Dynasty Warriors: Unleashed

Dynasty Warriors: Unleashed (真・三國無双 斬, Shin Sangoku Musou Sen) is a mobile game adaptation of Dynasty Warriors 8: Xtreme Legends. It was originally referred to as Project: Dynasty Warriors.

The beta was first announced on December 30, 2016 and registration lasted until January 11, 2017. Beta testing for the Android began on January 12 and lasted until January 16, 10:00 (UTC-5). Registered participants could choose between Zhao Yun, Diaochan, Zhou Tai, Xu Shu, Daqiao, or Zhang Jiao as their first officer. Registered players received $29.99 worth of bonus items for the game's launch.

As of April 10, 2017, the app has been downloaded three million times.

Gameplay
Players are tasked with creating a trio of characters to deploy in missions. Multiple teams may be organized to take advantage of the game's various modes.

Participating in battles and certain challenges consumes action points which are restored using meat buns or waiting in real time. By successfully clearing a mission, the player and their team gain experience for leveling up. Higher lordship levels are needed to unlock new gameplay content and other bonuses.

Items and officers can be bought at the market with coins or ingots earned by the player, though limited free draws are available. Note that the results of each purchase are varied and often require in-game transactions.

While purely optional, players are free to join guilds or spend 100 ingots to form their own. Positions include leader, co-leader, officer, elder, and novice. Guilds thrive on active members and daily donations, increasing in size as they reach higher levels through fame. Generous donors may receive numerous rewards and benefits for contributing.

Missions are cleared by fulfilling given objectives, some of which include defeating multiple enemies, saving certain officers, etc. Rewards vary between different modes and are mainly used for character growth.

Combat controls are done by flicking the touchscreen; the in-game joystick allows players to move anywhere while the skill icons activate different combos and maneuvers. Touching an inactive character's portrait will have them launch a switch attack a la Warriors Orochi 3, though a cooldown time is imposed before the previous officer can be used again.

When facing enemy officers or elite units, the player must breach their defenses first by depleting their shield gauge completely with repeated hits. Doing so renders the target more vulnerable to damage and debuff effects, though the gauge will replenish itself over time, pressuring players to make quick work of their foes before they can resist attacks again.

Similar to Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce, officers have an elemental attribute they are weak or strong against (water, fire, and wind). This mechanic becomes more relevant in difficult missions and may force players to swap team members accordingly.

Other battle features include a camera angle button (which zooms the screen in three different ways) and an auto-battle function. Players and guild members can interact with one another by using the main menu's chat room system. Currently, the game's language can be changed to English, German, Korean, and Chinese.

Campaign
Story-driven scenarios divided into several sub-missions with different objectives; clearing one unlocks the next. Missions with multiple tasks will have the player's destination be indicated by a compass arrow.

Each mission has optional goals that yield stage stars if achieved. Their completion unlocks valuable prizes determined by the scenario's difficulty level (normal, hard, and elite). 10 stars earn meager prizes, 20 produce decent ones, and 30 offer the best.

Before engaging in battle, players may opt to select another person's character as an assisting member. Once the mission ends, a friend request will be sent to the character's owner. Friends have the privilege of exchanging gifts and battle points with one another daily.

Challenges
Unique time-based challenges that provide players the opportunity to acquire resources and other rewards.

Daily Trials
Solo challenges with their own distinct rules, they can only be done twice a day. The recommended element and opponents for each one changes routinely. Players who achieve an "S" grade are permitted to play the next difficulty tier for better prizes.


 * Siege
 * Element: 1 Element
 * Rewards: Jades
 * Objective: Protect the siege ram as it destroys the gates of Luoyang. Incoming enemies will periodically attack in droves, forcing players to remain on the defensive while the ram is in its charging phase.


 * Wooden Ox
 * Element: All Elements
 * Rewards: Coins
 * Objective: Destroy as many wooden oxen as possible within the time limit. Faster oxen will appear once time is almost over, though the coins they bear are more numerous.


