When Koei Tecmo and Omega Force first announced that they were remastering Dynasty Warriors 3: Complete Edition, my first question was: why? It isn’t like a bad thing, mind you; I love Dynasty Warriors as a franchise, but it feels like a weird series to get the treatment. I started this year reviewing Dynasty Warriors: Origins on Nintendo Switch 2, and it felt like a genuine return to form. Not only is the series still active and relatively unchanged, but it has also expanded so far that the team behind it has basically become Oprah Winfrey. You get a Musou, and you get a Musou; everybody gets a Musou based on their franchise.
Then, I spent five minutes in Dynasty Warriors 3 and remembered why this needed to happen. It’s because there is something special about the old days of riding up on Chinese armies and driving by, carving them up on horseback. Something about the lack of modern polish or mechanics that brings you back to a time when a random trip to Blockbuster devolved into frantic hack-and-slash action you could not predict would have you playing the series right into Origins. Simple and clean is the way that this game made me feel tonight, and I know that’s the wrong franchise, but it’s going to be hard to let the feeling go.
You build up the game, get an awesome intro, then end up on the main menu. Again, the first moment of that genuine retro culture shock. There are several options to jump into, all offering different takes on the series staple of one person vs. the entirety of China, with a few other allies thrown in there for good measure; that said, the second bit of retro culture shock is just how much there is to unlock. Play the main campaign to unlock stages for several of the other modes, and there are characters to unlock in plenty. Seriously, you start with like 6 of them and slowly smack them around until you unlock all 41.
The game also had a welcome amount of polish to it, such as allowing more characters on screen to increase its frantic nature. I had to look this up because it’s crazy to think they only increased the count by a few additional enemies. It’s a welcome improvement, but by Ifrit, could the original handle a lot for a PS2 game. Then you get improved graphics, though; it’s mostly polish on top, which is good because all the dated graphics still look very good. Finally, the 60 FPS is my biggest need, since these games demand a steady framerate and 60 is the right feel for it.
Now, I spent most of my time in the Musou mode, which acts mainly as the story mode, and acts as the highlight to the whole experience. While each narrative probably takes around 4 hours, this is across around 20 levels that are complete with cutscenes. When I say each campaign, this is to say that you get THAT experience for pretty much every character you unlock, so sure there is a lot of repetition, but if you’re here already, that’s what you want.
There are a lot of great stages in here too, from floatilas to bases capped in snow, each with tons of enemies rushing your unit, as well as storming from the sides. I’m not sure if Sun Shangxian was my go-to back in the day, but I remember very well that I enjoyed the ring thingy, known as a Sol Chakram, so she was my first pick to run through the game; whether she was or she wasn’t, she is still pretty fun to dive into the game with. It’s a weird weapon, which feels like a break from the traditional swords and axes, though every character still manages to feel unique in how they fight, and never feels sluggish, so even going the tried-and-true route is a fair option.
I haven’t gone through the whole Dynasty Warriors library recently, so I can speak in comparisons, but a close friend reminded me that this is one of the most fondly remembered entries in the series, and some might say the best. I don’t know about all that, but I can see why the case might be compelling. For starters, you get completely swamped by enemies, so you are always mowing down soldier after soldier with only minor points of downtime. Beyond that, the many times the game throws an objective at you that you need to complete are always combat-centric, which is what you want.
At its most egregious, one mission for Sun required constantly backtracking towards base because the boss of the level required being beaten like 8 different times as he constantly attacked it. On the bright side, the fail condition was letting my general, who was holed up in said base, and I ignored this for like 20 minutes, and he was perfectly fine, so you get a lot of wiggle room. Sometimes it is hard to see what is required. As I beat the boss and saw my general in some danger, I was confident the stragglers couldn’t kill him. I missed the whole part where the boss was back and attacking him.
I like the idea of Dynasty Warriors‘ big, beautiful maps, but traversal in cases like that can compound into frustration. Pushing along one path only for a unit on the other side of the field to need help can require some lengthy backtracking, and this is a common occurrence. Here specifically, many of the stages have things that look like they connect areas, only for them not to. This makes some maps feel like racing along Lombard Street, going up, then down, then up again. These are the moments the game slows itself down.
