Dynasty Warriors: Origins (Switch 2) Review – Portable Musou Mayhem

Dynasty Warriors: Origins (Switch 2) Review

Musous, or Warriors games, are perfect for portable gameplay. Just a cavalcade of cathartic violence that you can pick up and activate at any time, anywhere. So it makes sense for Dynasty Warriors: Origins to come out on the Switch 2. And it works pretty well on the console. But there are a couple of problems I ran into that made it hard for me to keep playing longer than I absolutely had to. For one thing, I’m apparently not a big fan of like, the main Dynasty Warriors franchise.

A History Of Violence

It turns out that characters and settings are pretty crucial for getting into any kind of Warriors/Musou game. I loved the Hyrule Warriors spin-off, and the Dragon Quest games were also a great time. But I simply do not care about famous historical Chinese military conflicts. And Origins does not succeed in making me care about these battles, either. The weird, stunted dialogue and the horrendous English voice acting are a sedative, one that has me smashing through cutscenes with reckless abandon. Which is unfortunate, because the meat of this sandwich – the combat – is still pretty tasty.

Let’s be honest, that’s the main draw for most players. Yes, the Chinese history stans are out there, but this battle system is so good it became a whole genre. It’s practically a rite of passage for any sufficiently massive franchise to get its own Musou spin-off. And all of them are at least a little fun, thanks to this well-crafted combat. You’re facing off against hundreds of soldiers, blasting people into the atmosphere with impossible attacks in a relentless chain. The blocks, parries, and special strikes all keep you hooked. Plus, the battles themselves are a steady escalation, from simple skirmishes to complex engagements, and all of it feels smooth and straightforward.

Big Beautiful Battles

I haven’t played any version of Origins but this one. So I’m not up to date on how it runs on PC, for example. But the Switch 2 version gets a little stutter in its step, especially with enough enemies on screen. To be fair, the frame rate is rock solid most of the time. But once you get two different armies clashing in a single spot, a lot of soldiers end up dropping most of their frames. Lot of robot walks and violent still life portraits on display. You can choose between a variable frame rate and 30fps, and I can’t really recommend the variable rate.

A portable version of Dynasty Warriors: Origins really highlights how perfect this kind of game is for portable play. You just pick it up, smash out an epic battle, and move on with your day. The game’s overall pacing is nicely tailored to a more relaxed, sporadic series of gameplay sessions. This is especially true if you’re less concerned with things like narrative and overall character development. If you just want to break armies of faceless goons in an epic, sweeping fashion, the Switch 2 is the best possible place to do so.

Perfect For Bite-Sized Sessions

While the frame rate occasionally suffers on the Switch 2, the graphics appear more or less intact. The cutscenes are nice and crisp, and the actual gameplay looks just as detailed and vibrant as you’d expect. It’s likely the devs had to cut a couple of corners here and there, but if they did, it wasn’t with the character models. On the other hand, there are a lot of little load times to sit through. I never had to sit through any impossibly long load times, but the sheer volume of them does add up after a while. It’s the sort of thing that gently guides you towards shorter, more frequent gameplay sessions.

If you’re looking for a proper Warriors/Musou game for a portable console, Dynasty Warriors: Origins is exactly what you need. The battles are snappy, massive in scale, and crammed with cool mechanics. It’s perfect for a quick session whenever the moment strikes you. On the other hand, the writing and the English voice acting are shockingly bad. Plus, the frame rate gets a little slippy when the battles get big enough. Personally, my heart belongs to the spin-off Musou games out there. But who knows, maybe these epic historical battles are exactly what you’re looking for.

***A Nintendo Switch 2 code was provided by the publisher***