Dynasty Warriors 3 Remastered adds modern moves, keeps PS2 charm

The remaster adds modern combat tools on top of the original game. You can dodge attacks, and a perfectly timed dodge sets up a counterattack. A Perfect Power Guard blocks a blow and stuns the attacker, and you can answer an enemy’s Strong and Special attacks with your own. Calling your horse is now instant, borrowed from Dynasty Warriors: Origins.

There’s more under the hood. Weapon Fusion lets you sacrifice gear you don’t want to pass its elemental powers and skills on to a better weapon. A checkpoint feature lets you rewind a battle to a key moment if you fall. You can see the conditions for a map’s secret weapon or item before the fight starts, so you no longer need a guide to find them.

Many of these changes are separate switches, so you can mix and match. And if you want none of them, a Classic mode recreates the game much as it played on the PS2. You can even swap the new character models for the old ones and compare.

This is a complete edition, so it folds in everything from the Xtreme Legends expansion. That means more than 40 playable officers, though you start with only nine and unlock the rest by meeting conditions in battle. The roster even includes the hero from Dynasty Warriors: Origins.

Most of your time goes into Musou Mode, the campaign. You pick an officer from Wei, Wu, Shu or an unaligned group that includes Lu Bu, Diaochan and Dong Zhuo, and each one gets a personal route with its own cutscenes and ending. Routes are short, which suits play in bite-sized sessions.

There’s also Free Mode for replaying any battle, a Challenge mode with goals like speed runs, and split-screen two-player co-op and versus. Three new what-if battles, one each for Shu, Wei and Wu, only open up if you clear tough objectives on Hard or higher. A new Chinese voice track joins the English and Japanese ones, and yes, the famously cheesy English dub is still there.

Critics call it one of the most thoughtful remasters in years, mainly because it keeps the original intact while fixing what made it hard to love. One reviewer gave it 9 out of 10. Another said it plays more like a full remake than a light touch-up, given how much it changes.

The complaints are about the old game’s DNA. Battles are smaller than in modern Musou games, and some maps are a slog to cross. Regular soldiers, especially archers, hit hard and swarm you if you wander off alone, so you need to fight alongside your army. Enemy generals can now refill their health if you don’t interrupt them, which makes Normal difficulty feel tough. Newcomers used to steamrolling thousands of enemies may find that humbling.

If you can play it anywhere else, do. Reviewers who tested the Nintendo Switch 2 version found clearly reduced graphics compared with other platforms, and frame rates that get very choppy when battles get busy. Loading times are long, and the game looks noticeably worse in handheld mode, though it holds up better when docked.

That’s surprising, because Dynasty Warriors: Origins ran well on the Switch 2. There’s no word yet on a performance patch. If the Switch 2 is your only option, go in knowing the trade-offs.

Dynasty Warriors 3: Complete Edition Remastered came out on October 1 for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2, the original Switch and PC through Steam. The Standard Edition costs $39.99 in the US and £32.99 in the UK.

The Digital Deluxe Edition costs $69.99 or £57.99. On top of the game, it adds 42 retro costumes based on the original, a set of fusion-ready weapons for every officer, stat-boosting items and a gallery of officer concept art with producer comments. None of that is needed to enjoy the game, so most players can stick with Standard. The pre-order bonus, a retro-style saddle for the horse Red Hare, needed an order before September 30, though Koei Tecmo said it may offer it separately later.

So who should buy it? Longtime fans get the classic they remember plus a lot of extras for the price of a mid-range game. Newcomers who liked Dynasty Warriors: Origins should expect smaller, slower battles and tougher foot soldiers, but the modern toggles make that easier to handle. Part of the fun is the steady drip of unlocks: new officers, stronger weapons and rare items keep turning up as you meet each stage’s conditions, and the best fourth and fifth weapons sit behind higher difficulties.

It’s rated Teen in the US for violence and alcohol references.