Samurai Warriors 5

What to Know

Critics Recommend

Average Score

Total Reviews: 60

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Samurai Warriors 5 scratches the Musou itch with a gorgeous game telling a classic story full of memorable characters. New mechanics and the series’ over-the-top action will keep you coming back.

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Critics Recommend

Critic Reviews: 60

Critics Consensus

# Reviews: 60

Samurai Warriors 5 scratches the Musou itch with a gorgeous game telling a classic story full of memorable characters. New mechanics and the series' over-the-top action will keep you coming back.

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Awards & Recognition

Critic Reviews for Samurai Warriors 5

Critic Reviews

Score Distribution

60

Reviews

Average Score - 77/100

77%

Ranges

7/10

Alex Santa Maria (IGN)

Samurai Warriors 5 won’t shock anyone who’s played one of Omega Force’s Warriors games before, but it does present a great new style and enough over-the-top action to keep you coming back.

July 26, 2021 |

Full Review

Samurai Warriors holds onto its status as the best of the three Warriors series. Omega Force has refined their aged formula with a focus on narrative, more challenging combat, and more rewarding character progression. Let’s just hope they can hold onto this momentum…

July 27, 2021 |

Full Review

8/10

Jim Hargreaves (TheSixthAxis)

80/100

Elisha Deogracias (GamingTrend)

Samurai Warriors 5 is a great way for newcomers to jump into the long-running series. With a redesigned cast and amazing new gameplay mechanics, this marks a new era for the franchise.

July 26, 2021 |

Full Review

Alex Santa Maria (IGN)

7/10 - (Read Review)

Samurai Warriors 5 won’t shock anyone who’s played one of Omega Force’s Warriors games before, but it does present a great new style and enough over-the-top action to keep you coming back.

Jim Hargreaves (TheSixthAxis)

8/10 - (Read Review)

Elisha Deogracias (GamingTrend)

80/100 - (Read Review)

Samurai Warriors 5 is a great way for newcomers to jump into the long-running series. With a redesigned cast and amazing new gameplay mechanics, this marks a new era for the franchise.

**Read all 60 critic reviews on the desktop version of VSG.

Read the Reviews (60 total)

