[Review] Warriors Orochi 4

Warriors Orochi 4 performs mostly well on Switch and I saw few hiccups and frame drops – certainly nothing detrimental to the gameplay – but for some reason Mock Battles can take a toll and almost feel like a slideshow with how vicious the lag can get. I suppose of all the places you’d want lag to happen, it’s better that it’s in a glorified Training Mode than the actual game itself, but it really hurts the eyes seeing things drop down to the teens, or, dare I say, single digits.

Having a consistent team will help grow the Bond between them, which allows for higher combined stats and a more powerful setup out on the battlefield. As Bonds grow, Warriors will unlock their potential further and also have short dialogue exchanges between each other. Truthfully, a lot of it was a bunch of “Oh, I admire you for this” or “You have taught me very much” and other simplistic praises that don’t really help deepen the lore or advance the story at all, but having this small interactions between characters is still a cool thing to see and builds charisma and character for each, even if the game wouldn’t have been impacted had it not been there all the same.

Animated cutscenes look fanastic in Warriors Orochi 4, but the dialogue exchanges unfortunately look rather poor and low-budget since, for whatever reason, the images of characters are cut off in lots of odd looking places. I know this is usually the case with visual novels or when images are rendered in small spaces since there’s no need to display or render the entire image (typically anything below the torso isn’t needed), but with so much screen space, it makes for an uncomfortable sight seeing helmets and armor cut off or everything past an extending forearm begin to vanish as if Thanos snapped his fingers.

Regardless, the exchanges as Bonds grow is a nice plus, however minute it may be. At the end of every mission and battle, in addition to Bonds growing, you’ll be able to acquire new weapons and resources that help with fusing and enhancing your weapons. You can choose which to take at the end of every battle, as not all will be useful and a lot of them will be similar, so they can be sold and dismantled on the spot for more currency to make room for the stuff that really matters.

Warriors Orochi 4 does a lot to help give that true Warriors experience, and the addition of Magic and other mechanics help show off Omega Force’s expertise even more, creating flashier fights, more rewarding combos, and an overall memorable experience that helps it stand out from other games in the franchise. Seeing the cast of both Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors – whether you prefer one or the other or both – is a delight, and while I maintain the 170 character roster can be overwhelming, those that have been with the series since day one over two decades ago are witnessing a dream come true. Warriors Orochi 4 may seem like a lot to take in at first, but it really eases you in and doesn’t require any knowledge of prior history with the games at all to jump in and enjoy. Omega Force has always been good about having something that’s accessible and feels good, and Warriors Orochi 4 is no different. Even for those having trouble deciding who to pick or what to equip, each mission has recommended setups that can be used with the click of a button, so while the story and certain missions prefer you use certain characters for the sake of continuity, by no means is it absolutely necessary, and players can go into any mission at their own discretion.

Warriors Orochi 3 didn’t sit well with a lot of people due to wanting to combine too many things at once between Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors, inevitably creating a messy approach. However, Warriors Orochi 4 gets back to the basics and streamlines all the important stuff, with all the small tweaks and stuff still being accessible but not emphasized. It’s flexible in player choice, and between the easy to navigate menus, clean UI, and visually appealing graphics, it makes for yet another Warriors game worth picking up and enjoying whether it’s your first, third, eighth, eleventh, or you haven’t missed one since 1997.

Crossovers have always had an appeal due to unlikely match-ups and scenarios involving different properties and characters that may or may not get along, and it’s always been intriguing to see where things lead whenever this happens. Warriors Orochi 4 takes just about everyone across both Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors and pits them together as allies and enemies as they overcome Nobunaga and the world’s peril. Having so many different backgrounds, weapons, histories, and styles come together and freely switching between them makes for a frenetic yet welcoming spectacle that shows off some of the flashiest moves the series has seen with the inclusion of magic this time around. As is the norm with Warriors as a whole, however, they’re not breaking the mold anymore like they used to, but still provide a massive amount of fun and good feeling with this God complex of quite literally 1 vs 1000, where nothing can stand in your way. Controls are intuitive and the game overall performs well, but having 170 characters can get overwhelming once it starts to clutter up your screen. It’s hard for anyone to truly get a chance at the spotlight with so many people coming in left and right in the story mode, and the management between all of them can get stressful, so you’re left picking favorites instead, whether by nostalgia, look, class, or actual strategy. Still, Warriors Orochi 4 is overall a nice breath of fresh air and return to form from the promising yet poorly executed and unfortunate Dynasty Warriors 9, and it’s a great addition to those looking for a little more hack-and-slash goodness in their Switch library.

Warriors Orochi 4 review copy provided by Koei Tecmo for the purposes of this review.