News

Konami didn’t disappoint with the Silent Hill Transmission today, revealing the NeoBards Entertainment-developed Silent Hill f (which was originally revealed back in 2022) will be coming to the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store. Featuring Silent Hill series producer Motoi Okamoto, the event delved into the story for this new entry, as well as featured an appearance from Silent Hill f scriptwriter Ryukishi07, and longtime Silent Hill composer Akira Yamaoaka, who has contributed new music to the game.

The story takes place in 1960s Japan, where protagonist Shimizu Hinako’s secluded town of Ebisugaoka is consumed by a sudden fog, transforming her home into a haunting nightmare. As the town falls silent and the fog thickens, Hinako must navigate the twisted paths of Ebisugaoka, solving complex puzzles and confronting grotesque monsters to survive.

Silent Hill f will retain the series’ core elements of psychological horror,...

For those who’ve been holding their breath since 2013, Ryu Ga Gotoku’s Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii plays like a spiritual successor to the beloved Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag. But the game, historical accuracy and reality be damned, is also the most delightfully bonkers pirate simulator that you’re likely to ever play. It’s so successful on that front that the traditional Like a Dragon storytelling weaving in and out of the pirate material almost feels intrusive. But it’s a necessary evil—if one even wants to call it that, given that the traditional Like a Dragon elements here are as delightfully chaotic, weird, and overly earnest as ever.

After an amnesiac Goro Majima wakes up on a secluded Hawaiian island with nothing except a pair of pants to his name, a young boy named Noah, accompanied by the pet tiger he insists on calling a cat,...

In Dynasty Warriors: Origins, accessories can be used to strengthen your character in battle. They can increase your attack power, defense, or health; some provide extra perks like quicker resource gathering or better recovery. You can choose accessories based on your play style and adapt them for specific challenges, allowing you to customize your character to suit your preferences and the needs of each fight.

Accessories come in various rarities and have different effects, so it's important to explore the game, complete missions, and experiment with combinations to find the ones that suit you best. As you level up, you can also equip two accessories at once, adding a strategic element by combining their benefits in interesting ways. This well-done feature is one of the reasons why other franchises take inspiration from Dynasty Warriors.

Red Dragon's Talon (Battle/Utility) Best Way To Fill Up The Musou Gauge

The Red...

Dynasty Warriors: Origins has a variety of combo systems that change depending on the type of weapon used. Some weapons use simple light and heavy attacks, while others have special stances or timing that unlock more complex and powerful moves. This is similar to other games in the series, where weapons were lighter or heavier, so their combos needed to reflect the use. Most weapons start with a basic light attack combo that can lead to a heavy attack combo, and how many light attacks you do before the heavy attack can change the resulting move.

Some weapons don't follow the usual light and heavy attack pattern. For instance, some have special stances you can access with specific heavy attack moves, and each stance offers different attack options. Other weapons might feature projectile attacks or thrown weapons, which require careful timing to do maximum damage. This is a bit more...

Lu Bu is often portrayed as one of the most formidable warriors in Chinese history, and Dynasty Warriors: Origins is no exception. You'll encounter Lu Bu several times throughout the main campaign of Dynasty Warriors: Origins, beginning in Chapter Two, but it's not until a pivotal battle much later on that you actually have an opportunity to defeat him. Usually, his sudden appearance means you have little recourse but to flee; he functions a lot like Mr. X in Resident Evil 2 during certain missions, forcing you to abandon strategic points and run for your life.

Finally, during the mission "Battle of Xiapi," you'll be able to face Lu Bu in one-on-one combat, and, with a lot of skill and a little luck, defeat him for good. Just don't expect him to be easy, just as he is in every Dynasty Warriors game where he appears. Lu Bu fully lives up to his reputation,...

In Dynasty Warriors: Origins, the weapon type you choose determines your entire playstyle - at least, until you equip another one. Origins brings back a number of classic weapons from throughout the Dynasty Warriors franchise, from classic action game staples like swords, spears, and staves to series-specific wheels, podao, and twin pikes. Players unlock more of them as you proceed through the story, and can level up their weapon type proficiency simply by using them in battle.

