Dynasty Warriors: Origins developers were instructed to “go kill the player” when designing enemies 

The Dynasty Warriors series is synonymous with thrilling hack-and-slash gameplay, letting players get drunk on power as they mow down waves of enemies. Dynasty Warriors: Origins, the latest entry in the series, inherits the musou goodness too, but makes the action a lot more tense and tactical with its difficulty. According to producer Tomohiko Sho, this shift was intentional – and the directive he gave the development team to achieve it was hilarious: “Go and kill the player.” 

This instruction, shared by Sho in an interview on the PlayStation.Blog, reflects the core idea behind Origins, which aims to immerse players in the chaos of The Romance of the The Kingdoms. “Not only warlords, but soldiers too are desperate to survive on the battlefield,” Sho explains. “It’s important to have the sense of realism that these enemies are out to kill the player.”  

At the same time, the point is to “kill,” not “overkill.” Despite the difficulty level rising a notch, Sho emphasized that his goal wasn’t to create just another punishing action game. Instead, the team sought to strike a balance between challenge and accessibility, hoping to provide players with a sense of accomplishment after overcoming tough enemies. 

Although Origins may require you to pay more attention to blocking, parrying, and carefully chipping away at enemy generals than past entries in the series, it doesn’t set the skill bar too high. “Even if you’re not experienced in playing action games, if you learn the steps in order, you can play comfortably and experience a sense of accomplishment,” Sho reassured fans. 

Dynasty Warriors: Origins is, as its name implies, a return to the series’ origins. While recent entries have leaned heavily into the exhilaration of wiping out hundreds of enemies with ease, Sho reminded fans that Dynasty Warriors was once a franchise where progress was hard-fought for, and failure was part of the experience. “Originally, it was a game that was difficult to progress in and where players were often defeated,” Sho said, noting that Omega Force wanted to reintroduce that that kind of playing experience with the series’ modern reboot. 

Dynasty Warriors: Origins is available for the PC (Steam), PS5, and Xbox Series X|S.