TheDynasty Warriorsgames vary quite drastically in their overall difficulty. A lot of the more modern games, in an attempt to make their gameplaymore accessible to a wider audience, have dialed down the challenge and introduced some new mechanics to make the experience easier. However, this wasn’t always the case. In the early years of the series,Dynasty Warriorsgames were known as some of the most brutal and unforgiving hack n' slash titles out there.
While this intense challenge was usually incorporated by design, there are also some games that felt needlessly difficult due to their clunky AI, map design, and strange mechanics. With that being said, it’s time to break down the hardest games of this long-running hack n' slash series to see which game is truly the most challenging. It should be noted before jumping in that all the games will be counted on their normal difficulties.
After the commercial and critical failure ofDynasty Warriors 6, Koei Tecmo decided to return to the series' roots with the next game. They abandoned the gimmicky Renbu System, and introduced a plethora of new characters for players to take control of, especially thefan favorite Wang Yi. One way this title calls back to previous games, and in the process, ends up making the game challenging, is the sheer number of archers that are situated on every map.
Archers have always been an annoying enemy type inDynasty Warriors, but they’re extremely common in the seventh game, often being bunched up in large groups who can slowly whittle down the players' health bar from afar. Then there are the officers, who feel far more durable this time around. Since they can’t be knocked out of their Mosou attack, they are more or less unstoppable once they start charging up.Dynasty Warriors 7is a pretty manageable game overall, but it still has tricky moments that will keep the player on their toes.
A lot of fans dislikedDynasty Warriors 6since they felt like it was taking way too many creative liberties with the combat. The game almost completely re-worked the entire system. The weapons and items are severely mismatched in terms of their power. This means that if players want to earn swords or spears that are even remotely effective, they’re going to need to jump intothe Hard mode. This mode will provide a good challenge for fans, and a pretty difficult one for newcomers.
The game also features a few random difficulty spikes that seemingly come out of nowhere. For example, the battle of Yi Ling on the Shu side is an incredibly challenging level because of how unbalanced the enemy forces are. This means it’s very easy for the allied generals to be completely wiped out, leaving it up to the player to finish the job.Dynasty Warriors 6is a little rough around the edges in terms of its design and balancing, and it can end up raising the difficulty as a result.
Each character inDynasty Warriors 5has their own challenging Musou mode. While they start off fairly straightforward, they become drastically more difficult by the third level, where the game throws everything it can in an attempt to slow down the player. Luckily, players can at leastgrind out their charactersand get some practice in the Free Mode, which is more or less essential to making it through the game in one piece. There are also a few small changes to the weapons, which can make the game feel pretty hard. This is especially true with heavy weapons, which are now much more cumbersome and have a far longer startup time. It’s all too easy to get interrupted mid-combo.
The personal character stories may be on the shorter side, but they also don’t hold anything back. The game encourages players to level up at least a few times before even trying to take a stab at these modes. There are luckily a few warriors who are clearly overpowered, such as Ling Tong, who can dish out a frankly incredible amount of damage with his charged combos. But even these sorts of characters can take a little bit of getting used to in order to use them effectively.
Dynasty Warriors 4is a favorite for many fans of the series. While the fast-paced, fun, and fluid combat is definitely a reason why, it also drew a lot of attention because of its difficulty, which is often seen as being unintended by the developers. For some reason, nearly every character in the game has an agonizingly slow startup animation for their attacks. As a result, even the weakest of soldiers can interrupt the player before they’re even capable of defending themselves.
Speaking of defense, theenemy attacks are pretty ridiculousin this game. Most soldiers can cut down the player with just a few hits, and this isn’t even mentioning the Officers, who are a whole different story. Players will have a slightly easier time when acquiring level 10 weapons, butDynasty Warriors 4is still far from a pushover, though it’s doubtful that Koei Tecmo actually wanted it to be this hard by design.
Dynasty Warriors 2is a much better-designed experience than the fourth game. The characters feel much stronger and more effective in battle. However, since theenemy AIcan be so aggressive, each battle will still provide a true test of the players' skills and abilities on the battlefield. Regular foot soldiers are incredibly fast, and while their health is pretty low, they can be a real danger when in a large group, being able to juggle the player in the air if they manage to launch them.
The enemy forces also aren’t afraid to heal themselves multiple times during a fight. While this can be annoying, it encourages the player to throw everything they have at the opponent if they want to stand a chance of coming out on top. The bodyguards are also incredibly overpowered in this game, feeling almost invincible once they’re on the field, and the boulder traps that are scattered around several maps can feel a little cheap. It may sound unforgiving, but all of this comes together to create a brutally challenging, but ultimately very satisfying, hack n' slash experience.
There’s long been a debate about whetherDynasty Warriors 3is really harder than the second game. While they are both difficult in their own ways, the former edges it slightly thanks to its enemy AI andmap structure. The majority of weapons feel extremely weak, enemy officers are more fearsome than ever, and a lot of the unique items have some insane requirements to get, meaning that players must be on their A-game right from the get go in order to even survive, let alone conquer a map.
The maps inDynasty Warriors 3are also renowned for their size. All of them take a pretty long time to complete because of how gigantic they are. There are also a few other little things that raise the overall difficulty. The clunky horse controls make it almost impossible to hit anyone while riding, and the officers are very trigger-happy. This isn’t to say that any of this makes the game bad, though. In fact, many people cherish the game for its difficulty, welcoming the challenge that has been lost in some of the newer games. Still, there’s no denying that it can be downright brutal for a newcomer.
