On October 24, “Romance of the Three Kingdoms 8 – Remake” will be released on PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, and Steam. It is a mix of strategy and role-playing game with 1,000 playable characters.
What kind of series is this? “Romance of the Three Kingdoms” is a Chinese national epic of enormous cultural significance. In our culture, the legends of King Arthur or the Trojan War hold similar cultural importance as this novel.
The video game series based on the epic has now reached 14 installments, with the latest one released in 2020. In the West, the myth is primarily known through a game from the Total War series and the film “Red Cliff.” The console games Dynasty Warriors, Kessen, and Dynasty Tactics also take place in the universe of the novel.
We thoroughly introduced Part 13 of the series in an article on MeinMMO.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms Part 8 was originally released in 2001 for PC in Japan. Part 8 is considered the pinnacle of the series. However, in the West, players have only been able to play the PS2 version of the title, which is already 20 years old. The remake brings this part of the saga up to date with the latest technology.
A mix of strategy and role-playing game where you can play as any character
What is special about the game? Romance of the Three Kingdoms 8 is a mix of a strategy game and a role-playing game. The special aspect is that you can play as any of the 1,000 officers in the game.
You can step into the role of a legendary leader, such as Cao Cao, or play as a famous warrior, but you can also play as a secondary character throughout the story.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms depicts ancient China over a period of 80 years and with 55 different scenarios, featuring characters from the novel.
You can build cities, command troops, or engage in duels against opponents.
A great appeal of the game lies in the interactions and feuds between individual heroes, who are intertwined in a complex relationship system.
In Europe, the “Romance of the Three Kingdoms” series has always been more of a niche product, just like the Japanese equivalent Nobunaga’s Ambition. In the West, we are used to purist strategy games like Civilization—the Chinese version with a strong RPG influence and a focus on characters is rarely found here, perhaps most similarly in the Crusader Kings series.
Part 8 is considered the pinnacle of the series by critics
What do the reviews say? The main series of Romance of the Three Kingdoms has received progressively worse ratings in recent years. On Metacritic, Part 14 only received a score of 58% on PC.
The remake of Part 8, the last installment that was rated over 75% on Metacritic, is already receiving friendlier ratings, between 70% and 78%.
On Steam, the title has balanced values at 50%.
A major concern seems to be the high price of €60 and that many improvements from the new installments were not included. In particular, the AI is considered hopelessly outdated by today’s standards. There are fears that Koei Tecmo might reserve a revision of these weaknesses for a “Power Up” version, which is traditionally offered some time after a game’s release.
The unique elements of the “Social RPG” are praised, as clever systems can even change the historical course of events.
Despite the high price, the remake seems to be a success on Steam. At its peak, it had 18,948 players – 2,500 more than the current Part 14 achieved in January 2020: A movie on Netflix shows me how ridiculous one of my favorite games on Steam actually is
