Koei have been working diligently to offer up a good number of titles this generation, with the most stand-out being the two Samurai Warrior titles that have both seen a release on the Sony platforms. Today, we have sat down with the publishing team to discuss Samurai Warriors 4: Empires. Join us as we run through all of the features one can expect with this new entry.

Samurai Warriors 4 and 4-II both had stunning visuals on the Playstation 4. Can we expect to see the same treatment for Empires?

Thank you. Players can expect the same stunning visuals for Samurai Warriors 4 Empires. Speaking of visuals, I hope players can enjoy the newly introduced ‘Intuitive Politics System’ (note: castle play)

What new features are in store for this version?

First of all, the new main feature of Samurai Warriors 4 Empires is ‘Intuitive Politics System.’ Through many trials and errors, we were successful in implementing sophisticated simulation elements while achieving an intuitive play.

‘Base Battles,’ a very popular feature on Samurai Warriors 2 Empires, returns to this title. You can claim “chains” of enemy bases by cutting off enemy supply lines and isolating enemy bases. Analysing the enemy placements will enable you to seize the advantage more efficiently. For the very first time, this game enables you to lead allied forces throughout the battlefield to claim victory. Players can give out individual commands to allied officers in order to have them each attack an enemy, defend a base or defend an ally. When you share a special relationship with an allied officer, you can also take direct control of him/her, playing as him/her on a different front of the battlefield.

Don’t miss human drama in this game. Dramas will unfold through interactions between characters which can be easily affected by your gameplay. You will be able to find a lot of events based on historical facts/anecdotes, at the same time; you can re-create those historical events with other officers or your own custom characters. I’d like to point out that all event dialogs were recorded with all Musou warriors’ voices. With such customisability, I would like to encourage players to create their own history.

Are there any new characters that we should look for, and if not – how did you incorporate prior personalities into Empires?

Unlike orthodox Musou titles which focuses on character play, one of the highlights of Samurai Warriors 4 Empires is that relationships and stories will be influenced by player’s action/decision, thus bringing infinite playability. That is why there is no new Musou officer in this title. However, we did add over 100 of historical male officers, as well as over 100 historical female characters that left their marks in the Warring States period in Japan. They are all given unique appearance, playable, and can be befriended. Needless to say all Musou will be available for playing and befriending.

Tell us about the Marriage Events.

The Marriage Event is part of ‘human drama’ in this title. Depends on the play style, players can walk their own paths, including the marriage event. Going to battles together and deepening relationships in castle with an officer from an opposite sex may trigger the marriage events. It is possible to create different couple regardless of history.

How does “Residential Administration” work in Empires?

The main new features here are ‘Intuitive Political System,’ a graphical as well as intuitive dashboard for players. The castle contains a cluster of rooms, each function as an administrative office for development, military, and more. Players can use the Castle interface to place valued allied officers as Magistrates in each room and to assign various tasks to them. The basic flow of this system is for players to decide whether or not adopt proposals submitted by Magistrates.

Officers have strong and weak points. There are certain proposals that can only be made by specific officers. This is a good place to show players’ ability for making decisions which officers to use, what proposals to adopt, for such decisions may change the rest of your gameplay.

As the number of territories under players control increases through success in battle, home castle can grow to a multi-tiered stronghold. This allows more Magistrates to be appointed and a wider range of policies to be proposed. Through some turning points, the castle is developed into a development type, a military type, and more. Players’ decision on selecting a type of home castle may change the gameplay of this title.

What kind of downloadable content can we expect to see in the future?

Currently planned downloadable contents are special costumes of Japanese summer kimono for Musou officers, special home castles, campaign scenarios, and more.

Samurai Warriors 4-II felt like the definitive version of the game. Are there more plans to expand in terms of sequels, or is that story now told?

I do not have anything to say now, but we continue to make our best efforts to release more enjoyable titles. Please look forward to our future announcements.

When localizing the Warriors games in general, how does feedback from the west shape changes made during the development cycle?

It is difficult to say as teams work differently for different Warriors titles. Of course, opinions and feedbacks from native English speakers staff are incorporated into the development cycle. At the same time, we have a number of Western team members, so that we continuously adopt comments from them.

Samurai Warriors 4: Empires which launches in the west on March 15th, let us know what you thought of the interview in the comments section below.