However, some weapon types are clearly better than others. Each has its own set of combos, Arts, and unique considerations, which means not every weapon type is ideal for every battle. But some of them are clearly more powerful and more versatile than others. Here are all ten weapon types in Dynasty Warriors: Origins, ranked by how useful they are.

The Lance Is Just A Worse Version Of The Spear The Worst Weapon...

If you decide to go the Cao Cao route in Dynasty Warriors: Origins, you'll quickly make an enemy of the great warlord Guan Yu. Later in the campaign, you'll have to escape his clutches by Cao Cao's side in order to complete the Battle of Chibi, finish Chapter Five, and see the ending you've chosen. Guan Yu is far from the hardest boss in the Dynasty Warriors series, but he is a tough foe, and he stands in your way during a pivotal story moment in which you have no other way out.

You'll need ample preparation and a little luck to get past Guan Yu and complete Cao Cao's story. By equipping the right weapons, Arts, and gems in Dynasty Warriors: Origins, you can turn an ordinarily difficult battle into an easy victory. Here's everything you need to know to beat Guan Yu.

How To Prepare For Guan Yu...

In Dynasty Warriors: Origins, Skill Points are important for leveling up and customizing your character's abilities. They act like a currency that helps you unlock and improve various skills and bonuses in a skill tree. This tree lets you shape your character's role, whether to improve your attack, boost your defense, or gain specific tactical advantages. There are many different options that can make a real difference in how well you do in combat.

You earn Skill Points by performing well in battles and engaging with different aspects of the game, encouraging you to try various strategies rather than just focusing on completing missions. Choosing how to spend these points is important because early decisions can later decide your character’s strengths and weaknesses. The skill tree is designed with interconnected branches and increasing costs, so you need to think carefully about each upgrade.

Quick Links How To Get More...

Dynasty Warriors: Origins gives players a wide range of weapons, each with its fighting style and strategy. These weapons change how the game is played by affecting how far you can attack, how fast you can hit, your ability to chain attacks, and how well you perform in different battle situations. Some weapons are great for dealing with many enemies at once, using wide attacks to take them down, while others are better for quickly targeting single powerful foes.

Some weapons let you move around quickly with evasive tactics, while others are built for defense, allowing you to block and counterattack effectively. The game includes the usual swords and spears and more unique options that offer different mechanics and challenges to master. You’ll find weapons for both close combat and ranged attacks. This variety allows for customization and a deeper strategy, letting players adjust their combat style to tackle different challenges and enemies,...

One of the more engaging new mechanics introduced by Dynasty Warriors: Origins is the Large Force. It's basically exactly what it says on the tin: a massive congregation of enemies, consisting of both footsoldiers and officers, occupying a single location on the battle map. Oftentimes, these Large Forces are formed around a singular, highly powerful enemy officer - and oftentimes, especially in the endgame, they form around the mission target, the sole commander you need to take out to satisfy the win condition and complete the battle.

As such, learning how a Large Force works (and how to disband one) is a vital component of your strategy, especially in certain pivotal, late-game battles. You'll need to understand their ins and outs in order to complete the main story of Dynasty Warriors: Origins - not to mention much of its side content. However, Large Forces can be intimidating, and navigating...

The first boss you'll encounter in Dynasty Warriors: Origins is Zhang Jiao, the leader of the Yellow Turban rebellion. In general, there aren't many traditional, one-on-one boss fights in the Dynasty Warriors series; certain missions may feature difficult enemies, but climactic story moments are generally portrayed in massive battles with thousands of warriors on each side. However, Origins occasionally slows down the pacing (if not the challenge) by pitting players against powerful rivals in one-on-one fights. The first of these is Zhang Jiao, and he doesn't hold back.

Zhang Jiao, the General of Heaven, leads the first wave of the Yellow Turban rebellion, which serves as the enemy faction in the early hours of the game. You'll spend many missions chasing after him, only to face him in a duel during the grand finale of Chapter One. Here's everything you need to know going into the fight against Zhang Jiao in Dynasty Warriors: Origins.

In Dynasty Warriors: Origins, the Battle Preparation phase is an important step where you prepare your character for fights. This stage allows for a lot of customization, which affects how well you perform in battle. The decisions made here are crucial since many choices can't be changed once the fighting starts. You can adjust your character's abilities by picking from different weapons and items.

