Sengoku Dynasty Early Access Preview: A Rough but Promising Diamond

Sengoku Dynasty is a brand-new game from the developer Superkami. The game revolves around the rebuilding phase of Japan’s Sengoku Period where wars were engulfing the nation everywhere. From gathering materials to assembling new villagers, Sengoku Dynasty is certainly a solid contender within the simulation genre. This Sengoku Dynasty preview will take a deep dive into its story, gameplay mechanics, and technical aspects of the game. Let’s begin.

From the very first time I heard about this game, I was super excited about its release, and I have to say, Sengoku Dynasty currently sits at a rather interesting spot. The core mechanics within the game work, however, they’re not exactly the sharpest tools in the shed, as I’ve repeatedly met with confusing Quests or missions, hindering my progress. Still, there are quite nice aspects that I respect and enjoy within the game, which I will explain down the line.

Sengoku Dynasty is available on Steam for $15.99.

Story: Japan’s Sengoku Period’s Dark Side

Sengoku Dynasty depicts what I think is the dark side of wars that games rarely touch or tells the story of, which is the people’s suffering. 

Usually, when depicting wars, especially during Japan’s Sengoku Period, we always see two sides battling it out trying to reach the peak of Japan’s supremacy. While that is not bad at all, seeing a new perspective on wars is a breath of fresh air and Sengoku Dynasty manages to capture that brilliantly.

From the start of the game, we see the people’s struggles in trying to rebuild their villages and homes, as they flee the regions that are affected by wars. Sengoku Dynasty‘s story might not seem much at first glance, but it’s certainly one of the stronger points of the game, however, despite its fantastic premise, the Quest system is holding back the potential of the story, which we will discuss down the line.

The Bustling Village.

Gameplay: Shackled Potentials

Up next in this Sengoku Dynasty preview is where we delve deeper into the gameplay details, where we highlight the greats and downs of many aspects of the game. Let’s start.

Our topics today will cover things such as the Sengoku Dynasty‘s Dynasty Mechanic, the foundation of the village-building aspect, as well as other things like the Map system, which is partially useless as of now, the Quests, most of which are pretty basic and lifeless, and finally, the Material Gathering methods which can be confusing at times.

Dynasty Mechanic

First and foremost, let’s talk about the core aspect of Sengoku Dynasty, its Dynasty mechanic. Long story short, the Dynasty mechanic has massive potential, but it’s still confusing.

I’ll start from the bad side first: most of the aspect like assigning jobs and gathering the materials for the facility to properly run is unclear (no markers on the Map). Also, there’s no visual cue when somebody has a job for them, so it’s hard to notice whether the job we assign them has come into effect or not. However, one thing to note is that all NPC will do their job well as long as you provide them with the necessary supplies.

To summarize, the Dynasty mechanic is not exactly appealing and intuitive as of now, however, the potential it has is very broad, so if the developers can manage the direction they want for the Dynasty mechanic well, then I can see that this core aspect of Sengoku Dynasty will truly be the star it deserves.

Wood Craftsmen.

Map System

Moving on to our next part of the preview, we will discuss Sengoku Dynasty‘s Map system. Unfortunately, this is one of the biggest drawbacks of the game, as there are many flaws within the Map system of the game, per this writing.

For instance, there are no zoom-in and zoom-out options for us to see the terrain and landmarks better, causing plenty of confusion during my playthrough with a friend. I do hope that the developers will improve the Map throughout the Early Access development phase, as of now, this function is pretty much useless and does not provide the information it’s supposed to have.

Winter Season.

Quests

After its Map system, let’s talk about another important gameplay mechanic within Sengoku Dynasty, the Quests. From the beginning of the game where we first control our character, we must do multiple Main Quests that will forward the story, and the plus side is that they’re not very restrictive, so we can still look around and do other things, which is a great bonus for those that enjoy sightseeing or collecting materials beforehand.

However, the early Quests in Sengoku Dynasty are very, very basic. We’re dragged around here and there by the Quest givers by doing this or gather that, though they conceal that behind the reasoning that we need those things to rebuild our village in Nata Valley. Still, the Quests’ variants do improve after a certain part of the story, so that’s a big plus in my book.

A Proper House.

Materials Gathering

And lastly, let’s take a look at Sengoku Dynasty‘s Materials Gathering mechanics for this next part of the preview. Truthfully, when I played through the game, I did not encounter any glaring issues with the Materials Gathering. And it’s intuitive and immersive, as we need to create the necessary tools first before trying to chop up some trees, or mine some ores. Those tools range from a simple Wooden Hammer to Stone Pickaxe, suited for different scenarios.

However, this aspect is still far from perfect, as there are some weaknesses in Sengoku Dynasty‘s Materials Gathering mechanic. First, there are no indications whatsoever about the materials’ whereabouts on the Map, and the NPCs don’t help us by providing the necessary information. They ask us to build something, yet never give away the details on where we can find the materials. Second, our Stamina decreases each time we build something, which interrupts the building process after gathering all the materials such as wood or stones. 

And lastly, the Building crafting wheel is somewhat confusing, because it does not contain clear instructions on how to build certain buildings like houses or storage, and the crafting wheel’s categories are not immediately clear, prompting us to parse through many items before finding what we actually need. I think that if they can make the Building crafting wheel similar or close to that of The Forest‘s system, then we as the players will have a much easier time trying to build the necessities for our village.

Building A House.

Graphics and Sound: Decent Quality

Now that we have taken a closer look at Sengoku Dynasty‘s story and gameplay elements, it’s time to discuss its technical aspects, particularly the graphics and the sound design.

The cutscenes when we first boot our playthrough is nice, the quality and voice-over are brilliant and engaging enough. The world design is decent, though nothing really stands out. I do have a concern regarding the seabed of the game, since as per writing this preview, that part of the world serves nothing but lags the loading time every time I play the game through saves or from a fresh start.

The sound design in Sengoku Dynasty is one of its greatest strengths since the music and ambiance always fit every situation I find myself in during my playthrough. When I’m inside my village, the music is relaxing, allowing me to build and traverse my territory without much worry. The same goes when chopping down trees, the music never disappoints and I genuinely have to applaud the developers for their sound design for Sengoku Dynasty.

Sengoku Dynasty was previewed on PC.