Introducing Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate Definitive Edition (yes, really)

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Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate Definitive Edition is the best Warriors game. Yes, yes, yes, I know Three Hopes is very good, and the two Hyrule Warriors games were excellent, and Warriors All-Stars is delightfully stupid fun, and Warriors Orochi 4 exists and is also quite good — and you almost certainly have your own specific favourite title in the series (which probably isn’t the sadly underwhelming Touken Ranbu Warriors) — but in terms of bang for your buck, Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate Definitive Edition, which has just hit Steam at the time of writing, is hard to beat.

And yes, I say this with the full knowledge that the original release of Warriors Orochi 3 was for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2011, followed by a Japanese PSP version in 2012, a Wii U version later in 2012, the original release of Ultimate for PS3 and Vita in 2013, PS4 and Xbox One versions of Ultimate in 2014, and finally a Japan-only Switch version in 2017. If you haven’t somehow played this yet, 1) I’m actually quite impressed, and 2) get this new PC version, as it’s not joking about that “Definitive” part.

Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate Definitive Edition

Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate Definitive Edition brings together everything Warriors Orochi 3 in one place: all the original release’s content; all the additional stuff that was added in its Special (PSP), Hyper (Wii U) and Ultimate editions, plus over 500 pieces of DLC that were released for every platform over this game’s astronomical lifespan.

And on top of all that, it’s been properly optimised for today’s PCs, with mouse and keyboard control (if you’re crazy) and plenty of graphical settings to fiddle with — although it does, rather oddly, default to starting up in the distinctly non-standard 640×360 resolution rather than whatever your desktop is set to.

Oh, and if you were wondering, the Anbernic Win600 sadly isn’t quite up to the job of running it well — it works, but even on the lowest graphical settings at 720p the whole thing plays in “slow motion”. A pity, but probably for the best so far as my own addictive tendencies towards this game go. Although you can stream it over your home network via Steam. Hmm.

Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate Definitive Edition

If you’ve never encountered Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate Definitive Edition (or any of its prior incarnations) before, the story runs thus: after two games’ worth of both Sengoku-era Japan and Three Kingdoms-era China being sucked into another dimension to battle crazy snake god Orochi (twice), things finally appear to be settling down a bit in this chaotic other world, with just a regular amount of good, old-fashioned non-supernatural war going on.

That is, until the horrible nasty sorcerer Kiyomori Taira turns up, summons a bloody great Hydra and promptly obliterates almost the entire world except for three plucky young heroes.

Rather than sitting around crying or indeed allowing Hydra to set fire to them, said three plucky young heroes decide to take the advice of the conveniently timely Kagura, a Mystic who shows up out of some unknown celestial realm, says that she can help them sort this whole mess out and sucks them back in time to just before they made their ill-advised last-stand assault on the Hydra.

Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate Definitive Edition

From hereon, the game unfolds as a series of time-travelling scenarios in which the gradually expanding cast of characters zip back to various important battles, “fix” the outcome to ensure that important people survive and/or are rescued from the sorcerous thrall of Kiyomori Taira and gradually build up their forces for what will hopefully be a successful all-out assault on the Hydra before everything goes all fiery death boom.

This structure is great, because it means that Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate Definitive Edition isn’t confined to a linear narrative or even a linear sequence of playable levels; instead, at any given moment, you generally have several different options as to what missions you might want to take on, and these all end up contributing to the overall “main plot”.

There are even missions with intriguing interdepencies on one another: while in one mission a major character might die unavoidably, by taking on a series of side missions to make appropriate preparations, you can then visit a “Redux” of the original fateful battle and rescue the doomed character from oblivion, in turn allowing them to join your army.

And that’s just the Story mode. Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate Definitive Edition also features a variety of other ways to play, which we’ll talk more about anon.

Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate Definitive Edition

In battle, Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate Definitive Edition is an excellent refinement of a particular branch of Warriors gameplay. The action is primarily based around combos which consist of one or more weak attacks followed by one or more strong attacks, plus special attacks and movement abilities that are unique to different types of character. Each individual character, of course, also has their own unique powerful Musou attack to unleash in particularly perilous situations.

The main twist on the standard Warriors gameplay that the Warriors Orochi series has always focused on is tag-team gameplay. You control one character at a time, but have two in reserve. You can switch between these characters at any time, with any in the reserve gradually regenerating health and Musou power. There’s also the option to switch fighting styles, which allows the two reserve characters to come out and fight alongside you; when battling like this, there are particular benefits for sticking together and cooperating.

It’s also possible to unleash a team-up attack when a special meter is charged, allowing all three characters to “tag” enemies over a wide area, then hit them all simultaneously with a powerful attack. This is great for both clearing out large groups of foes and controlling situations where you’re fighting with stronger officer-class enemies and bosses, and it’s always super-fun.

Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate Definitive Edition

Missions are structured in such a way that there is usually a critical path of events to follow in order to ensure success, but you’re free to deviate from that plan somewhat, so long as you ensure you bear the main success and failure criteria in mind. Sometimes, for example, it may pay to whizz ahead of the main forces to clear a path for them when they eventually arrive; at others, it may be wise to leave them to battling a strong foe while you prepare for the next step of the operation.

The missions are very varied, rarely requiring something as simple as “go over here and punch this guy in the face until you win”. Even in the early stages of the game, you’ll be taking command of siege weaponry, preparing secret ambushes, unleashing rockslides and all manner of other fun things.

Now, here’s the thing. Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate Definitive Edition is an absolutely humongous game with a hell of a lot to it, and a lot of times Warriors games get covered online, they don’t get explored in particularly great detail — particularly when they end up in the hands of a reviewer who assumes they’re just another button-masher.

Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate Definitive Edition

I, meanwhile, have been playing Warriors games a lot for many years, and I have a pretty good idea of what makes them tick at this point — as well as what makes Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate Definitive Edition such a special entry in the series as a whole. I genuinely mean it when I say I believe Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate Definitive Edition is the best Warriors game, and it deserves to have justice done to it with our coverage.

So that’s what we’re going to do. Much like we did a deep-dive into Atelier Sophie 2 a while back, so too are we going to dive deep into Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate Definitive Edition over the course of the next indeterminate period of time. In each article, we’ll focus on a specific aspect of the game, with the result being a comprehensive rundown of all the many, varied and fascinating things that this game does with the Musou formula.

For today, I’ll just say that Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate Definitive Edition for PC is an astonishingly good value package, even given the age of Warriors Orochi 3 in general, and even with it costing £34.99 as a new release on Steam. (That’s twenty quid cheaper than Warriors Orochi 4 on PC, I might add.)

There is enough game here to keep you busy for literally years — and over the course of this deep-dive you’ll see just how many different ways there are to enjoy it. Including through playing as characters from Dead or Alive, Ninja Gaiden, Bladestorm, Warriors: Legends of Troy, Soulcalibur and Trinity: Souls of Zill O’ll.

And with that, I know what I’m spending the rest of my evening doing…

Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate Definitive Edition is now available on Steam. Thanks to Koei Tecmo for the review code.

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Pete Davison
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