The biggest innovation of Dynasty Warriors 9 compared to its predecessors lays in the shift to an open-world environment.
The game is set in China, and China is definitely a big place. Of course, the map does not represent the whole country, and it’s not in a 1:1 scale, but just how big is it? As it turns out, it’s very big.
In order to test it properly, we went all the way to the north-eastern corner of the map and set a route to the south-western corner. It’s not an entirely straight route, but there aren’t that many deviations (and trying to cross obstacles instead of following the road around them would have probably taken longer anyway), so it’s a good way to give you an idea of just how big the game’s portrayal of China is.
Ultimately, it took us a whole hour to ride along the whole route on horseback (sprinting as much as possible), crossing cities, snowy mountain passes, scenic canyons, and even jungles populated by tigers. Since you probably don’t want to sit and watch an hour of riding, below you can watch a video accelerated by four times, which shrinks the duration down to fifteen minutes.
In terms of in-game time, the trip started at dawn, went beyond sunset and into the evening.
Incidentally, the video is recorded on a PS4 Pro in Movie Mode, which focuses on resolution.
While this isn’t the biggest open-world out there, the size is definitely satisfying, and there is plenty to explore, with many landmarks and secrets to encounter along the way.
You can check it out below. If you want to see more, you can also watch a launch trailer, and another showing pre-order costumes. If you’re more interested in reading our verdict, you should find it on DualShockers very, very soon.
Dynasty Warriors 9 launches today for PS4, Xbox One, and PC.