Touken Ranbu Warriors

Slightly above average or simply inoffensive. Fans of the genre should enjoy them a bit, but a fair few will be left unfulfilled.

Touken Ranbu Warriors is a game best suited for players with little experience with the Dynasty Warriors series in general. If this is meant to appeal primarily to fans of the free-to-play games – with far lower expectations when it comes to action games – as a great big slice of Touken Danshi fan service, this will be a great addition to their collection. For players less versed in the world of Touken Ranbu, this is a much harder sell, offering a rote, repetitive game loop that does little to slake your thirst for a more meaningful, evolving game experience. This criticism could arguably apply to all of the Warriors games, but where the bigger license-based games add to the formula, Touken Ranbu Warriors feels like a distillation. In a lot of ways and for certain audiences this is perfectly fine. By this point in time, the Dynasty Warriors machine is a well-oiled, refined and polite product; the video game equivalent of a Honda Civic. But even with a well-loved product as reliable as that, there comes a point when it's just time to get with the times.

Touken Ranbu Warriors brings the Touken Danshi to life in a way only possible through musou gameplay, making it a welcome addition to the Touken Ranbu universe.

It’s hard to imagine Touken Ranbu Warriors having strong appeal to anyone that’s not a die-hard Musou fan itching for a new Warriors-like. Those that played the original Touken Ranbu will surely get a kick out of seeing those characters come to life in a new way, but there isn’t much to write home about beyond that novelty. Touken Ranbu Warriors feels like just enough to maybe hold you over until the next mainline Dynasty Warriorsentry comes around.

Touken Ranbu Warriors is too schematic within its Musou core, with tiny levels and excessively easy gameplay. But you can appreciate the story, a lot of diverse characters, a lot of upgrades and a few mini-games.

The combat is fine - for a Musou game - but everything else is subpar, even compared to others in the same series. The levels are bland, the missions are boring, and it is just far too repetitive.

Overall, I enjoyed my time with Touken Ranbu Warriors. It doesn't fall into the old formula like other Dynasty Warriors-style games. I believe anybody who is a fan of either one of these series will enjoy this game greatly.

While it may not feel like a traditional entry into the Warriors style of spinoff games that most are used to, there is a unique feel to be found in Touken Ranbu Warriors. With an interesting setting that has both characters that are engaging and a unique play on its historical situations, there’s a lot to enjoy for anyone.

While the Touken Ranbu characters and stylings are certainly likable and engaging, the dilution of any challenge and depth to the gameplay make Touken Ranbu Warriors an ultimately uninspiring experience.

Touken Ranbu Warriors mixes the classic one vs. 1,000 hack-and-slash Warriors gameplay with the beautiful boys of the Touken Ranbu franchise. The use of investigations helps break the monotony of the Warriors-style gameplay a bit and the time-traveling element adds a twist to the history-based narrative often used in games set in Japan’s warring states period. Although it doesn’t exactly introduce groundbreaking changes to the formula, it’s a solid take on Warriors gameplay for fans of the classic hack-and-slash games and the Touken Ranbu franchise.