Koei Tecmo's Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIV is launching in Japan soon and the company has shared the opening cinematic ahead of its release. A return to the tactical strategy series that pre-dates Dynasty Warriors by quite a bit, this game looks incredibly thrilling for what is a pretty timid experience. You won't be seeing tons of action in Romance of the Three Kingdoms, but that doesn't make it any less engaging.
You won't be seeing a lick of gameplay here, but watching as Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei ride into battle is still enjoyable for the 1,000,000th time. It's funny how Koei Tecmo keeps returning to the well that is Romance of the Three Kingdoms, yet the time period remains enjoyable.
If you happen to live in Japan, you'll be able to grab XIV on January 16, 2020. US and European players will have to wait until February 28, 2020. Steam will actually be releasing the game on its Japanese date worldwide, but English UI options won't be available for another month and a half. I suppose you could jump in early and get a feel for everything, but it might be hard to make any progress.
Many aren't quite as familiar with the Romance of the Three Kingdoms series as Dynasty Warriors. Having seen numerous releases since the original in 1985, Koei Tecmo has practically carved out an entire genre with these games. Eschewing typical action elements for a more grand strategy approach, it would be wiser to compare these games to classic RTS titles than anything modern.
The previous installment in the series, Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIII, released in 2016 on PC and PS4. Ports to other consoles came after, but not in western territories. Many assumed Koei Tecmo was finished with trying to push this series in the US, but XIV shows otherwise.
Having dipped my toes in Total War: Three Kingdoms, I'm actually quite interested to see what Romance of the Three Kingdoms can offer. I'm always dying to get back into ancient China, so I'll be waiting for when that English release happens. Bring on more Lu Bu!
Source: YouTube