Dynasty Warriors 8 is a video game and the eighth official installment of the series. It is developed by and published by . The story is based on a 14th-century Chinese historical novel. Having more than 82 characters featured in the game, the game largely based its system on and focused on adding more content for replayability while also making several tweaks to the combat system.
The game was unveiled on October 30, 2012 and released on February 28, 2013, for the in Japan. On April 3, 2013, it was confirmed by that there would be an overseas release for both North America and Europe in July 2013. It was released on both PlayStation 3 and for both physical and digital release.
The option of English and Japanese voiceovers also returns, where there is also an option to change the subtitles to English, French or GermanThe story mode retains the same faction-based storyline and returns with seamless cutscenes.
In addition, each of the characters of the "Other" faction has one scenario dedicated to them, forming a loose "Other" faction story mode, in a first for the series. Stages now have more freedom of progression for the player, unlike the previous installment, which was strongly preset in means of stage routes.
A selection of up to four characters will be offered for each stages in story mode, instead of controlling a pre-defined character; the mission objectives in each level differ based on the character chosen.
The story has been entirely rewritten, with each of the four factions' stories divided into a historical path and a hypothetical path at a critical portion of their stories.
Each mission may have a number of optional objectives which unlock additional side story missions or alter the course of history, such as the moment when the flood attack in Fan Castle fails and therefore saves Guan Yu's life from being extinguished and therefore in relation also saves Zhang Fei from the betraying officers.
In order to unlock the hypothetical path, players must complete all of the optional objectives in both the main and side stories prior to the critical point of the storyline.
The game also allows a co-op play of the story mode and it can be played both offline and online. However, online co-op is only available on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The Windows version does not have online multiplayer. In the previous installment to the franchise, , the story mode was only single-player.