Dynasty Warriors Eiketsuden Announced – A Strategy RPG Musou Game?

In the latest edition of Famitsu Magazine, Koei Tecmo announced a new spin off entry in the Dynasty Warriors franchise, Dynasty Warriors: Eiketsuden, set to release in Japan for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation Vita in 2016.

Though still developed by Omega Force, Eiketsuden will actually be a Strategy RPG and will not feature the hack and slash gameplay that the series has made its name off of.

According a translation posted by Gematsu, the game will be a grid based RPG where players will control a single commander facing off against a ton of small fry enemies. During battles, the game will switch to cutscenes where Warriors-style action scenes will unfold.

The game will still use the Romance of the Three Kingdoms as its base, and will star Zhao Yun as the protagonist. The story will focus on Shu Han military commanders, and will feature several military commanders who have yet to appear.

Other known features of the game include: Special conversation events and friendship building among the game’s military commanders, character progression via a skill system, and a host of returning characters including Cao Cao, Xiahou, Jia Xu, Sun Jian, Zhang Fei, Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Lu Bu, Diaochan, Dong Zhuo, and Yuan Shao.

This won’t be the first time that the Dynasty Warriors series branched out into a new genre. The Dynasty Tactics games successfully blended the army on army action of the Warriors games with grid based strategy RPG elements back in the PS2 era. With any luck, Eiketsuden will be able to do the same.