DYNASTY WARRIORS 8 Empires

I really wanted to love this game, but it's tough to fully recommend it. As a fan of Warriors hack-and-slash games, I found it hard to enjoy. Compared to Dynasty Warriors 5: Empires, this title falls short in many areas. While it's still fun in parts, there are several aspects that feel lacking. My advice: don't buy it at full price. It's worth a try, but there's much better out there.

Horrible PC port!

Unplayable on Xbox controller, unplayable with keyboard/mouse, and unplayable with the Steam controller support enabled or disabled. And for the few keys/buttons that do SOMETHING, there is no way to remap the key bindings (well in Steam you could but not really because it's a mess of a PC port, and that's not Steam's fault).

I've asked for a refund, but I really wanted to play the game because I played it on PS4 and loved it.

Dynasty Warriors 8 - Great game, some many would say the best in the series up until this point.
Dynasty Warriors: Empires - also loved by many as an alternate way to play the Warriors games.

Put the two together - Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires. 😁

Though I will say after 1 play-through there's pretty much no point ever to play it again really.

The combat is either stupidly easy, or really, really, really terribly tedious. Never actually challenging. You go from wiping the floor with everyone 1 battle, to it taking half an hour just to kill 1 officer the next. It's almost as if the game has decided it wants to pretty much make x battle impossible for no reason, unless you have over an hour on your hands and don't mind effectively grinding to get to the main camp.
Enjoyable to zone-out to and play, but really I think the main title of DW:8 is a better bet all-round.

Oh also, even though I'm using an xbox controller on PC, half the menu stuff still just tells me buttons for keyboard. And there's no 'Window: Borderless' screen mode, so if you have dual monitors and want to click off the game, be prepared for it to graphically screw-up and force you to reset half the time, espcially if you're in the menus and no actually in a battle.

Empire mode is fun

I liked 7 more but its still fun. What would be rally nice if they added the older games.

GOOD GAME AND FUN AND LIKE IT

Either feel like an immortal God or like a pointless minion depending on the difficulty level. fighting hordes of enemies that are simply not up to the task of holding back the sheer amounts of main character energy up until the point you come across a "named" unit that tries(and usually fails) to match your anime like power.

All these positive reviews? Did you all not have any problems with controller on this game? It was basically unplayable on ps4 controller. delayed commands, R1/L1 were broken. I ended up getting a refund because I was not gonna be a keyboard warrior gamer.

Imo this is the best one

Why is "X" back and "Y" confirm on an xbox controller?! Tried to edit the controller scheme through Steam and it just broke everything. Complete ass.

I've played this a TON PS4 and it's a great game on there, just a complete mess of a PC port.

Dynasty warriors but make your own scenario type stuff.

I certainly missed the ones where you train in the dojo before becoming an upstart officer but this one has decent balance between gameplay and background work.

amazing empires game

if the pc port was better (atleast on Warriors Orochi 3's level where you can make it 1440p and change the confirm button) i would enjoy it more. this game starts off very easy but quickly becomes a huge slog once you get near the end of an empires run. better than DW9E tho.

DW7Empires is better tho, really wish it was on steam aswell.

don't buy this game for the regular price, only giving it a thumbs up because it's better than 9

If only they did better with this game could be amazing.

Bad controls and optimization, kinda frustating , i got it cheap but, still i feel kinda cheated, i like the main series(even thought we don't get a new amazing game since 2010s), it hurts to left this here, i'm going back to playing space marine 2

CONTROLLER SUPPORT IS SO ASS

This game deserves a lot more love than it's getting. Amazing game, and the negative reviews are most likely because of the lack of English Audio. With English subtitles already there, it's not much of a problem for me.
As for the gameplay and the OSTs, it's a really good game.

good

Kinda surprised to see the mixed reviews for this game. When you compare it side by side to most other Empires games, it’s pretty much peak. it’s got the best customization options out of all the games, a solid gameplay loop, solid combat, and a bunch of replayability. Maybe get it on sale if you can’t justify the price. But I love this game.

No icons for Xbox controller and steam cloud not working

In the tumultuous era of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Sun Jian, a capable warlord, faced numerous challenges in his quest for power. Though he ultimately fell short in his ambitions, a few strategic decisions could have led him to victory. By capitalizing on his military strengths, forging stronger alliances, and securing vital resources, Sun Jian could have altered the course of history in his favor.

