Dynasty Warrior fans will definitely find Godseekers to be an enriching experience not only for its tactical approach and finesse but also because it incorporates a little of the musou style we all know and love into the deep gameplay. While it certainly isn’t anything like the incredibly mentally investing games like Nobunaga’s Ambition or Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Dynasty Warriors Godseekers provides a lighter experience which is more in line with Dynasty Tactics, and is both great for those infatuated with the franchise, but also those looking for a fresh tactical endeavor to soak time into.

Dynasty Warriors Godseekers is a tactical role-playing title from Koei Tecmo and Omega Force, the powerhouse team behind the popular musou franchises, and features all of the memorable characters that you know and love from the series. Work alongside some of the most notable officers such as Liu Bei, and fight your way through hordes of units in order to take out the main target. You’ll run into fearsome warriors like Dong Zhuo or the demon himself, Lu Bu, in battle, so be sure to be prepared and think two steps ahead to gain advantage.

Battles can go for as long as 20+ turns depending on the scenario, while the side missions are incredibly fun and give you a chance to level up your characters before jumping back into the main story. You’ll have a blast leveling up each of your officers in the skill board section, where you can equip up to 3 skills to take with you in battle, while being able to take some items along with you such as some delicious Meat Buns.

Whatever your approach in battle, whether it be aggressive or very technical, Dynasty Warriors: Godseekers allows you the freedom to decide how you want to finish the enemy, with pretty cool ways of doing so such as Synchro attacks. We’ll go more into skills and attacks later in the article, but for now let's jump into the story to give you a taste of what’s happening.

Set in the war-torn period of the Three Kingdoms and chaotic Han Dynasty, you follow the journey of protagonist Zhao Yun, his childhood friend Lei Bin and the mysterious girl known as Lixia as they band together to restore peace to the world which is being torn apart. They must now travel the vast lands in search for answers while teaming up with various warriors in order to ease the struggle.

You’ll take part in historic battles while also trying to uncover the mystery behind Lixia’s imprisonment, and learn of some terrible fates that now they must face in order to change history. Will their efforts be rewarded, or will their decisions in battle put them in danger and echo throughout the course of history? Everything lies in your hands!

Story Mode follows the journey of Zhao Yun and his comrades, as they must engage in battles in order to change history but also find out more behind Lixia and her purpose. Dynasty Warriors: Godseekers does a splendid job of making sure that you understand the fundamentals before engaging in battle, which is a huge plus for anyone who maybe needs a refresher or if you’re entirely new to the tactical universe. Much of the story mode incorporates plenty of cut scenes to explain certain chapters, which are top notch Koei Tecmo quality. The voice acting within the game is Japanese, so it really provides more excitement to each character and their personality. Everything feels fluid and straight to the point, with very detailed instructions on how to properly position your units and encouraging you to take advantage of special attacks.

You’ll often find yourself saving the game before going into the next scenario because you’re just never too sure what to expect and how the battle will turn out. At least for us, that’s what we did, since it gave us a chance also to take a break after a long battle which can take a lot out of you mentally. As you engage in battle you can choose from various attacks that your character comes with, all of which use up your meter so being aware of the costs ahead of time will save you a lot.

Everything felt organized in terms of where you could place your characters, and being able to rotate the camera to your liking was splendid. There were times where we really needed to determine how many units needed to be taken care of, and honestly, without the camera being there it would’ve been a headache. Another plus is that in the options menu you can choose your animations to take place in the classic isometric view, or play it musou style by changing it to warriors view. We, of course, chose the latter because it made the experience truly feel more like you’re playing a standard musou game, but with the added bonus of being able to control the pace as you see fit.

The further you go into the story the more challenging things become, which means a lot more units, higher levels, and a lot more planning ahead. The only gripe we found was that in normal mode the AI didn’t seem very competent at times, and would just attack whoever was in front of them instead of trying to surround and kill our main officers. This, of course, is just a small temporary observation that honestly doesn’t take away from the very immersive experience you get, as the game still throws surprises at you and so being on alert at all times is imperative.

