2019 has been a surprisingly quiet year for Koei Tecmo’s flagship Warriors franchise. Although the Japanese publisher has plenty of other projects currently in the pipeline (including Nioh 2, Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIV, and Atelier Ryza) there has been no news of a potential sequel to any of its Musou series.
However, recent trademarks filed by the company may point towards some potential clues. Koei Tecmo acquired the following trademarks, including:
- “Isekai Musou” (Other World Warriors)
- “Gakuen Musou” (Academy Warriors)
- “Tensei Musou” (Reincarnation Warriors) – Note: This is likely not Shin Megami Tensei-related, as Atlus would own the trademark, not
- Koei Tecmo.
- “Musou Play“
- “Musou Mode“
The terms Musou and Warriors are interchangeable, Warriors being the localised name of the popular hack n’ slash franchise.
With dozens of mainline entries, crossovers, spin-offs, ports, and expansions, there is no chance that Koei Tecmo is permanently stepping away from one of its best selling properties.
That said, we’re still fairly clueless as to what the publisher has planned for future Warriors titles. “Other World Warriors” sounds like it could be an extension of the Warriors Orochi series that continues to pull from various Koei Tecmo games as well as various mythologies.
With Koei having been heavily involved in the development of Fire Emblem: Three Houses, “Academy Warriors” seems like an interesting title for a new game in the franchise. For a while now, Warriors games have tried to fill the gaps between battles with more social elements. Seeing these beefed up to a Fire Emblem or Persona degree of character interaction would be an interesting, logical step forward.
Meanwhile “Reincarnation Warriors” may suggest a continuation of the Strikeforce subseries or maybe a mulligan for the Warriors series at large.
2018’s Dynasty Warriors 9 is by far the most divisive entry in recent memory, its open world focus proving to be a letdown instead of the evolution fans had been dreaming of.
Of course, these are simply trademarks. There’s no guarantee that any of these titles will blossom into actual games though they give us a tiny insight into some of the ideas Koei Tecmo is kicking around.
We expect to hear new announcements from Koei Tecmo, as well as other Japanese publishers, from this year’s Tokyo Game Show. The annual event will take place next month, between September 12th and September 15th.
Source: Gematsu
