Romance of the Three Kingdoms 8 Remake Review (Move eShop)

Running a budding kingdom is difficult enough, but it’s even more difficult when surrounded on all sides by countless potential enemies, all vying for land, resources, and power. Few video games can recreate that pressure like Koei Tecmo’s Love story of the Three Kingdoms serieswith Romance of the Three Kingdoms 8 Remake to be the most balanced version of one of the best games in that series. Somehow, they have made the boredom of bureaucracy interesting and addictive.

Like the rest of the series and the novel that inspired it, Romance of the Three Kingdoms 8 Remake — which originally launched in Japan on PC in 2001 before coming to the West a few years later on PS2 — followed by a heavily romanticized Chinese version. history. The period from about 220 to 280 AD was a period of great upheaval in the region, with many figures vying for control. That conflict gave birth to characters like Lu Bu, Dong Zhuo, and Cao Cao, all of whom have become immortalized in novels, movies, and especially video games for us.

There are two things that developers Kou Shibusawa always looking to tie in with the series – giving players the ability to delve into the minutiae of ruling a growing kingdom and follow the story behind the captivating battles and history fascinated readers for centuries. Romance of the Three Kingdoms 8 Remake leans more heavily on the story aspect, allowing you to automate and delegate decisions to your AI subordinates, but there’s still a fair amount of detail that you can sink your teeth into. enter.

Like the original game, this remake focuses more on the story; You can create your own custom character and see how far you can go in the dangerous politics of 3rd century China, or you can play as one of the 1000 officers already in the system and follow their stories throughout that period. That’s an obscene amount of options, but they’re joined by different scenarios you can play through, each focusing on a particular faction at a particular time. If you are looking for a game to play again and again and never get the same experience twice then this is as good a choice as you can find.

As you play, you can level up your stats, unlock new abilities, and build relationships with other characters. Some of those relationships are positive – spouses, siblings, and allies – while others are more negative, but all contribute to moving the story forward. One important thing to remember is that you won’t get far without encountering a few enemies along the way, but that’s a big part of what makes Romance of the Three Kingdoms so fun – dramatic.

That drama is a core part of the game. Each cycle lasts three months, during which time you can visit different areas of your growing kingdom, enhancing their stats and raising your army. In doing so, you will meet other officers and recruit them to your cause or deepen your relationship with them. Developing these relationships will unlock new Synergies, allowing them to help when you go to work in your city or on the battlefield as you try to take over someone else’s territory. If you want to rule China, you’ll need a little help from your friends.

After three months, you will attend parliament with your lord and receive quests for the next season or organize a parliament if you have risen to a high enough status. From this screen, you can use Strategy Points to send spies to other territories, build alliances, or wage war against your neighbors. There’s always more to do than you have enough points for each season, which means you have to think very carefully about what you’re going to do next. The gameplay cycle is surprisingly addictive; Each season only lasts a few minutes, depending on your choices, so you can advance your time relatively quickly. You can be immersed in the game for several hours without even realizing it.

War is perhaps the easiest way to expand your borders, playing as a tactical RPG where you lead your army against your enemies. This is a pretty simple mechanic, especially in the early game, but the use of Tactics (special moves you can unlock with experience points) makes it feel more involved little more than just having more soldiers than your opponent.

If there’s one failing of Romance of the Three Kingdoms 8 Remake, it’s that it doesn’t let you delve into the details of running your kingdom as deeply as other installments in the series. The focus here is on the story you build with your character and the role-playing elements it unfolds. That’s not necessarily a negative in our book, but it may disappoint fans looking for a more tactical game. The dueling system is also annoyingly random, but can largely be avoided if you don’t like it.

Story elements are built into Stories that you can activate as you progress the plot. These stories can be based on fiction, such as when our character is convinced to kill his ruler because they both love the same woman, or it can simply be because of his stats. you get high enough to allow you to try a new side quest.

The good news is that all Stories are optional and you can usually enable them whenever you want as long as you have all the prerequisites. If you’re not ready for the responsibility of a promotion, you can simply skip it until you’re ready. However, the world around you will change and alliances will arise even without you taking action. As a result, the game plays out a little differently each time. Here history is malleable; nothing is fixed

That is truly the greatest strength of Romance of the Three Kingdoms 8 Remake. You can play it for hundreds of hours and never feel like you’re repeating yourself. However, be warned; it is not an easy game to win. The AI ​​isn’t exactly smart, especially in battles, but it’s active, meaning you can’t rest on your laurels for too long.

Conclusion

If you like the story elements of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms series then 8 Remake is one of the best films the franchise has ever produced. This entry doesn’t offer the same level of kingdom management that fans might expect, but the focus on drama and your narrative choices makes it a bit more accessible to new players. This is a very solid remake that runs well on the Switch and feels like it lives up to the original’s full potential.