 * Kill Inferno
 * Element: 1 Element
 * Rewards: Weapons
 * Objective: Defeat as much enemies as possible within the time limit. A straightforward hack and slash challenge where eliminated foes are gradually replaced with stronger ones.


 * Red Cliff
 * Element: 1 Element
 * Rewards: Experience Pills
 * Objective: Knock all surrounding enemies off the stage's platform. It is recommended to use crowd-clearing moves for this particular challenge. Officers will occasionally arrive to hinder the player's progress.

Boss Fight
Upon clearing missions in Campaign Mode, players might be alerted of a boss character's brief presence in a random city. Confronting them will pit their whole team against the player's in a short brawl. Because these fights do not last long, it may take multiple rounds to completely whittle down the boss's health; note that each round consumes action points. Deploying officers to areas under their faction's jurisdiction will dramatically raise their stats for the whole battle.

Performances for this challenge are ranked by player participation. Whoever deals the most damage is considered one of the top 5. Rewards are received by defeating the boss in time or exchanging them with bravery points earned from previous brawls.

Exploration
Command an officer to explore a discovered territory for treasures. The expedition takes several hours to end and any character dispatched cannot participate in other missions nor be replaced mid-journey. Items are normally found every 10 minutes and the deployed officer acquires experience from the time they spent exploring.

If players wish to accelerate the exploration process, they must spend 90 ingots to do so. New areas are unlocked by gaining more lordship levels.

Battlefield
Consists of various PvP gameplay modes.

Raid
In this mode, players are given the chance of acquiring rare items by stealing treasure fragments from each other and piecing them together. Raids cost battle points and are more likely to succeed against weaker teams; if the player is unable to find a preferable opponent, they may choose to refresh the target list as many times as possible. Alternatively, quintuple raids can be done to even the odds.

Since the player is just as vulnerable to raids, they may opt to protect their stash with shields which last for a few hours depending on the type purchased. However, should the user invade an occupied spot, the shield's effects will immediately stop.

War Supply
The purpose of this mode is to occupy various mining spots and extract the resources they contain. Vacant spots tend to be rather sparse, so players are forced to fight each other for them. The amount of resources gathered is determined by the number of hours and officers involved. Rare items may also be found during the mining process.

If players cease mining or lose their supply source, they will still retain any resources earned at the time. The bonus percentage itself is easily fulfilled by spending battle points.


 * 1 Hour - 16 Battle Points
 * 2 Hours - 32 Battle Points
 * 4 Hours - 64 Battle Points

Mines and caches are classified by size and resource type. The number of spots the player can occupy increases as their lordship level rises.

Arena
The arena is where players can test their might against one another through tag team matches. The goal is to defeat the opponent's team before the time limit ends. Winning enables competitors to rise in rank and receive rewards based on their current performance. The player's wins and losses are recorded in the battle log for bragging rights.

Player ranks and their corresponding rewards are automatically distributed right after 10 PM.

Skirmish
A competitive mode where up to four players queue to participate in real-time battles and earn a place in the competitive leagues. The player with the highest kill count receives the most points. Accumulated points are finalized every week for the weekly score award which affects a competitor's chances of moving on to subsequent ranks; it is possible to regress back to previous leagues if the player is inactive or lacks enough points to qualify for their present position.

Rewards are distributed to players both daily and weekly depending on their current points and rank.

Daily Rewards=
 * -|Weekly Rewards=

Conquest
Similar to Conquest Mode in Dynasty Warriors 7, players must thoroughly explore the various regions of China and conquer them. Each province contains different bases which determine the type of mission involved. While conquest missions are no different from campaign battles, officers can only join once per day.

Completing this mode before the first day of every month rewards players with a conqueror chest. Those in the top 5 will also be given bonus prizes for their efforts.

Related Media
The Taiwanese Facebook is hosting a cosplay contest for this game March 22~April 12, 2017. Winning participants can win prize money and other gifts that can be used for the game.

This was one of the titles presented at Nexon Developers Conference 2017.