While I’ve called Dynasty Warrior‘s gameplay recipe outdated before, the franchise has gone out of its way to prove me wrong recently, with games like Age of Calamity and Persona 5 Strikers exceeding my expectations. These games have their own unique mechanics that add some much-needed depth to Warrior‘s combat while delivering thoughtful, compelling stories at the same time. However, Samurai Warriors 5 appears to be a return to form for the series in all the worst ways. While it delivers on the charm and striking visual style that must’ve made the series a hit in the first place, the experience of actually playing through this game quickly becomes more of an exercise in tedium than anything else.
The most creatively bankrupt aspect of Samurai Warriors 5 is by and large its combat. The typical copy-and-paste gameplay we’ve seen in all of these titles – where each character has…
