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.

Samurai Warriors 5 gives you a sense of incredible herculean power as you play through it. Few other action games give you such an ability to cleave through crowds of foes that stand in your path, and it’s undeniably satisfying to be able to swat a few dozen people aside.

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.

Samurai Warriors 5 on Nintendo Switch runs better than most Warriors games on the platform and is a good way to experience Koei Tecmo’s newest if you value portability above all, can tolerate cutbacks to various visual features, and are ok with a variable performance.

It's undeniable the amount of content that Samurai Warriors 5 boasts. Completing Nobunaga's campaign unlocks even more missions, and that's in addition to all of Mitsuhide's and assorted side missions not required to reach the end credits. While mission variety and challenge felt lacking, there are reasons to replay stages to complete every objective and shoot for S rankings, which are actually tied to opening up some of the post-game content. 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.

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.