Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires takes everything you love about musou action titles, then adds battlefield strategy and political intrigue to the mix. It’s 1 vs. 1,000 to storm the castle, but you’ll need to add sound battlefield tactics if you hope to conquer the map, and in the process, take control of ancient China.
But to me, the game is more personal than that. I’ve been working on this title for over two years finetuning everything from officer abilities to alliances and betrayals, and it’s in these officer intricacies where the real magic of the game happens. In fact, Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires offers an Officer Edit mode where gamers worldwide can create the next battlefield generals. With the game launching across Xbox systems today, I wanted to take everyone through some of the options on how to create the next great ruler.
There are thousands upon thousands of combinations in the editor, enabling you to create anyone from famous historical figures to celebrities to even yourself. Armor, hair, makeup, tattoos, glasses, hats. You can layer armor, coat makeup and facial tattoos on top of each other, and pick the military unit and officer type you want to be, right down to making him a sage or a villain.
So what type of character does it take to conquer China, anyway? Today, I’ve decided to create a cool, suave, older gentleman, someone I refer to as a “handsome man,” adding scars as a sign of success in battle (better scars than death!). The combinations in the face alone almost seem endless, as you can adjust and edit forehead depth and cheekbone height and work your way down to the jaw and chin options. There is also an aging scale to help capture the youthful exuberance of a young officer or the more grizzled look of a veteran warlord.
As I work my way through the officer’s face, I space the eyebrows, change the brow color, the density, and the thickness before moving onto the eyelashes, nose, mouth, and ears. If you’re creative, here’s where the options get fun as you can add facial tattoos and makeup to help add character, making your officer look like anything from a demon to a cat. You can then layer the various tattoos and makeup, adding hearts or dragons or combining them all to go with the first ever demon cat dragon lover.
Next step is facial features where you can add an eye patch or glasses or even a bandana covering part of your face. Throw in headwear accessories like flowers or earrings, then head to the beard and facial modifiers where the options include eyeshadow, blush, and face paint.
Now it’s time to move on to the officer’s physique. How tall, how heavy, how big of a head does one need to conquer ancient China? Add in costumes from various colors and patterns of standard warrior gear, or change things up and dress your warrior in a sport coat and tie. On top of your outfit, you can then layer armor (which can be removed while strolling). Helmets, chest armor, arm guards, leg protectors. Choose the look right down to the material. Since it’s cold in the winter, I gave my officer a nice warm hat.
When you move on from armor, it’s time to pick from various actions and weapons. You can choose everything from a Splay-blade to the Double Pike, while adding abilities to make your officer powerful, swift, heavy, or defensive. Different officer types include: common officer, mighty officer, gallant officer, paragon, villain, sage, and strategist.
Finally, choose your military unit: Infantry, cavalry, or archer.
Once finished, your character will be given ratings in everything from health and attack to defense, speed, and bow skill.
Only thing left to do now is take your new officer out into battle and see how they fight.
But the best thing is, your officer’s legacy doesn’t end there. Throughout the game, your officers can actually get married and have children, and you can then play through the game again as your created officer’s offspring, carrying on the legacy of your own “handsome man” or fierce woman warrior you’ve created for generations to come.
Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires is available to play today for Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S.
DYNASTY WARRIORS 9 Empires
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DYNASTY WARRIORS 9 Empires Demo
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