Outlet	Author	Score	Date	Quote	Read
33bits	Rubén Rionegro	75 / 100	07-27-2021	Samurai Warriors tries to approach the younger audience and does so with a more attractive graphic style and youthful designs. The gameplay has hardly changed and has been cut both in game modes and in the number of playable characters, but even so, it continues to offer great entertainment for fans of the musou.	Read review
Attack of the Fanboy	Diego Perez	3.5 / 5 stars	07-27-2021	Samurai Warriors 5 scratches the Musou itch but doesn’t do too much to mix up the formula.	Read review
BaziCenter	محمد زمانی	7.5 / 10	08-07-2021	Samurai Warriors 5 tells a beautiful story of an important historical event, and even though some old and familiar issues are still here, the final package is an entertaining Mosou style game.	Read review
Cerealkillerz	Nick Erlenhof	7.9 / 10	07-27-2021	Samurai Warriors 5 leaves the dissapointing last entry in the series behind it and offers similar to the quality of Warriors Orochi 4 the usual mass battles without an open world. The new art style is fitting for the setting and the new gameplay elements offer a lot of fun. Besides the big battles, the game fights with laborious menu controls and ressource managament, which could have been left out of the game. If you like musou games you still should definitely check it out.	Read review
Chalgyr’s Game Room	Nick Herber	8.25 / 10	07-28-2021	There is a great deal to like about Samurai Warriors 5. The new art style is incredibly appealing, the progression elements make for a compelling gameplay loop and the focus on characters has made the narrative more interesting than ever. The series feels less niche than it has been in the past, with a handful of different modes to encourage replay, even if the combat itself still remains pretty simple by and large.	Read review
Checkpoint Gaming	Pedro Cooray	7 / 10	07-27-2021	Samurai Warriors 5 is an ambitious reboot, removing many features from previous games while emphasising what makes the series tick. There is very little to do outside combat, but the combat is delightful, and the variety between characters makes each one a joy to play. Despite some superfluous systems and clunky camera and AI issues, Samurai Warriors 5 offers fantastic action gameplay. If you’ve been intimidated by the Warriors series in the past, this is a great place to hop on.	Read review
Chicas Gamers	Raúl Pinto	Recommended	07-27-2021	Samurai Warrior 5 is a musou game brings us to know the military commander’s life, Oda Nobunaga, historical figure really important for Japan, and his right-hand, the samurai Mitsuhide Akechi. It is a frenetic and fast-paced action game will have us some quite hours entertained with battles 1vs1000. Visually it is very beautiful, in spite of antialiasing’s defects and immersive with respect to soundtrack	Read review
COGconnected	Mark Steighner	84 / 100	07-31-2021	A steady diet of musou games would most certainly lead to nutritional deficiencies, but now and again playing a game like Samurai Warriors 5 is a great reminder of how much fun the genre can be. There’s almost always a least a hint of repetition in these games, including this one, but with its balance between well-told story and fluid action, memorable characters, and epic battles, Samurai Warriors 5 is both an excellent way to dive into the franchise and a welcome new direction for longtime fans.	Read review
cublikefoot	Chase Ferrin	Recommended	07-26-2021	Samurai Warriors 5 takes the classic Musou formula, adds a few cool additions, and wraps it up in a nice package – the best-looking from the series thus far and a good starting point for newcomers.	Read review
Cultured Vultures	William Quant	8 / 10	07-28-2021	Samurai Warriors 5 is over the top in its action, beautifully painted in its presentation, and offers a surprisingly decent narrative. It may get grind heavy, but that doesn’t stop it from being the freshest Warriors game in years.	Read review
Daily Mirror	Eugene Sowah	3 / 5 stars	07-30-2021	Samurai Warriors 5 is a fun addition to the Warrior franchise, its rebooted story mode and re-imagined visuals feel fresh making this a great entry point for newcomers. However, for fans who have been playing these games since the first one, it will feel like the same hack and slash affair as before. Nonetheless, the new emphasis on character development is its saving grace by giving the players more to think about. Overall it’s still a solid Musou game that could be the starting point of a cool new direction for the series.	Read review
DarkZero	Dominic Sheard	7 / 10	08-17-2021	Omega Force’s new reimagining for the series does not change up much from a gameplay standpoint, but more to deliver a better story and pretty presentation.	Read review
