I’m the first to admit that my knowledge of Musuo/Warriors games is severely limited. I’ve only played three spin-off titles from the celebrated hack-and-slash subgenre. The first two were Fire Emblem Warriors and Touken Ranbu Warriors, which I immensely enjoyed. However, it was in the third Musuo title I played that I started to understand the potential appeal of the subgenre, largely due more to a passing fondness and my familiarity with its source material. Arslan: The Warriors of Legend is a game with noticeable flaws, but still manages to be a fun experience, especially if you’re already a fan of The Heroic Legend of Arslan series.
Arslan: The Warriors of Legend is based on an anime adaptation of a fantasy manga series entitled The Heroic Legend of Arslan by Hiromu Arakawa of Fullmetal Alchemist fame. Arakawa’s manga is, in turn, an adaptation of a novel series of the same name by Yoshiki Tanaka. The game interactively covers several key narrative arcs, putting you directly in control of the story’s frenetic action. I immensely enjoy the Arslan anime and adore the manga (which is available in English). Naturally, I was curious when I discovered that this game exists! I tracked down a PS4 copy despite my initial trepidation that we often accompany with licensed video game tie-ins, and I’m rather glad I did. While it is short, I had fun playing Arslan: The Warriors of Legend. It also immediately made me want to reread all the currently released English manga volumes because it reminded me just how good Arslan‘s story and characters are, even in a condensed storytelling format.
Arslan: The Warriors of Legend throws you into its fantasy setting with Arslan, the titular young prince of the kingdom of Pars, entering his maiden battle to face actual combat. Pars is fighting the invading forces of Lusitania. This theocratic nation sees their neighbors as “heathens” for not believing in their one god and for practicing customs such as slavery. Arslan is only fourteen years old, an open-minded and idealistic youth who admits there are problems with Parsian politics even if he thinks the Lusitanians aren’t as perfect a society as they claim to be. However, he’s restricted from acting due to the poor regard his parents, the current rulers of Pars, hold for him.
Nonetheless, accepting his duty to protect his people on the battlefield, the fighting takes a horrific turn when betrayal from within strikes the heart of the Parsian forces. Arslan narrowly survives due to the quick thinking of his loyal retainer, the accomplished warrior Daryun. The pair embark on a journey to gather allies and forces in the hopes of reclaiming the conquered capital. Their journey becomes the stuff of legends, spanning kingdoms. Once written off as weak, the young prince repeatedly proves himself, even as murmurs circulate, questioning his lineage and who might have the legitimate right to the Parsian throne.
To say more on the story of Arslan: The Warriors of Legend would no doubt be a deep dive into spoiler territory for those unfamiliar with The Heroic Legend of Arslan lore. The game does a decent job of concisely covering important narrative beats from the series, albeit in a much more condensed fashion. The fantasy series is mature and extensive, with complexly nuanced characters and detailed plotlines involving warfare and political intrigue. Seeing as how my first exposure to Musuo titles was Fire Emblem Warriors and Touken Ranbu Warriors, both of which admittedly don’t have the most substantial stories, I was a little worried about how a video game adaptation in this subgenre would approach the intricacies of Arslan’s tale. However, the developers show great respect for the source material despite cutting out some scenes and rushing through others to keep the game’s action flowing at a steady pace. Even so, I was impressed by how lengthy the story scenes still managed to be. You’ll have more of an appreciation for the game’s hidden nuances and story details if you follow either the anime or manga. However, Arslan: The Warriors of Legend still makes a solid effort at epic fantasy plot building.
Given the game’s narrative emphasis, it is no shock that the story mode is the first gameplay mode you experience. This mode serves as a decent introduction to the world of Arslan, allowing you to play as many of the game’s playable characters as possible to get a handle on their differing fighting styles. In story mode, you’ll find yourself playing as one character against a horde of enemies, often with changing objectives you must pay attention to so that you successfully clear what are usually extensive maps. These objectives vary greatly, ranging from figuring out how to break down barriers to clear paths to other parts of the battlefield, trying to quickly defeat messengers to stop them from reaching their intended destinations, rescuing allies, surviving for a designated time, or targeting specific higher-tier enemies to defeat amidst the throngs sent after you. The objectives often change depending on what happens on a given battlefield, keeping you on your toes if you want to gain high scores for their successful completions.
Combat is fast, fluid, and chaotic but genuinely entertaining. You can often charge into battle on horseback, which has merits and weaknesses. I found the added speed fantastic when trying to prevent someone from reaching a specific point on the map quickly, but controlling attacks while mounted was unwieldy. I often dismounted and took to fighting on foot whenever I could, especially since doing so grants access to the more powerful special moves in a character’s arsenal.
Each character possesses different weapons and selectable playstyles. Arslan is the best all-around fighter when equipped with a sword, but Elam has the speedy archer playstyle down pat. Characters like Daryun, Kishward, and Kubard provide powerhouse moves and combos. Given his artistic motivations, Narsus fighting with a paintbrush made for an inspired and unique combat style. However, my favorite character to fight with was the later story mode addition, Jaswant, a speedy fighter with a trusty dagger. Every character has unique moves, such as Gieve with his distracting music play or Alfarid with her fire arrows, and each plays differently. These minute differences are the case even when they have similar weapon types, offering many player choices when approaching combat. With over a dozen characters, including two — Silver Mask and Zandeh — that unlock after clearing story mode, you have no shortage of playstyle options.
Beyond mowing down hordes upon hordes of enemies through fierce combo-based combat, there’s also a level of strategy to fighting in Arslan: The Warriors of Legend. The characters’ weapons have corresponding elemental types you unlock as characters level up, providing powerful additional effects. For instance, I unlocked a wind weapon art for Arslan which gave him different abilities and attacks to develop and master than if I had equipped a fire or water weapon art. You can change weapon arts and or synthesize/equip skill cards during battles through the pause menu, which also displays gameplay-related details for your chosen playable character.