Firstly, Sun Jian's military acumen was undeniable, as demonstrated in his victories against the Yellow Turbans and in his campaigns against the warlords of the region. To enhance his chances of success, he could have focused on consolidating his forces more effectively. By prioritizing the recruitment of skilled generals and warriors, he would have built a formidable army capable of taking on larger foes like Dong Zhuo and Cao Cao. Moreover, leveraging surprise tactics and mobility—traits that defined his early successes—could have allowed him to outmaneuver his opponents in critical battles.

Secondly, forging strong alliances was crucial in this era of fragmented power. Sun Jian had the opportunity to form a coalition with other influential warlords, such as Yuan Shao or Liu Bei. By establishing mutual goals and offering support, he could have created a united front against the tyrannical Dong Zhuo, thereby gaining both military and political strength. Building trust with these potential allies and sharing resources could have fostered a powerful alliance that would intimidate adversaries and secure Sun Jian's position in the region.

Additionally, Sun Jian could have focused on securing vital resources, particularly through the control of strategic territories. The fertile lands of Jiangdong, where he eventually established his stronghold, offered great agricultural potential. By ensuring the loyalty of local leaders and consolidating his control over this region early on, he could have built a strong economic base to sustain his military campaigns. Investing in agriculture, trade, and infrastructure would have provided the necessary resources for prolonged conflicts and strengthened his position against rivals.

Another key aspect of Sun Jian's potential victory lay in his political maneuvering. While he was an excellent military leader, he often underestimated the importance of diplomacy. If he had taken a more strategic approach to governance—balancing military action with diplomacy—he could have quelled dissent among local warlords and gained their loyalty. By positioning himself as a unifier rather than a conqueror, he could have drawn more followers to his cause, enhancing his legitimacy and support throughout the region.

Ultimately, Sun Jian's untimely demise at the hands of the warlord, Cao Cao, sealed his fate. However, if he had employed these strategic approaches—leveraging military strength, forging alliances, securing resources, and mastering political maneuvering—he could have reshaped the dynamics of power during the Three Kingdoms period. His legacy would have shifted from a promising warlord to a formidable unifier, potentially changing the course of Chinese history.

I've been waiting for this game to be on sale on Steam all year. I bought half of the DLCs as I was excited they were all finally on sale. I have the PS4 and Vita versions of this game and wanted to triple dip on Steam as it was just a download away (my other consoles are in storage). I really wanted to get that DW8 Empires itch scratched and this game had such good customization which I love. And love that good old hack 'n slash gameplay.

Unfortunately I've had various issues with the Steam version since the first time I opened the game. PS4 controller doesn't work even when I try to configure it in the settings. It will revert back. Or it will work for a moment and then just not work. Same for keyboard keys. The main menu would auto-scroll even if I'm not touching my mouse, keyboard, or controller. It will also randomly freeze and I have to close the game. I have a Windows 11 laptop RTX 3060 which is decent enough for an old game.

In the end I opted to get a refund for this game and everything I bought for it. Wished the Steam version didn't give me these issues so I could actually play it, but yeah it's just unplayable for me. Really disappointed.

Great character customization, lacks a lot of depth in just about everything else though. Your actions just don't have much effect, there's hardly a story to go along with your characters, & strategems aren't really that important. Though there's still some depth, you can give AI certain stratagems to give them a unique feel from traps, defensive tech, or offensive tech. It's a customization game with the dw formula alongside meh elements of building an empire. DLC is also very predatory, it's just mediocre overall if you don't like customization.

Everything could just be easily improved too. There's plenty of interesting stuff to add; make the empire building more complex, make war councils more impactful, make stratagems that feel like they matter instead of just spamming traps, ambushes, & fire attacks. You can add stuff like shield walls to make chokepoints for a smaller force to survive longer, you can make flanks more important, make supply bases have more tactical aspects involving logistics, give us bodyguard mechanics so you can feel like you brought your personal army deep into enemy lines, you get the idea.

Empires should really be focusing on maximizing customization with the way it's been designed so far. It should feel like a proper empire building roleplay, it should feel like your strategies used in-game have a strong effect on gameplay, and this shit would add up to a great offshoot of the DW games. For now, it's pretty mid. Too bad about DW9 Empires

it's good.

i love this game and series so much, it's probably the nostalgia talking but i never have a bad time playing this game