Earlier this year, I had the fortune/misfortune of being given a copy of Touken Ranbu Warriors to review for UK Anime Network. My experience with the game wasn’t particularly pleasant but it did remind me of a term that I see thrown around every so often, Musou. I’ve limited experience with these games but I thought it might be interesting to take a look at what Musou video games are, whether they’re a genre and if they deserve the somewhat negative reputation that they’ve gained over the years.
Let’s start with where their name came from and what they are. The name “Musou” comes from the Dynasty Warriors series which is called “Sangokumusou” in Japan. These games follow characters who are capable of wiping out hundreds upon hundreds of rank and file troops and who occasionally fight stronger enemies like commanders and captains as they complete missions. The success of Dynasty Warriors has inspired some competitors to adopt this gameplay style while Koei Tecmo, the publishers of Dynasty Warriors, have been developing licensed games using this gameplay as well.
With regards to my own personal experience with these types of games, I’ve only played a few. I distinctly remember playing a Dynasty Warriors game on the PS2 although I can’t remember which one. I also played Devil Kings which was the Western name of the game Sengoku Basara, a Musou game from Capcom. More recently, I ended up playing Dragon Quest Heroes and Dragon Quest Heroes 2, spin-offs of the Dragon Quest franchise, and found myself quite enjoying them for their clever integration of mechanics from Dragon Quest into the Musou formula. Then, as mentioned above, I’ve also played Touken Ranbu Warriors which proved to be a grueling experience due to the fact that I had to play it within 4-5 days. It’s not a lot but I do think it’s enough that I can share my thoughts and opinions on the gameplay.
The negative reputation that I mentioned before is that Musou games are button mashers with very repetitive gameplay and, while I do think this statement is a tad harsh, I don’t entirely disagree with it. From my experience, the biggest problem with these games is the repetitive mission structure which typically has you fight through a horde, beat a captain, fight through another horde, beat a commander, rinse and repeat. There are some other mission types such as escorting an important character or protecting a gate or barrier but these don’t end up adding much variety to the gameplay with some such as stealth missions proving to be stiff, awkward and unpleasant, particularly compared to many other stealth games. The combat isn’t as simple as it’s made out to be with several different standard attacks, support attacks, dodges and an ultimate attack which destroys almost every enemy on screen. However, the sheer number of enemies onscreen at once prevents the player from playing methodically and results in them mashing several combos over and over again, resulting in repetitive gameplay that could be considered “Button Mashy”. Playable characters also typically don’t offer much variety with the gameplay between them feeling very similar. However, this is clearly a fault of the designers as it’s possible to have each character play and feel distinct from one another with the two Dragon Quest Heroes games being good examples of this.
So now I’d like to discuss whether Musou video games are a genre. On one hand, the term does help me and many other people visualise the kind of gameplay that can be expected but it’s also clear that the majority of games being produced in this so-called genre is from one company. While there are some examples of other companies producing their own Musou games such as Capcom’s Sengoku Basara, Microsoft’s Ninety-Nine Nights and a few of Marvelous’ Senran Kagura games, they are few and far between and I hesitate to call a style of game that mostly comes from one company a genre.
Whether or not you consider Musou to be a genre, it’s true that the term can be very helpful in identifying some games. As for the games themselves, I do admit that many of them can prove to be very repetitive but there are some examples that manage to make the core gameplay more engaging and I can only hope we see Musou games learn from this and make the gameplay more engaging. Let me know your thoughts on Musou video games, whether you like or dislike them, whether you consider them to be a genre and any additional information you might have on the topic.
Thanks for reading and if you wish to seek any of the titles I mentioned, don’t hesitate to use amazon.co.uk or amazon.com for all of your needs! Also feel free to follow my curator page on Steam “JRPG Reviews” for thoughts and opinions on any JRPGs that I play and my YouTube channel “Victory Achieved Gaming” where I guide my friend through challenging games.