Aside from weapons, equipment also comes in the form of skill cards, which grant bonuses to character stats. You can equip up to three skill cards at a time and acquire them through progressing in battle or through a process known as synthesis. So long as you have the gold for it, you can fuse up to ten skill cards together to (ideally) create a more robust card. Playing around with skill cards is not only entertaining, but it’s also helpful in combat.
Beyond the hack-and-slash action, you want to look for particular Rush Zone areas that often appear during battle. Entering one of these zones allows your character to activate a powerful attack utilizing several allies called a Mardān Rush. This attack’s effect varies depending on if it is a cavalry charge, an infantry charge, or an archery barrage. Mardān Rushes are often strategically beneficial not only due to their immense offensive power but also because they can destroy barriers and other hindrances placed on the battlefield. The animation for a successful one is also very satisfying!
Aside from the story mode, Free Mode is likely where you’ll spend the most time. In this mode, you can choose characters unlocked from story mode to fight with and strengthen in battle maps you uncover through leveling up. You can even create helpful dishes from recipe books if you have the money, which provide buffs between each fight. An online mode allows for a two-player co-op, though since this game released in 2016, you may not find many active players anymore. There’s also a gallery to peruse through unlocked movies, cutscenes, wallpapers, character models, and other things, alongside a helpful encyclopedia for lore-specific information. While the game auto-saves quite frequently during scenarios, you can also create an interim save during combat should you need to stop playing.
While I find the combat and overall gameplay mechanics rather entertaining, that isn’t to say Arslan: The Warriors of Legend doesn’t have flaws. The game has noticeable graphics-related glitches in particular. I experienced one during my first story mode playthrough in a scenario where Daryun participates in a sacred duel, and somehow, one of Daryun’s special moves “punched” him out of the arena entirely, getting stuck in a small out-of-bounds space. Thankfully, he had a bow equipped as well, which prevented me from having to restart, but my timing and rank grade for that mission weren’t exactly high. Later Warriors spin-off titles include an auto-targeting system, which is extremely helpful when focusing on one enemy within a group of many. Sadly, this quality-of-life feature is noticeably missing from Arslan: The Warriors of Legend, which means finding and keeping specific enemies in your sight is trickier than needed, even with the floating nameplates that appear based on objectives. Likewise, positioning your charge or archery attack after activating a Rush Zone relies on having a clear path if you’re looking for a specific target. A few times, the visibility was hindered on the map, resulting in having to retry or, in one frustrating case, a mission defeat.
Arslan: The Warriors of Legend features Japanese dubbing, which isn’t too much of a hindrance for most of the story mode as the subtitles are visible during cutscenes. However, it can be downright distracting during battle when there’s so much action, and the characters have back-and-forth conversations and story exposition. While the story remains primarily compelling, I also think that the abridged “cliff notes” version of the plot from the anime/manga means that certain moments lose some of their overall emotional impact. Some examples include glossing over the honorable Sam’s reasoning for choosing to side with Silver Mask, and Silver Mask losing some of the backstory insight that makes him a somewhat sympathetic antagonist. The rushed pacing also doesn’t work so well for story arcs such as Jaswant and Alfarid’s mourning periods and Elam and Arslan’s developing friendship. Three of the last playable characters you recruit (Tus, Isfan, Zaravant) have particularly hasty introductory stories in story mode. Moments like Arslan attempting to free some enslaved people and their less-than-thrilled initial reactions lose some of the depth and understanding portrayed in the manga and anime, or Vahriz and Kharlan’s tragic outcomes. After a keep is retaken, the disturbing fates of some distraught Lusitanian civilians are only “told-not-shown,” taking away the moment’s shock value for all characters involved. Also, much like the anime adaptation, Arslan: The Warriors of Legend ends abruptly, and the game’s arguably on the shorter side with a playthrough of around nine or ten hours if you don’t deep dive into its other components.
Visually, Arslan: The Warriors of Legend uses cel-shaded graphics to significant effect, wonderfully capturing the look of Hiromu Arakawa’s designs. The style is especially effective during cutscenes and battles when the camera zooms in on the unique character move animations. Most story scenes directly utilize the lovely animation from the anime adaptation. However, the animation style here is fascinating, almost “stop-motion,” which brings visual novel illustrations with the illusion of movement to mind.
Sound-wise, I love that the voice actors from the Japanese language dub of The Heroic Legend of Arslan reprise their roles here, giving incredibly emotional performances throughout. Special mention goes to the vibrantly dynamic voice work for Arslan, Daryun, Farangis, Gieve, and Etoile, but everyone in the cast does a phenomenal job in their roles. The soundscape fits quite well in terms of music and overall sound effects. I especially love the vocal song “Kazeshirube” that plays during the credits for the story mode. The English localization is also top-notch, with no errors!
Arslan: The Warriors of Legend is enjoyable despite some wrinkles that were not ironed out. Of the three Warriors spin-off games I’ve played so far, it’s my favorite, though that may be due to my affinity with the source material. Arslan’s heroic journey to becoming a leader who strives to do better regardless of the obstacles thrown his way, along with his kind-hearted and earnest demeanor attracting a diverse and colorful assortment of steadfast and loyal allies, is downright inspiring in any iteration. I feel like Arslan: The Warriors of Legend leans towards those who, like me, are already fans of The Heroic Legend of Arslan, and in that manner, it succeeds. Playing the game allowed me to relive my favorite moments from the anime and manga, getting more of an interactive scope for the series’ epic battles. And now I’m mightily tempted to reread the current English manga volumes! Arslan: The Warriors of Legend is a welcome addition to my gaming library.
