Fans of Koei Tecmo’s Warriors games will be familiar with the expansions most entries receive. These typically add new characters, story content, gameplay modes and a few other tweaks over the original release. Warriors Orochi 4 Ultimate follows the pattern to the letter, providing hardcore fans with more of the same button mashing action while also enticing newcomers with a more robust package.

This review primarily focuses on the additional content in Warriors Orochi 4 Ultimate. For more information about the base game, please refer to our review by clicking here.

The additional content in Warriors Orochi 4 Ultimate is intended for those who have completed the base game. Ultimate includes three new chapters which expand the story, focusing on Zeus and Gaia who join the other Warriors characters to defeat Odin. Throughout the chapters you will unlock seven new playable characters including returning guest characters from Warriors Orochi 3 such as Joan of Arc, Achilles and Ryu Hayabusa. You’re looking at a solid few hours of additional story content depending on the difficulty setting and how thorough you are at completing bonus objectives. Just bare in mind you will need to have completed the base game before you unlock the new content.

The other main new feature in Warriors Orochi 4 Ultimate is Infinity mode. Here you will undertake the Trials of Zeus by completing challenges in 12 towers. Each dungeon represents a different zodiac sign and players are tasked with challenges such as destroying all the pots in a level, defeating certain enemy units or achieving a particular number of KOs within a time limit. The mode feels more like an extension of the story mode than a completely unique idea, which is a bit disappointing. But it’s also a great way to grind experience points and unlock powerful weapons for the cast of now 177 playable characters.

There are a number of quality of life improvements as well. Firstly, the character selection screen has been tweaked so that characters are now grouped into what game they first appeared in. This should make selecting your team of three easier, but you can also opt to use the original selection screen if you prefer. Also, you can now change the sacred treasure each character holds, letting you further customise your team to reflect your prefered play style. While these improvements are certainly welcome, it’s bizarre that they weren’t offered as a free update to the base game, almost as if Koei Tecmo are trying to justify the cost of upgrading to Ultimate.

Under the hood the game also benefits from a number of character buffs and improved gameplay fluidity.  Koei Tecmo haven’t explicitly announced which characters have received changes, but early players have noted improvements in attack strength for Orochi and elemental attack adjustments for characters from the Dynasty Warriors and Warriors Orochi series. Additionally, characters can now be promoted and leveled up to 1000 times to grow stronger and expand their skill trees. It’s hard to imagine anyone who would want to grind every single last character to their full potential, but it adds a lot of replayability for those who are keen for it.

If you have played and still own the base game, you can digitally upgrade to the Ultimate version for approx. AU$59.95, depending on which platform you own. This price does seem a bit steep given it’s only a handful of extra story chapters, characters and one new gameplay mode. If you’re a newcomer then you’ll be paying AU$99.95-$105 for the complete package.

If you’re a hardcore fan who wants to do every last possible mission, level up every character and hasn’t already had their fill with the base game then it’s definetly worth the asking price for the Ultimate upgrade. If you’re a casual fan then it might be worth waiting for the upgrade to inevitably go on sale. Newcomers are the real winners here as they benefit from a more robust package along with all the fancy tweaks and improvements made between releases.

Rocket Chainsaw reviewed Warriors Orochi 4 Ultimate on an Xbox One X console. It is also available on PS4, Nintendo Switch and PC (via Steam).