DASHGAMER.com	Dan Rizzo	Recommended	07-29-2021	This could very well see a renaissance period that has one of the more polarising reputations in gaming. Some see Musuo as a hack-and-slash for the unexperienced, others understand its qualities but I do know one thing, and that is Samurai Warriors 5 is most certainly an entertaining title, worth the price of admission.	Read review
Digitally Downloaded	Matt Sainsbury	5 / 5 stars	07-27-2021	Samurai Warriors has been one of the most precious things to me for years now. Not only have I loved the games themselves, but they’ve led me to another passion in Japanese history, and given me ideas for things to do while travelling across Japan that I would never have had otherwise. As it turns out, travelling to old battleground sites and Sengoku-era castles really is a great tourism activity. Samurai Warriors 3 was the start of all that and, with Samurai Warriors 5, Koei Tecmo has produced its finest effort yet. I would be incredibly surprised if this doesn’t inspire a lot of people to go out and learn more about one of the most fascinating periods of warfare, contested by some of the most fascinating individuals that the world has ever seen.	Read review
Everyeye.it	Antonello Bello	7.7 / 10	07-27-2021	Samurai Warriors 5 is the ideal chapter to approach the franchise for the first time and retrace the exploits of the valiant leaders who lived during the Sengoku era of feudal Japan. The greater attention paid to the story and the choice to focus the plot on the charismatic figures of Oda Nobunaga and his vassal Mitsuhide Akechi have certainly benefited the general quality of the story, which never before has proved to be as compelling and full of twists and turns.	Read review
FingerGuns	Toby Andersen	7 / 10	07-27-2021	Samurai Warriors 5 is a fresh reinvention for a series that was beginning to feel familiar. A story focussed on Nobunaga’s early years takes the bold choice of ditching many series mainstays. However, the combat and overall presentation haven’t received the same level of new blood and remain as over the top and ridiculous as ever. If you’re a fan, SW5 is as fun as it’s ever been.	Read review
GameGrin	Alana Dunitz	10 / 10	08-03-2021	Samurai Warriors 5 is a beautiful looking hack-and-slash game with a great story loosely based on historical events and characters. Add in a crazy amount of customisation and replayability this is a must-play title!	Read review
GameMAG	Unknown	6 / 10	07-27-2021	Samurai Warriors 5 is a strange case. The overall design is new, and some of the gameplay systems were touched upon, but there is nothing truly unique about this iteration, while the technical side is even worse than in the previous game.	Read review
Gamer Escape	Justin Mercer	7 / 10	07-26-2021	Samurai Warriors 5 is a lot of a good thing, but you have to be confident you’ll enjoy that good thing for it to be worth the price of admission. If you’re already a fan of the singular “1 vs 1000” gameplay that can only really be found in Warriors games, your time will be well spent with this title.	Read review
Gamers Heroes	Johnny Hurricane	8 / 10	07-31-2021	While Samurai Warriors 5 doesn’t break from the mold, it does help get the Warriors series get back on track after Dynasty Warriors 9. Fans of hack and slash or past Musou games should check it out.	Read review
GameSpew	Richard Seagrave	8 / 10	07-26-2021	Whether you’re a series fan or a newcomer, there’s a lot to like about Samurai Warriors 5. This is without a doubt the best Samurai Warriors game yet, with a more engaging story, deeper gameplay, and luscious visuals. As ever, there are tens of hours of fun to be had, with repetition staved off that bit longer thanks to the new gameplay additions. And with a friend in tow, everything just becomes more chaotic and fun. Forget about the reduced character roster; if you love Musou games, consider this a must-have.	Read review
GamingBolt	John Cantees	7 / 10	07-27-2021	Samurai Warriors 5 makes the series stand out from Koei’s other games and updates the musou formula in smart ways, but unfortunately cuts too much of what worked in the past to make it universally recommendable to hardcore fans.	Read review
GamingTrend	Elisha Deogracias	80 / 100	07-26-2021	Samurai Warriors 5 is a great way for newcomers to jump into the long-running series. With a redesigned cast and amazing new gameplay mechanics, this marks a new era for the franchise.	Read review
GBAtemp	Scarlet Bell	8 / 10	08-02-2021	Samurai Warriors 5 is a Warriors game set in my favourite period of history with lush presentation and classic gameplay. It’s a great addition to the series and I can’t wait to see what comes next.	Read review