You will recognize this from some other Dynasty Warriors games, but it's gotten an upgrade. This time, it's not just about picking a weapon; it involves understanding how different items work together and how they can help in specific missions. This adds an interesting layer to the fast-paced action of the game. The preparation phase is actually important and shouldn't just be skipped through like in previous games.

Quick Links How The Battle Preparation System Works What Is The Battle Preparation System? Gems Weapons Horses Arts...

For anyone who loves gratuitous, over-the-top action games, it doesn’t get any bigger than the Dynasty Warriors franchise. With the release of Dynasty Warriors: Origins (out today), Koei Tecmo has brought back the hack-and-slash historical fiction series and reinvented it for a new generation. And although it isn’t for everyone (our own review was somewhat mixed), to a certain kind of player, the Dynasty Warriors series represents a stalwart slice of virtual comfort food that always demands attention.

Dating back to 1997, it’s likely that most players have...

Originally an action spinoff of developer Koei’s turn-based strategy Romance of the Three Kingdom games based on the Chinese novel of the same name, the Dynasty Warriors series would establish its own genre of action, musou, in which a single character faces masses of opponents. Dynasty Warriors: Origins is the first mainline entry since 2018’s disappointing Dynasty Warriors 9 and seeks to return to the franchise’s roots, adapting the first half of the original Romance of the Three Kingdoms novel. Here, the player takes the role of an amnesic lone wanderer who becomes pivotal in the war for the kingdoms fighting for control of China, while trying to rediscover his identity and reconnect with history.

As a musou game, Origins is a spectacular technical achievement that takes full advantage of modern hardware to present amazing large-scale feudal battles from a boots-on-the-ground perspective. The Warriors series, including its spinoffs (from...

There are certain video game franchises that excel at delivering sheer spectacle. In that regard, Dynasty Warriors: Origins (out Jan. 17) is unwavering from beginning to end. Twenty five years after the release of Dynasty Warriors 2, the entry that set the blueprint that the series currently follows, Origins takes the behemoth battles against hundreds of enemies on screen to a refined, newcomer-friendly state. Living up to its title, a new protagonist leads the story, providing a fresh perspective that mirrors that of someone who’s only now getting acquainted with characters...

Dynasty Warriors: Origins makes a lot of bold claims, and for the most part, it lives up to them. First and foremost, it attempts to reboot a 28-year-old series, still developed (as always) by Omega Force and published by Koei. It promises an entirely new approach to the Dynasty Warriors formula, one-versus-one-thousand action like you've never seen before. It aims to be a perfect series entry point for newcomers, but also to satisfy longtime fans with its complicated tactical gameplay and new spin on a familiar story.

Dynasty Warriors: Origins

Franchise  Dynasty WarriorsPlatform(s)  PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, PCReleased  January 17, 2025Developer(s)  Omega ForcePublisher(s)  Koei TecmoGenre(s)  Hack and Slash, ActionEngine  Omega ForceESRB  Teen // Violence, Mild Language, Use of Alcohol

It's all wrapped up in a neat little package, easily the most technically impressive Dynasty Warriors game ever released. It finds a perfect balance between mindlessly...

Kicking off the new year in January 2025 are several incredible video games, ranging from Hello Kitty Island Adventure to Sniper Elite: Resistance, and everything in between. Whether someone is looking for a good fighting game, an RPG, or just a relaxing island romp, the variety of genres which are represented in January's calendar truly provide something for everyone. In addition to new games, several beloved older titles are getting fresh remasters and many others are finally making their way to new platforms.

The year is already looking to be a good one for video games, with many big titles lined up to be released throughout 2025. Although January is often a slower time for launches, there are quite a few big names expected in the coming weeks. Even more titles from small, indie developers are coming to platforms like Steam, mobile devices, and more, which may not have been found to be included on this list.

Our hands-on preview for Dynasty Warriors: Origins highlights what makes the latest entry in the long-running series the most ideal version of the series to date. The hack-and-slash franchise is one of Koei Tecmo's defining series, a collection of action games that build off historical events and reimagine them as massive action-packed battles. The Dynasty Warriors series has always benefited from making players feel like a hero amid countless battles, a lone soldier able to turn the tide of a war on their own.

