 even if it isn’t as pretty. It performs well. We still get the degree of enemies we expect. The frame rate is consistent, and I highly recommend variable. It’s a solid handheld win for the system.
Dynasty Warriors: Origins is available on the Switch 2, PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC.