There also isn’t a run button, instead of hopping the player on their horse. In theory, I get it because typically dashing requires a much faster tool for traversal since moving between fights can have gaps. In practice, about 50 of my deaths were me about to unleash hell on earth against everybody in my way, only for an accidental L3 push to cut short my attack, make me vulnerable, and then make me a beach volleyball for everybody in the conflict.
Juggling in general returns, as it often does, and still frustrates the hell out of me. If I remember correctly, I stated something similar about it in my Dynasty Warriors: Origins, but it annoys me so much. For starters, generals, commanders, and the all-around tougher enemies can be very hard to lead into a juggle of your own. You basically need to power hit them at the exact right time, in conjunction with cutting off their power attack, to get any version of liftoff. For you, though, just get tapped on the shoulder wrong. Then, while juggling a general you maybe get a few hits even with your entire unit in on it. At one point, my character was juggled for about 20 seconds… From when I started my timer, I was already in the juggle when I chose to do so.
There is nothing like the dopamine hit you get mid-combat, telling you that you have racked up 100 kills, 200 kills, or even 1000 kills, and you can expect that gratification to drip-drop over and over again as you know that China is being single-handedly saved by you, and not by the people who get stuck in a tiny fight for 15 minutes until you choose to save them. All of this is also set to the franchise’s signature rock anthems that hype up the mowing throw legions, all of which are the perfect storm of affirmation to keep you fighting.
What I did not remember was just how easy on normal it was for you to actually bite the dust, something later games tend not to feature. Not that anything is hard per se, but eating a few attacks you weren’t paying attention to can compound and force you to play more defensively. The more challenging enemies can be controlled, but they also take a lot of damage just so they can pop a sucker punch you don’t see coming, which can really hurt. What this might lead to is you running away to find healing items, undoing some of the progress you made.
What’s even worse is that most of the generals heal themselves, which can outright undo a large chunk of work that you put in, while leaving you battered and bruised in the thick of it all. Where this gets more frustrating is after you hit them backwards and they go into this ability, with your attack making it hard to close the gap before they get their heal off. Where it gets EVEN MORE frustrating is when you go to stop them, only for a minor spear hit to start juggling you, and you cannot stop them… OR WHEN YOU ACCIDENTALLY SUMMON YOUR FREAKING HORSE INSTEAD OF ATTACKING!!!!! I hate my freaking Benedict Arnold horse.
But combat is this super arcade version of itself, and that’s where it clicks the best. Slaying officers grant you perma boosts for the duration of the stage, and you are constantly grabbing temporary buffs like defense and attack power-ups that instantly shift the flow of combat. It offers such a great reason to clear out every enemy before going after the top dog, making combat much more fun because you are much more capable. There is no leveling system either, stemming from weapon synthesizing and buffs that affect base stats, which I thought I was going to hate, but once you figure out how to build your character in the way you want, the whole thing becomes incredibly rewarding.
So now, say you are tired of the Musou mode- which, why would you even be? It’s literally addictive. Well, you can take on the challenge mode to compete against specific setups, trying to get the best time for completion. I actually loved the free mode, which is not so much free as it is just every stage with more rewards and no set structure to it. Did I tell you that there is also a couch vs. mode you and a friend can play, each vying for supremacy? Your fun isn’t done once the narrative runs its course, and the game makes a strong case for continuing.
Verdict
Dynasty Warriors 3: Complete Edition Remastered (that really is a mouthful of a title) is the best version of a remaster. It barely needed the update, but the improved graphics and framerate are welcome touches. Even without those, though, I’m on board; this is one of the best Dynasty Warriors experiences out there. This is the one that helps you understand how such a simple premise can demand one more stage, over and over again, until you look at the clock and you realize it’s been three days. Yeah, it’s seriously that freaking good.
Remember to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Bluesky to keep up to date on everything we have going on!
Reviewed for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC via Steam
*A review key was provided for this game by Koei Tecmo.
Developer: Omega Force
Publisher: Koei Tecmo
Release Date: October 1, 2026
Pros
+Quality Remaster with improvements to framerate and fidelity
+Outrageously fun battles across many enjoyable and big stages
+Plenty of modes to enjoy.
+Tons of unlock from more characters to stages in free mode
+Vast amount of characters that all bring their own combat
+The best version of retro nostalgic fun
Cons
-The horse that constantly screwed me over
-Getting Juggled is still obnoxious
-Traversing maps can kill momentum
-
Dynasty Warriors 3: Complete Edition Remastered