One thing the game encourages you to do a lot of is going back to areas which you’ve completed in order to take part in various side missions, that will not only help you get a higher percentage in completing the game but also level up your team for the upcoming sections of the story.

That brings into the next section and perhaps the most important because this is pretty much where you’ll be spending a lot of your time. Throughout every battle you conquer, the game will reward you with a variety of items ranging from buffed weapons to health perks like Meat Buns and Wine. Wine restores your Musou Gauge, while the Meat Bun will replenish your health with each size differing in percentage. There are other items that are dropped but we’ll leave that to you to discover what they are. In the merchant menu, you’ll be able to purchase and sell items along with being able to buff your weapons. You can also combine other weaker weapons with your strong one to make a much more powerful one going into battle. There’s a good amount of versatility in the game to keep you on your toes and think carefully as you proceed.

The Skill Board is where you’ll be paying very close attention to because this is where you’ll be able to level up your characters and learn new buffs that can really assist you in battle. Depending on your playstyle there are a ton of different ways you can upgrade your character, so if you love playing a more defensive style for example, then choosing a path with more defensive buffs would suffice. You can do this with every officer you encounter so that way you can tailor specific playstyles to each character which will really help you in the long run.

You’ve got characters who are more up close and personal like Zhao Yun and Liu Bei, or the more ranged assault like Lei Bin. With all of this variety at your disposal, you’ll never have to worry too much about where characters should go because you already know beforehand.

Synchro Attack is a really cool sequence where once your blue gauge is filled to the maximum you can take various characters and have them attack in unison for a massive amount of synchro charge damage. This really helps out in situations where you find yourself walking on thin ice and you need to clear out a ton of units in order to reach the target. The great thing about it is that Synchro Attacks are not only extremely powerful and useful, but you can earn back all of your gauge very quickly after using one. The game is rewarding in that sense and perhaps many may find it a bit easy at times to clear the battlefield. Mind you, normal mode is just the tip of the iceberg. We recommend trying hard mode to really see how adept you are with strategic placements, and making sure your turns matter.

As mentioned earlier, the side missions in Dynasty Warriors: Godseekers don’t necessarily tie in with the main story but still help you understand what’s going on during the war-torn era. You’ll mostly be using these side missions as a way to level up your characters because as you progress through the story, the recommended level which you should be at will always increase. There was a time where we got overconfident and jumped into the story with lower level characters than the enemy, and boy did we have a lot on our plate. It wasn’t a deadly scenario by any means, but it definitely made us question our decisions a bit more because the units didn’t fool around.

Dynasty Warriors: Godseekers is a stellar game albeit a few misses here and there. It’s not a perfect game by any means, but it still serves up a nice plate of excitement to keep you engaged for hours. You’ll also have some DLC that you can take advantage of which includes some weapons and costumes. Some of the other smaller things that we should bring up is that the resolution seems to be a 720p because on our 1080p monitor, the game didn’t take up the whole screen which was weird. We thought maybe it was a PS4 issue so we threw in another game to test it, but it was 1080p as it should be. So that really was a shot in the arm because the game looks so beautiful, and yet it doesn’t take full advantage of the quality.

We also couldn’t change the display options at all, and the selection we had were extremely limited. You also couldn’t change the voicing so it would always be Japanese, so for those wanting that classic corny Dynasty Warriors dubbing, unfortunately, it’s not here. Have fun with the Path of Destiny section as well, since it’s quite interesting. It’s a separate section from the scenario but still an intriguing mode that allows you to understand and, of course, changes the path of destiny for those who you’ve encountered along your journey.

Despite some of its drawbacks, Dynasty Warriors: Godseekers is certainly a game you should try out especially if you were considering it beforehand. It does a solid of keeping gameplay intact while throwing in some added features which provide you with more replayability. It has enough action to keep you excited, while the narrative is emotional and satisfying. Give it a shot and let us know what you think in the comments section down below. Also, be sure to follow us on social media and share your thoughts with your pals on there as well, and of course tweeting our articles is a huge plus.

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