The latest entry in the Dynasty Warriors series is on a scale far greater than any of its predecessors. For the first time, its ancient Chinese setting is on a single open world map, and it’s absolutely enormous. From snowy mountaintops to the meandering expanse of the mighty Yellow River, the landscape of Dynasty Warriors 9 is comprised of some seriously big scenery. Not to mention, dozens of urban settlements to explore, too.
Developers Koei Techmo certainly hasn’t been shy in touting its dazzling size in the build-up to the game’s release, either. Late last year, Producer Akihiro Suzuki boldly proclaimed the gigantic locale would take players three hours to traverse on horseback. Naturally, that statement caused a bit of a stir, so we’ve put Suzuki’s claim to the test.
Saddling up and commanding our steed forward in as straight a line as we could manage, we’ve hit the stop-watch and timed our trot across ancient China. The result? Not quite the three hours claimed by Suzuki… not even close, actually. Clocking in at 29 minutes and 47 seconds, Dynasty Warriors 9’s map is well short of its supposed size.
That all being said, don’t let that fool you into thinking Dynasty Warriors 9 isn’t suitably large. For comparison’s sake, we conducted a similar test for Assassin’s Creed Origins and recorded a time of 16 minutes. Given that Origins is one the largest open world maps this generation, Dynasty Warriors 9 is no slouch, regardless of Suzuki’s exaggerated comments. Check out the video below:
We recently reviewed Dynasty Warriors 9, and absolutely loved the changes to combat and larger scope of its open world design. Check out what we had to say in full here.