Generación Xbox	Alejandro Serrador	8.2 / 10	07-27-2021	‎Everything comes and goes. The years pass without us noticing, but with Samurai Warriors it seems that time does not pass at the same speed, since this fifth iteration continues to offer the same battles and spectacularism of yesteryear. Set again in the Sengoku period, the work developed by the people of Omega Force uses the sense of power as a ‎‎winning trump card,‎‎an ability of unlimited control over the rest of mortals that claims a status of divinity instantly. So, if you find it difficult to defocate your anger, it is possible that this Samurai Warriors 5 is a good therapeutic remedy to overcome a bad day.‎	Read review
God is a Geek	Lyle Carr	8.5 / 10	07-27-2021	Samurai Warriors 5 doesn’t bring much new to the table, but manages to combine the best parts of other Musou games for a truly fun experience.	Read review
Hardcore Gamer	Chris Shive	4 / 5 stars	07-26-2021	Samurai Warriors 5 had an ambitious goal: give the franchise a reboot so it feels revitalized and fresh but also maintains the essence of what fans enjoy about the franchise.	Read review
Heavy	Elton Jones	8.5 / 10	07-26-2021	Omega Force’s graphical changes and additions to the main gameplay mechanics end up getting the job done for Samurai Warriors 5. The visuals pop off the screen a lot more, the reimagined warriors you’ll unlock over time all look great, and the two new combat options keep the Musou battle royale formula from feeling stale. The usage of the series’ legacy sound effects for combat is a bit of a letdown, however. Plus the problems that come with utilizing the lock-on camera can definitely be a buzzkill. But overall, Samurai Warriors 5 offers a largely engrossing journey through the Sengoku period in playable form.	Read review
Hobby Consolas	Javier Escribano	68 / 100	07-27-2021	Samurai Warriors 5 is a competent and conventional musou. Forgetting the experiments of Dynasty Warriors 9, it is business as usual, with some new interesting but not revolutionary actions. It has plenty of characters and weapons to keep you grinding to infinity. The gameplay is simple and repetitive, but you probably already knew that by now.	Read review
IGN	Alex Santa Maria	7 / 10	07-26-2021	Samurai Warriors 5 won’t shock anyone who’s played one of Omega Force’s Warriors games before, but it does present a great new style and enough over-the-top action to keep you coming back.	Read review
IGN Italy	Biagio Etna	7.9 / 10	07-27-2021	Rich in content and with an excellent artistic direction, Samurai Warriors 5 is aimed at a specific group of fans, but does not disdain to tickle the newbies.	Read review
IGN Spain	David Oña	6 / 10	07-27-2021	‎Samurai Warriors 5 brings us back the Japanese feudalism passed through the filter of anime and combined with some of what Omega Force learned in its approaches to other franchises. A musou for musou fans that emphasizes the story and strives to provide it with interesting characters and a rich background, but that falls short when it comes to reinterpreting the use of its characters. Those who know what the story is about will feel right at home, the rest, go carefully.‎	Read review
Impulsegamer	Abdul Saad	4 / 5 stars	07-28-2021	Overall, Samurai Warriors 5 definitely has its fair share of faults. However, those faults aren’t nearly enough to hinder the fact that the game offers a gratifying experience and is an excellent addition to the series.	Read review
MonsterVine	Spencer Legacy	4 / 5 stars	07-26-2021	Samurai Warriors 5 is a strong musou game. It can be a bit repetitive and has some technical stuttering, but blowing through foes and experiencing the fascinating historical story are just too fun.	Read review
Nintendo Life	PJ O’Reilly	8 / 10	07-27-2021	Samurai Warriors 5 takes the long-running franchise, gives it a wonderfully vibrant lick of paint, throws in some excellent new combat mechanics and fills its story mode with well-directed cutscenes, resulting in a slick and stylish addition to the series that’s sure to please fans and newcomers alike. Yes, it makes a few fumbles here and there	Read review
NintendoWorldReport	Jordan Rudek	7 / 10	07-26-2021	Ultimately, there’s a type of mindlessness to playing a game like this that serves as both a nice break from more mentally demanding ones and also a reminder that musou games are still quite niche, and perhaps for good reason. If you enjoy breezy, repetitive gameplay with hours and hours of missions to play and stuff to unlock, Samurai Warriors 5 will do just fine. However, I can’t see it doing enough to bring new fans into the series.	Read review
