Samurai Warriors 5

Samurai Warriors 5 (戦国無双5, Sengoku Musou 5) is the fifth main entry in the Samurai Warriors series. Announced on the February 17th Nintendo Direct of 2021, the game is slated for a summer 2021 release. This installment is designed to be a revamp of the Samurai Warriors series, with character designs, visuals, and interactions vastly overhauled from previous incarnations.

The Treasure Box will include a postcard set, a character illustration book, an original soundtrack CD, and a cloth poster. The Ikki Tousen Box includes all the aforementioned bonuses plus a set of mini acrylic stands. The downloadable-exclusive Deluxe Edition provides players with additional in-game items to start with.

Gameplay
As this is a re-imagining of the franchise, character movesets, and gameplay have been changed. Most characters now wield different weapons, even sharing and swapping weapons at will like in Dynasty Warriors 7 and Dynasty Warriors 9. Characters equipped with their preferred weapons will be able to perform combo attacks unique to them. Personal skills and hyper attacks also make a comeback. Musou attacks now have unique finishers with rendered portrait effects.

Downloadable content includes Samurai Warriors costumes for Nobunaga and Mitsuhide, Taiga drama costumes for Nobunaga and Mitsuhide, alternate color palettes for Nobunaga, Mitsuhide, Ieyasu, and Nō, as well as 6 scenarios, weapon packs and BGM packs. A season pass will be available.


 * Ultimate Skills is a new mechanic that replaces the special R1 skills of previous entries. Up to four different Ultimate Skills can be assigned to a face button (, undefined,, or ), and are activated by pressing R1 and a face button. These skills include but are not limited to active attacks as well as passive status buffs. Every character has multiple Ultimate Skills that they have access to, though only a maximum of four can be equipped and used in battle. These can be customized/assigned to any R1 input.
 * Each Ultimate Skill has its own gauge. The gauge must be full before the Ultimate Skill can be performed. Using the Ultimate Skill will deplete its gauge, and it can be refilled by attacking enemies.
 * Each Ultimate Skill has a rating that denotes the amount of damage it does.
 * Hyper Attacks make a return in this entry, though they have been reduced to a single string with no inverted finishers. Pressing  during a Hyper Attack sequence will initiate the regular  string, allowing characters to continue juggling enemies.
 * Aeriel Attacks are a new addition that certain characters have access to. These characters can perform their normal and hyper attack strings while airborne.
 * A camera lock-on mechanic has been introduced. Pressing R3 will lock the camera onto the nearest named enemy.

Story Mode
The story mode this time around is heavily inspired by the original title, with Nobunaga and Mitsuhide as the main focus, both each having their own main story route. Other daimyo and perspectives on a conflict will be represented in a side branch of either story route. The story itself ends at Honnōji rather than covering the Toyotomi and Tokugawa reigns like the rest of the series had done. Free Mode is not its own individual mode this time, instead being an option within the story mode after you have completed any given stage.

Citadel Mode
The side mode for this game consists of a tower defense like mode. The player chooses two characters to defend a vital base on a small map. The base's health is on the top screen. The player can summon friendly troops to help defend a vital point or launch an ambush on unsuspecting enemies. Winning battles with your chosen characters will unlock extra interactions and bonuses for the castle base in Story Mode.

My Castle
My Castle is the stylized menu where characters can be prepared before entering any battle of Story or Citadel Mode. It is accessible once either mode has been selected. Character skills, levels, mounts, weapon mastery, ultimate skills, items, weapon skills, mount skills, and troops can be equipped, purchased, upgraded, or sold depending on the resource and its functions. Completing chapter 1 of the story mode unlocks all of My Castle's features.

Characters
Samurai Warriors 5 will feature 39 playable characters, though two of them are the older iterations of Nobunaga Oda and Mitsuhide Akechi.

Supporting Characters
These characters, while playable, do not have their own signature moves and Musou art.

Related Media
Early information on Samurai Warriors 5 was revealed live on February 25 with Eiji Takemoto as the emcee and Hisashi Koinuma providing myriad details. Three of the game's voice actors appeared in the segment as guests. A second livestream was broadcasted with Ieyasu's new voice actor Ryōta Ōsaka joining Takemoto and Koinuma.

From March 2 to 21, the developers teamed up with Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs in holding a special limited event to promote the game at the Osaka Museum of History. The event featured original goods and merchandise of the characters. Nobunaga Shimazaki appeared in the second-to-last day for a meet and greet with fans.

A tie-up promo with Central Japan Railway Company allows Samurai Warriors and Nobunaga's Ambition fans to participate in a mystery game where they must visit various locations and solve quizzes based on the area's history. The event ends on July 31 with the Nobunaga no Yabou Shinsei quizzes already starting since March 30 and the Samurai Warriors 5 quizzes beginning on April 26. More details can be found on the mystery game's site. Winners may receive minor goods for joining the event.

Trivia

 * Smaurai Warriors 5 is the first SW game to be released on Reiwa era.