Dynasty Warriors: Origins – Visions of the Four Heroes, DLC Review

Exactly one year ago, Dynasty Warriors: Origins reimagined the formula of the musou par excellence. No longer a reconstruction of key events and battles, idealized and exaggerated beyond measure, starring the most important historical figures of the Three Kingdoms, but a new interpretation of them, made possible by the intervention of a nameless hero. The execution is more or less the same, but the approach changes, which made the title quite unusual compared to its predecessors.

Although fictional, the scenario proposed by Origins rather faithfully retraces what happened during those bloody years of conflict, and this means that more than a few darlings left the stage prematurely. Coming to their aid is the DLC "Visions of the Four Heroes", available in a few days on all platforms (including Switch 2).

The idea is to fight alongside characters who, for various reasons, were overwhelmed by circumstances, giving them a second chance to realize their ambitions. A series of "what-ifs" detached from the main campaign, to deepen bonds that never existed or were only hinted at, and to indulge in further 1-vs-1000 skirmishes that fans of the genre love so much.

Specifically, we will be able to fraternize with Zhang Jiao, Dong Zhuo, Yuan Shao, and Lu Bu. The four adventures are independent of each other and can be accessed at any time from the inn as soon as they are available. The difficulty level will be balanced to Ziluan's at the time of launch, we can bring all our equipment with us and return with the accumulated loot, including new trinkets, which is why it is not necessary to start over to fully appreciate the expansion's content.

The first "vision" is the only one that unlocks relatively early in the story, right after the suppression of the Yellow Turbans. It is also probably the most emblematic of the package, with Zhang Jiao taking back the reins of his troops after the barbarities that affected the values of his revolt, and highlights the trend of this DLC: Ziluan jumping aboard the sinking ship, putting everyone back in line.

His motivations are always very vague. Perhaps in line with the character, but not quite with his role as "Guardian of Peace", given that we will antagonize half the continent. The episodes that marked the end of the protagonist heroes were in fact characterized by the formation of large coalitions against the common enemy, which we will now have to defeat almost alone.

It's not ideal to turn your back on your companions, but at least some of the most challenging and spectacular battles in the game await us. Interactions are as usual very pleasant, even if they inevitably reduce to monologues from our interlocutor, while the player's repertoire is limited to nodding in many different shades. In some way, you are still part of the conversations, but the narrative solution adopted by the developers continues to be amusing. Not that Ziluan really needs to get lost in small talk.

On the battlefield, life is simple. Thousands of soldiers to slice with pyrotechnic combos, officers to study for a second before unleashing every single special move in your arsenal, bases to conquer, allies to protect... The musou formula remains as basic as it is entertaining, and Origins confirms itself as one of its best applications.

The visions are composed of a handful of events connected by textual summaries that elaborate on what happens off-screen in the meantime (cutting good material for other fights). Since we won't be able to move freely on the game map, the title offers "strategic battles" as a diversion, which break up larger campaigns into guerrilla actions against isolated platoons. Triumphing will guarantee us the elimination of one or more generals from the final clash, fewer reinforcements to watch out for, and access to "secret tactics", enhanced and single-use versions of our personal guard's regular tactics. It's not the new Empires, but we appreciate the variety.

Among other novelties, we have Zhuhe to keep us company, and we can also choose her as a partner; a new skill tree, exclusive to the DLC, with related challenges; a new rarity of weapons, even more powerful, and two new types, the bow and the rope dart, which add further options to our arsenal (although I still prefer the double pike, Ed.). Little else to report, except for a couple of new environments, costumes, and background music.

And here lies the problem with this expansion. The quality of the experience is undeniable, but for an outlay equal to half the base game, we would have expected much more content. Completing individual visions takes between two and three hours approximately and offers little replayability. Therefore, a couple of afternoons are enough to run dry. Little compared to the original package.