Noisy Pixel	Heather De Boer	8 / 10	07-26-2021	Samurai Warriors 5 provides a fresh start for the franchise through a focused narrative while retaining what fans love. It builds on the established formula rather than overhauling it completely creating a balanced action experience. Despite issues with repetitive movesets and the limited Ultimate Skills, I had a great time returning to the battlefield that has only been better with this updated aesthetic.	Read review
PC Invasion	Andrew Farrell	6.5 / 10	07-26-2021	Samurai Warriors 5 runs well and has a solid story presentation, but it’s barely different from the last entry in terms of gameplay, save for having less than a third of the movesets.	Read review
PlayStation LifeStyle	Paulmichael Contreras	8 / 10	07-28-2021	Samurai Warriors 5 is like comfort food for gamers. It’s just like you remember, only this time a bit flashier, and with a few extra tweaks to play with. Since it covers Nobunaga’s younger years, it’s also a great entry in the franchise for new players to pick up. Veterans will no doubt rely on muscle memory to power through the Hard mode, but otherwise this is a fun Musou that anyone can play. Grab a friend and get to slicing!	Read review
PlayStation Universe	Garri Bagdasarov	8.5 / 10	07-26-2021	The Warriors franchise has always had a strong following and Samurai Warriors 5 keeps that following going. With an entertaining story, strong characterizations and a gorgeous cell-shaded art style, Samurai Warrior’s 5 is the best entry in the franchise in a long time. If you’ve never had an interest in jumping into a Warriors title before, Samurai Warriors 5 is the best time to jump in and see what makes these games so addictive and fun.	Read review
Polygon	Todd Harper	Recommended	07-26-2021	In the end, the most I can say is this: Yeah, over a week and change, I spent a lot of time in Warring States-era Japan making a series of emphatic Mermista “UUUUUUGH”s, but maybe that happened because when something shows occasional touches of craft and brilliance, your desire to sand off the last of its rough edges is all the stronger.	Read review
PSX Brasil	Thiago de Alencar Moura	90 / 100	07-26-2021	Whether you’re a fan of the series or a newbie to musou, Samurai Warriors 5 is the best game in the sub-franchise so far. The beautiful graphics further elevate the intense and fun action that the series always delivers, and all the changes made contribute to a top-notch package.	Read review
Push Square	Robert Ramsey	8 / 10	07-26-2021	As a complete Warriors package, Samurai Warriors 5 doesn’t quite match up to its stellar predecessor, but that doesn’t stop it from being fantastic hack and slash fun. Even if the gameplay itself is largely familiar, a rebooted story mode and overhauled art style give the experience a fresh and surprisingly unique feel. What’s more, the new ultimate skills system is an excellent addition, and something we’d love to see become a Warriors staple.	Read review
Rapid Reviews UK	Joseph Barrood	4 / 5 stars	07-27-2021	Samurai Warriors 5 is the latest addition to the Samurai Warriors series. Prepare to wield a variety of weapons, slaughter thousands of enemies, and learn about the tragedies that accompany war in this title. Will you be wanting a swift retreat or will it keep you coming back for war? Find out in this Rapid Review.	Read review
Rice Digital	Pete Davison	Recommended	07-27-2021	I could easily go on about Samurai Warriors 5 for another two thousand words at this point, but for the sake of your sanity I will cut that there and simply say that this is one of the best Warriors games for a very long time — not to mention a great starting point for those new to the series. And who knows? It might even kick off a fascination with the real history of Japan — you certainly wouldn’t be the first to draw inspiration from Samurai Warriors in this way!	Read review
Screen Rant	Rob Gordon	3.5 / 5 stars	07-26-2021	For musou game fans, Samurai Warriors 5 is a strong return to form for Koei Tecmo and Omega Force. The game is not a complete revolution, but provides an enjoyable hack and slash experience that understands why the Warriors games are popular. It’s often silly, and hardly clever, but it’s an enjoyable action game for those who want some mindless fun.	Read review
Shacknews	TJ Denzer	8 / 10	07-26-2021	I lament that personal character movesets have fallen by the wayside in favor of weapon category movesets and if you get quickly bored with these games I don’t think this one will blow you away. That said, Samurai Warriors 5 is a gorgeous game telling a classic story full of awesome characters and it doesn’t require much more investment than that. If that’s all you need, this is one of the best the Musou franchise has to offer.	Read review