The latest adaptation of the Three Kingdoms epic takes things further than ever. Dynasty Warriors: Origins benefits from the graphical power of the PS5 and modern PCs, with impressive visuals and tight controls making for an idealized version of the game. ScreenRant was invited to play the game at a hands-on preview of Dynasty Warriors: Origins ahead of its release on January 17, 2025 where I interviewed Head...

A new action-packed trailer for Fairy Tail 2 has been released, with the latest gameplay video showing off the exciting action of the series' final storyline and unbelievable character moments, which are exclusive to the game.

The official Koei Tecmo YouTube channel uploaded a brand-new video showcasing Fairy Tail 2's varied gameplay. In the sequel to the first 2020 game, the titular guild faces off against the Spriggan 12 as the Alvarez Empire attempts a full-scale war against Ishgar. Zeref Dragneel, the older brother of Natsu Dragneel, leads the Spriggan 12 against the Fairy Tail guild. The game's main story is based on the anime series' final storyline.

Related Crunchyroll Goes Big in the Big Apple With Solo Leveling, Fairy Tail, Overlord & More

Crunchyroll reveals its full New York Comic Con event lineup, including the Fairy Tail creator, an Overlord first look and a Solo Leveling experience.

Fairy Tail 2 Fires Up the Action Ahead...

With a war raging among the stars, the supersoldier Demetrian Titus leaps out of his ship and dives toward the surface of a planet below. As he streaks through the sky like a meteor, dodging flotsam and explosions, the near silence of the atmosphere foregrounds his muffled breathing, whose steady pace conveys the calm with which he faces all but impossible odds. The orbital drop is a standout set piece—but far from an outlier—in Saber Interactive’s exceptionally transportive and tactile Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2.

The insectoid, hive-minded Tyranids have mobilized en masse, and Titus and his two squadmates, Chairon and Gadriel, are tasked with repelling them. The three-man army operates out of a flying barge whose eccentric decor captures the sci-fi medieval, techno-spiritual charm of the Warhammer 40,000 universe, as computer monitors lined with Matrix-green text stand beside ornate stained glass and statues of two-headed birds perched atop skulls.

Legend of Zelda voice actor Patricia Summersett opens up about her Star Trek: Discovery cameo.

Per Collider, Summersett discussed her sly cameo as Primarch Tahal on the series finale of Star Trek: Discovery during a panel at Fan Expo Canada in Toronto. Regarding the role itself, Summersett said, "I had to audition for it multiple times, then flew to Toronto several times for costume fittings, and then got to work with director Olatunde Osunsanmi and spend some time on the ship." She continued, "The funny thing about being on Star Trek: Discovery and making it on to the series finale is that I'm totally covered over, and you can't tell it's me... you don't know it's me unless you look at the credits."

Related 10 Most Controversial Star Trek: Discovery Episodes, Ranked

The groundbreaking Star Trek series changed the game for the franchise in its five seasons, but also caused a...

There are some things that Elden Ring excels in above other titles but there may be an upcoming Soulslike game that has one aspect that it couldn’t match. The FromSoftware title is well known for its challenging combat system and variety of weaponry available but one thing it does not have is a certain defense tactic which was spotted on Social Media.

Rise of the Ronin, the PlayStation exclusive developed by Team Ninja and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment is set to launch on 22 March. With it comes the inevitable comparisons with the 2020 title Ghost of Tsushima, however, many fans are split about whether the upcoming title will surpass the previous epic featuring Feudal Japan.

What does Elden Ring not have?

Elden Ring may do many things well but there’s one thing it can’t do.

Whilst many will argue that the graphics of Elden Ring are superior...

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom sets up the perfect story for a Hyrule Warriors sequel that it'll never be able to use. With a surprisingly complicated plot contained in so few, graciously spread out cutscenes, Totk is rife with ideas for Dlc, sequels, and spinoffs. Spinning together ancient technology, impossibly potent evil, and powerful protector spirits, Totk's epic story is one for the ages, but there's a catch to using it as a basis for a new Hyrule Warriors.

