Tokyo (AP) – The long-running Dynasty Warriors hack-and-slash video game series is going back to its bedrock concept of players against veritable armies with the newly announced Dynasty Warriors: Origins. Revealed at this week’s PlayStation State of Play, the upcoming title from Koei Tecmo and Omega Force will leverage modern console hardware to field the franchise’s most sprawling conflicts yet.

In Origins, players control a “nameless hero” thrust into the epic wars of China’s Three Kingdoms era. As chaos erupts, it falls to them to masterfully combine martial skills with strategic battlefield command to defeat relentless waves of enemy soldiers. The game represents a return to Dynasty Warriors’ origins of pitting protagonists against seemingly endless opposition.

“For almost 30 years, the Dynasty Warriors franchise has been built on delivering not only realism on the battlefield, but the exhilarating action of one warrior against a thousand foes,” said Tomohiko Sho, producer and head of Omega Force. “With Origins, we revisit these roots to create the most thrilling warfare experience yet for loyal fans and new players alike.”

The original 1997 Dynasty Warriors was a more grounded weapon-based fighter before evolving into the open-field “Musou” hack-and-slash gameplay that became its signature starting with Dynasty Warriors 2 in 2000. Subsequent entries expanded the scale, complexity and historical narrative but maintaining the core of players carving through scores of enemy troops.

Now, over two decades later, Sho promises Origins will go even further by “making the most of PS5 hardware to create battlefields with massive armies attacking from as far as the eye can see.” He describes scenes of “overwhelming” opposing forces that will force quick tactical thinking alongside sheer combat prowess to survive.

While casting players as an anonymous martial hero instead of famous warriors from the era, the developers intend to recreate the kinetic intensity that made the series a landmark action franchise. By going back to its origins of huge-scale conflicts pushed to their limits on modern systems, Dynasty Warriors: Origins aims to be a revolutionary breakthrough for the veteran series.