Sirus Gaming	Conrad Huang	7 / 10	07-27-2021	Despite having minor issues to be resolved, the game remains great. I have a feeling that the next expansion for this game will either have more characters, or will be focused on another era of Japanese history. To those who wish to play it, I recommend playing the demo first to familiarize themselves better with the system of Samurai warriors 5 plus special bonuses can be unlocked if a save file of Samurai Warriors 5 demo is found in gamers’ hardware. Playing it fully and watching these dramatic moments will spin the minds of gamers around.	Read review
SomHráč.sk	Róbert Herda	60 / 100	08-20-2021	The combat of Samurai Warriors 5 is still exciting and aweinspiring, however even that is simply not enough after two decades of reusing the same concept. This series desperately needs a breath of fresh air.	Read review
SpazioGames	Unknown	7 / 10	07-27-2021	Samurai Warriors 5 is a videogame and a Musou that lives of alternances. A deep story is incapsulated in a radiophonic narrative, a captivating aestethic pairs with a low poligonal count and a funny and solid fighting system clashes with a gameplay full of repetitiveness. Koei has made an inspired re-immagination of his franchise, but his experiment is only an half success. Not the worst Samurai Warriors ever made, but neither the best.	Read review
The Games Machine	Danilo Dellafrana	8 / 10	07-27-2021	Samurai Warriors 5 represents the state of the art of the Musou genre: a game with divisive mechanics, yet refined and ready to give hours of fun to those who can appreciate this long-lived series. The others are unlikely to change their minds, although a demo is available on all platforms that I recommend you try.	Read review
The Jimquisition	Jim Sterling	Not Recommended	08-03-2021	Samurai Warriors 5 manages to disappoint me despite being part of an increasing franchise of letdowns. The Warriors series overall is in a total slump, has been for years, and yet I keep hoping for better. Tecmo Koei went the “reboot” route with this one – a silly idea if you know your Warriors games – and it’s been used as an excuse to cut yet more corners. Of course it has.	Read review
TheSixthAxis	Jim Hargreaves	8 / 10	07-27-2021	Samurai Warriors holds onto its status as the best of the three Warriors series. Omega Force has refined their aged formula with a focus on narrative, more challenging combat, and more rewarding character progression. Let’s just hope they can hold onto this momentum…	Read review
Use a Potion	Unknown	8 / 10	07-27-2021	Like all franchises that use a tried and tested formula, you could accuse Samurai Warriors 5 of being much of the same that we’ve seen in previous entries. And perhaps there’s some truth to that, but it stands to reason that I’m still playing these titles twenty years on without any sign of letting up.	Read review
VGChartz	Patrick Day-Childs	6 / 10	07-28-2021	An attempted re-imagining that lacks ambition but should still satisfy most series fans.	Read review
WayTooManyGames	Leonardo Faria	8 / 10	07-26-2021	Samurai Warriors 5 is proof that you shouldn’t fix what isn’t broken. Instead of trying to deviate from its predecessors like Dynasty Warriors 9 did, it reverted back to the franchise’s characteristic formula of mindless-but-cathartic button mashing coupled with a shocking amount of content and unlockables. Be advised, this is a shallow game, and it’s meant to please a very specific niche. But boy oh boy, does it know how to please said niche with its simple yet addictive gameplay loop.	Read review
Windows Central	Cole Martin	4 / 5 stars	07-27-2021	Samurai Warriors 5 gives the hack and slash series set in 16th century Japan a much-needed makeover.	Read review
ZTGD	Terrence Johnson	8.5 / 10	07-26-2021	As I said before Samurai Warriors 5 is a beautiful game, and not to be missed if you enjoy the genre. The team has done a fantastic job of refreshing this franchise, and I am hopeful that they garner some new fans to keep this series of games going for years to come.	Read review

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Game Info

Game Description / Storyline:

Experience exhilarating action set in a dramatic historical setting in SAMURAI WARRIORS 5. As the latest numbered entry in the SAMURAI WARRIORS franchise, the story, characters, and visuals have been re-imagined to set the stage for a thrilling new series. The story takes place after the Ōnin War during the golden age of the Sengoku period, and features a story that centers on the lives of two of the most representative military commanders of this era: Nobunaga Oda and Mitsuhide Akechi.

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