Less a spinoff series than it is a crossover, Hyrule Warriors and its sequel, Age of Calamity, borrow characters and settings from the Zelda series and mix them with the hack-and-slash battlefield-dominating gameplay of the Dynasty Warriors franchise. The first Hyrule Warriors was non-canon and had an original story, but Age of Calamity was directly based on the events of Breath of the Wild. So it wouldn't be...

Upon collecting the first of the 15 Dragon Vein Essences in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, a pop-up notifies players that "Dragon Vein Essence will increase the efficacy of the Dragon's Cure Pot." While the Dragon Vein Crystals upgrade the number of uses for the Dragon's Cure Pot, the Essences upgrade the quality of the Cure Pot, and how much health is given per use.

Making a point find of finding Dragon Vein Essences during the first playthrough of each mission will help players progress faster, since even the first boss can be difficult to beat in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty. Keep in mind that missions can be replayed if the Essence is not found during the first playthrough. Other than the Hidden Village Dragon Vein Essence, they are all in missions and sub-missions players will already be completing. The only reason not to collect them is if players are trying to self-impose an extra difficulty level.

Wild Hearts offers a unique twist on the monster hunting genre, combining creature combat with Japanese-inspired crafting. The game comes from Omega Force, a division of Koei Tecmo responsible for the Dynasty Warriors series, in partnership with EA Originals. Screen Rant attended a final preview event for the game that offered more details than ever before, particularly when it comes to the game's creatures, weapons, and crafting.

While the two titles do bear similarities to one another, Wild Hearts isn't a Monster Hunter clone. Set in a fantasy feudal Japan, the game takes inspiration from the real-life thread art Karakuri for its crafting, which can be utilized both in and out of battle. This alongside an ample choice of weapons are what players will use to protect the land of Azuma from Kemono, the nature-infused beasts that have been destroying the world and its inhabitants.

Related: Sonic Frontiers' Monster Hunter...

Spanning two decades from 1997 to 2018, there have been nine main video games in the popular Dynasty Warriors franchise thus far. The traditional one-on-one turned 3D hack-and-slash fighting game has continued to tweak, upgrade, advance, and evolve during its two-decade run to become a beloved title to rival such games as Virtua Fighter, Soul Blade, and more. With a 10th installment currently in development, the franchise looks to rebrand itself for a whole new generation. Moreover, Dynasty Warriors is the latest fight game to be adapted into a movie.

Related: 10 Beginner-Friendly Fighting Game Recommendations

While the first Dynasty Warriors game does not have a Metascore, the other main eight games in the franchise range in quality due to an increase in fluid gameplay, repeatability, enhanced graphics, overall entertainment value, and more.

By the power of Grayskull, Netflix’s list of new releases for July 2021 is here!

As you may have been able to tell by that clever opening, July is the month that Masters of the Universe: Revelation arrives on Netflix. This animated series from Kevin Smith continues the classic stories of He-Man and his buff friends. If nostalgia not be what ye seek, Netflix has plenty other original series this month as well. The amazingly hilarious sketch series I Think You Should Leave With Tim Robinson returns for season 2 on July 6. Also returning for a second season are Beastars, Never Have I Ever (both on July 15), and Outer Banks (July 30).

Netflix’s movie offerings are pretty thick this month since July marks the real beginning of the summer blockbuster season. The streamer is bringing not one, but three Fear Street films based on R.L. Stine’s classic book series. They...

Young adult horror fans (and those who are young adult at heart) will have a great time scrolling through Netflix in July 2021.

The streaming giant announced the new original movies and series coming to the service in July, as well as the library titles it will feature for the foreseeable future.

Among the biggest projects include a trilogy of “Fear Street” films from director Leigh Janiak (“Honeymoon”) and based on the teen horror franchise by R.L. Stine. The three movies will debut over consecutive weeks on Netflix, with the first dropping July 2.

The other big movie project coming to Netflix in July is “The Last Letter from Your Lover,” a time-spanning romance from novelist Jojo Moyes and filmmaker Augustine Frizzell starring Shailene Woodley and Oscar-nominee Felicity Jones.

