Game: Dynasty Warriors: Origins Visions of Four Heroes DLC
Genre: Action, Adventure
System: Steam (Windows) (also on Xbox and PS5)
Developer|Publisher: Omega Force | KOEI TECMO Games
Controller Support: Yes
Steam Deck: Playable
Price: US $ 29.99 | UK £ 28.99 | EU € 29,99
Release Date: January 22nd, 2026
Review code provided with many thanks to KOEI TECMO PR.
Dynasty Warriors: Origins – Visions of Four Heroes DLC – Return to the Battlefield
Visions of Four Heroes is the first major DLC for Dynasty Warriors: Origins, and it arrives roughly a year after a game that easily landed among my personal highlights of 2025. That timing feels just right. This DLC carries very strong “Extreme Legends” energy, harking back to the PS2-era expansions that didn’t reinvent the wheel but absolutely gave fans more of what they loved.
If you enjoyed Dynasty Warriors: Origins, the short answer is simple: yes, you’ll want this DLC. It delivers more large-scale battles, a new strategy mission, and a slightly different narrative angle without interfering with the core experience of the main campaign.
Four “What If?” Stories
Rather than extending the main story forward, Visions of Four Heroes explores alternate-history scenarios built around four characters who met grim or unfulfilled ends in the base game: Zhang Jiao, Dong Zhuo, Yuan Shao, and Lu Bu. The premise asks a simple but effective question: what if these figures had made different choices, or had survived longer than history allowed?
You once again play these chapters through the perspective of the Wanderer, keeping that slightly detached, outsider viewpoint that Origins handled so well. Each hero gets their own dedicated chapter, with remixed versions of existing battlefields. Enemy placement is altered, armies are rearranged, and even weather conditions shift, giving familiar maps a fresh sense of purpose.
What surprised me most is how seriously the DLC treats its narrative. Older Dynasty Warriors entries often leaned into melodrama or outright silliness, but Origins, and this DLC by extension, plays things much straighter. That approach mostly works, even if voice acting quality occasionally undercuts the tone. Lu Bu, in particular, still struggles to feel sympathetic no matter how the story frames him. Still, I appreciate the attempt to humanise these figures rather than turning them into cartoon villains.
Back to What Dynasty Warriors Does Best
The real strength of Visions of Four Heroes is that it wastes very little time. Story scenes are brief and functional, serving mainly to get you back onto the battlefield as quickly as possible, exactly where this series shines.
The large-scale battles remain the highlight. Charging into fields packed with soldiers, watching morale shift as you intervene, and seeing the tide of war turn because of your actions still feels fantastic. The darker tone introduced in Origins continues here, and it gives these battles more weight than the camp-heavy entries of the past.
A Sprinkle of New
The DLC also introduces a new strategic side activity, replacing the small skirmish-style missions from the base game. On paper, it adds a layer of tactical planning by letting you position armies and activate buffs. In practice, it mostly boils down to initiating another fight. It’s not bad, but it feels underdeveloped and never truly escapes the shadow of the main action-focused gameplay.
New Weapons and Systems to Experiment With
Two new weapon types are added: a bow and a rope dart. The bow unlocks fairly quickly and feels immediately useful, offering a satisfying ranged and melee option that slots nicely into the existing combat flow. Nice additions, but more weapons would have been nice.
The new strategic mode also comes with its own skill tree, though this progression is locked to the DLC and doesn’t carry over. That separation feels slightly odd, but all other progression, experience, levels, and gear transfer cleanly back into the main game.
Best Played After the Main Campaign
While the DLC chapters unlock gradually during progression, this is very much content designed for players who have already finished Dynasty Warriors: Origins. If you’ve completed the main campaign, all four scenarios are immediately available, and that’s easily the best way to experience this expansion. If you’re worried it will be too easy for your high-level character, you’d be wrong. As the difficulty scales with your build, it still offers plenty of challenge.
Visions of Four Heroes doesn’t aim to surprise; it aims to satisfy. And in that regard, it succeeds. The new strategic elements may not fully land, but the DLC delivers exactly what matters most: more epic, chaotic, beautifully staged Dynasty Warriors battles.
Conclusion: War Cry
Dynasty Warriors: Visions of Four Heroes is a confident, predictable, and very enjoyable expansion. It doesn’t dramatically change the formula, but it reinforces why Dynasty Warriors: Origins worked so well in the first place. The alternate-history stories are interesting, the battles remain spectacular, and the darker, more serious tone continues to set this era of Dynasty Warriors apart.
If you loved Origins, this DLC is an easy recommendation. It’s more of the same, and sometimes, that’s exactly what you want.
Final Verdict: I Like it a Lot
Do you like our content?
Subscribe to our daily news and never miss a review!