The historical side of the musou, Samurai Warriors, has already reached its fifth installment. Based on real historical events, the franchise uses its context to deliver stories with extensive character development and, above all, plenty of action. Samurai Warriors 5 takes the baton and focuses on the story of one of the most famous heroes in Japanese history, Oda Nobunaga.
Anyone who has played other titles of the style in the past will certainly feel at home as soon as they start the game, the genre has hardly changed over the years. There are still hundreds of enemies on screen and an urgent need to deal with a clean strike with a simple combat system in their bases but with an interesting tactical approach. The basic combos are divided into two buttons, but in addition each character has a special attack, a hyper attack and a characteristic ultimate ability. A compendium that brings a breath of fresh air into a system that would otherwise be out of date in a matter of seconds.
Hyper Attack is a very useful feature that allows you to travel long distances on the map while raging through enemies at your horse’s feet. Ultimate Skills are the most used of these new features, with each character having four different slots that are activated by a combination of taps. The skills can range from powerful attacks to increasing the speed or, for example, filling the special meter. All the skills are constantly used from the first moment, and it is precisely thanks to them that the monotonous and traditional basic combat mechanics become varied.
Horses, on the other hand, are the most useless thing in the game. While these mounts allow you to move around the map faster, they are rarely needed. In addition, you often leave your trusty steed to face battle on foot.
Samurai Warriors 5 is based on two game modes. The Musou part tells the story of Nobunaga as the battles progress, while the other game mode focuses on building a castle using materials obtained by completing challenge missions. The story is interesting and compelling, although sometimes it is an exaggeration to say enough. The funny thing is that the loading screens tell the real story of the characters, so some twists and turns of the script that have been modified for more drama are a bit silly.
All in all, this Musou part is still a treat, and more so if you focus it on short games.
The castle building part is a bit annoying and simple compared to the Hyrule Warriors Adventure Mode. On the flip side, this format doesn’t get boring as easily as the story because the tasks to be completed are short encounters that last a few minutes and the rewards are usually better than what the story offers.
Omega Force has invested a lot in the look of this game by its own account, in fact Samurai Warriors 5 is the most beautiful in this sub-series so far. The most important thing, at least when playing on the Xbox Series X, is that the visual finish is constant at all times, even with hundreds of enemies on the screen at the same time. The general aspect, however, is not that it accurately expresses the possibilities of the new generation, and that surprisingly affects its ability to entertain heavily. It will be interesting to see if Omega Force decides to upgrade and upgrade a game that looks pretty good to make it look even better later.
Samurai Warriors 5 is a basic Musou experience that doesn’t change much about its formula. Having played several Warriors before, the familiarity it exudes is both good and bad. The action is still entertaining and addicting, but that can’t be said about long sessions. In terms of presentation in general, Warriors 5 is a good game, although the only really interesting thing is the story. The gameplay is solid, the content lasts dozens of hours of play, and the set looks pretty. It’s hard to criticize a production of this quality.