On the archival front, some major movies arriving on Netflix include all five films in the “Twilight” franchise, the original “Karate Kid” trilogy,...

Video game fans have another film adaptation to look forward to, this time coming from the Dynasty Warriors series. The first Dynasty Warriors video game was released back in 1997, and now has a total of nine releases. The franchise has finally jumped to the big screen thanks to director Roy Hin Yeung Chow. This action epic was released internationally in April 2021. The film will make it's way to Netfilx on July 1 of this year, and a 2-minute trailer has been unleashed in anticipation of the video game adaptation's big streaming debut.

The Netflix epic, clocking in at a final runtime of an hour and fifty-seven minute, has a 4.7 star rating out of 10 on imbd. While the film does have a relatively low rating, it is still expected to gain a large number of views on Netflix due to the intense fanbase surrounding the series. Releasing nine games in 25 years tends...

Video game fans have another film adaptation to look forward to, this time coming from the Dynasty Warriors series. The first Dynasty Warriors video game was released back in 1997, and now has a total of nine releases. The franchise has finally jumped to the big screen thanks to director Roy Hin Yeung Chow. This action epic was released internationally in April 2021. The film will make it's way to Netfilx on July 1 of this year, and a 2-minute trailer has been unleashed in anticipation of the video game adaptation's big streaming debut.

The Netflix epic, clocking in at a final runtime of an hour and fifty-seven minute, has a 4.7 star rating out of 10 on imbd. While the film does have a relatively low rating, it is still expected to gain a large number of views on Netflix due to the intense fanbase surrounding the series. Releasing nine games in 25 years tends...

This is foremost a big budget movie adaptation of the Japanese slash-and-hack video game series “Dynasty Warriors” published by Koei Tecmo which in turn was based on “Romance of the Three Kingdoms”, a Chinese historical novel written by Luo Guan Zhong. The first game came out in 1997 and so far it has spawned nine sequels. Incidentally, both this movie and the game franchise share the same Chinese title of “True. Three Kingdoms Unrivalled”.

The story here concentrates mainly on the cruel, defector ruler of the Han Dynasty, Dong Zhuo (Lam Suet), his General, Lu Bu (Louise Koo) and three blood brother warriors Liu Bei (Tony Yang), Guan Yu (Han Geng) and Zhang Fei (Justin Cheng). When we first meet Dong and his army, they are engaged in a fierce battle with the Yellow Turbans, losing ground. Fortunately for him, the three warriors step in and help him to defeat the rebels but to their surprise,...

Peter Jackson’s “The Return of the King,” the third film in his classic “Lord of the Rings” trilogy,” will hit China on May 14 in remastered 4K.

The first two films of the trilogy are already in theaters, having debuted April 16 and April 23, respectively. So far, “The Fellowship of the Ring” has earned $17.3 million (RMB112 million) and “The Two Towers” has $9.28 million (RMB60.2 million) so far.

The latter premiered with a $4 million opening weekend — a weak showing by local standards that net the title only third place at the box office, behind the animation “Detective Conan: The Scarlet Bullet” and local holdover drama “Sister.” “Fellowship” came in fifth with sales of $1.3 million, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway.

Fans expressed frustration online that the later release date for “Return of the King” would likely make it difficult to do marathons of all three films at once, given that films...

Box office slumps ahead of busy May Day holiday weekend when several big local titles are scheduled for release.

Japanese anime Detective Conan: The Scarlet Bullet topped the China box office over the weekend (April 23-25), according to figures from Artisan Gateway, grossing $4.8m.

The film, which is the 24th installment in a popular franchise, has grossed $26m since its April 17 release in China. It was followed by Lian Ray Pictures’ Sister, starring Zhang Zifeng, which grossed $4.6m over the weekend for an impressive cume of $128.2m.

The re-release of the second installment in the Lord Of The Rings franchise,...

The newest title in the Persona franchise, Persona 5 Strikers, combines the urban fantasy aesthetics and storyline of Persona 5 with the fast-paced, action RPG gameplay of the Dynasty Warriors series, bringing a completely new experience to fans of both. Many players who have already finished the game, though, maybe looking for more action.

Related: Persona 5 Strikers: How to Level Up (The Fast Way)

On the Nintendo Switch, action RPGs aren't too hard to come by, although wading through the sea of games to find the right one for each player's taste can be a bit of a challenge. These games, however, are sure to please fans of Persona 5 Strikers with similar approaches to gameplay and storytelling, all while keeping within the fast-moving genre of the action RPG.

Chinese director Zhang Yimou’s stylish, snowy spy thriller “Impasse” is set to debut in China over the May 1 Labor Day weekend, joining what will be an unusually competitive line-up.

“Impasse” was supposed to hit screens last year, but its release was pushed back to this upcoming April 30 due to the pandemic. Starring Zhang Yi (“Operation Red Sea”), Yu Hewei (“A Writer’s Odyssey”), Qin Hailu (“White Deer Plain”) and Zhu Yawen (“The Witness”), the 1930s-set story tells the tale of four Chinese agents specially trained in the Soviet Union who parachute into the puppet state of Manchukuo, as northeast China was called under Japanese rule, to carry out a secret operation — only to discover they’ve been set up in a trap.

Including “Impasse,” six strong titles are now set to debut over the three-day holiday.

Three will premiere alongside Zhang’s latest on Friday, April 30: video game adaptation “Dynasty Warriors,...

Five competitive local titles have announced as of Monday that they will be vying for box office supremacy in China over the May 1 Labor Day weekend, a public holiday.

They include a long-anticipated video game adaptation, an omnibus pandemic film helmed by three different female big shots from China, Hong Kong and the U.S., a sleek Aaron Kwok-starring thriller, a TV series adaptation and the first title from helmer Li Yu not to star the now-disgraced Fan Bingbing in 14 years.

Their sales will be worth tracking, as holiday periods tend to be the most money-making in the world’s largest film market, where the February Chinese New Year box office set world records with an impressive $1.2 billion in sales in just six days.

In years past, Labor Day was considered a less significant holiday for movie-going than Chinese New Year, the summer holidays, October’s weeklong National Day holiday in October,...

Koei Tecmo and Omega Force’s Warriors Orochi 4 feels like a game that will never, ever end, and I mean that in the best way possible. Even after you’ve trucked through the five chapters, roughly 70 different missions, and multiple side stories, you can swing back around and level up the characters you decided to skip during your first playthrough. And trust me when I say there are tons of characters to choose from over the course of the story; so many, in fact, that you won’t even scratch the proverbial surface your first time through the game. That said, you’ll definitely want to come back for more, as WO4 features some absolutely fantastic gameplay that runs smoothly 95 percent of the time. It’s a marked improvement over the truly mediocre Dynasty Warriors 9, and it gives musou fans the kind of next-level ferocity that made the series so...

The Intellectual Property High Court of Japan dismissed a patent lawsuit between video game publishers Koei Tecmo and Capcom, Capcom announced last Thursday. Koei sought to rescind a decision by the Japan Patent Office in Capcom’s favor in an earlier case between the two companies.

The legal troubles began in 2014 when Capcom filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Koei Tecmo. The “Dynasty Warriors” publisher had infringed on multiple patents, Capcom said. One was for a controller vibrator function that alerts the player when enemies are nearby. The other was for a method of unlocking bonus content when a game’s DVD-rom is put in a game console. The lawsuit is seeking a settlement of about $9.43 million, according to Polygon.

Koei Tecmo responded with its own lawsuits seeking to invalidate Capcom’s patents. In both cases, the Japan Patent Office decided to uphold the patents. Koei Tecmo then filed suits to rescind those decisions,...

Here’s the good news: Dynasty Warriors 9 is bigger than any of the previous entries in the series thanks to the Koei Tecmo’s decision to drop the story into a massive open world. In theory, there’s more than enough content to keep even the fussiest gamer busy for hours on end. And if you want to skip all of that extra nonsense and run straight through the story, you can do that as well. Sadly, the latest installment of the long-running franchise sports a number of debilitating flaws, including subpar graphics, an inconsistent framerate, and an overall lack of polish. It’s still loads of fun and thrilling when it all comes together, but this isn’t the massive step forward fans expected.

The first thing longtime fans of the series will notice is the freedom to roam the countryside and tackle missions and side quests however they see fit.