Best Musou Games for PS5 & PS4

Why it's here: My top pick, and the one I would start with: Origins strips Dynasty Warriors back to a single nameless hero and makes the thousand-soldier battlefield feel tactical again, with weapon proficiencies that grow as you fight rather than a roster to grind through. The recurring complaint in Steam reviews is exactly that trade, one playable character where the series used to hand you dozens. Rated Teen, 4.42 from 12,000 players, the newest game here and PS5 only. If you have never played a musou, this is the entry to buy.

Why it's here: The biggest roster on this list, and that is the whole pitch: a crossover cast pulled from Dynasty Warriors, Samurai Warriors and the Orochi mythology, each fighter carrying a deity magic kit on top of the usual combo strings. Steam reviews split on it, with the grind to level that many characters the complaint that keeps surfacing, so this is the pick for someone who treats a roster as a checklist to clear rather than a menu to sample. Rated Teen, 4.56 from 3,600 players, with two-player split-screen. Buy it for breadth, not for story.

Why it's here: The story pick: Strikers is a direct sequel to Persona 5, so the Phantom Thieves road trip across Japan carries real narrative weight instead of the thin framing most musou ship with, and swapping Personas mid-fight keeps the crowd-clearing from going flat. The caveat Steam reviewers raise most is that the real-time combat never lands as cleanly as the turn-based original, so come for the writing first. Rated Mature, 4.45 from 8,700 players. If you finished Persona 5, this is the one game on this list you should not skip.

Why it's here: The co-op pick, and the licensed musou I would hand to a group: four players online or two on one couch, aerial combat, destructible terrain, and a Straw Hat roster where each Devil Fruit changes how a stage actually clears. The condensed story mode is the recurring Steam complaint, with whole arcs skipped outright, so this is not the entry to learn One Piece from. Rated Teen, 4.66 from nearly 14,000 players. For a weekend with friends who already know the crew, start here.

Why it's here: The one for RPG players who want their musou wrapped in a proper party: Dragon Quest Heroes swaps the war map for the kingdom of Arba, where you switch between four heroes mid-fight, cast spells and hold choke points against waves of monsters that used to be neighbours. No store review corpus is stored for it yet, so I am going on the catalogue record alone, and that record makes it the most-rated game on this list. Rated Teen, 4.62 from nearly 16,000 players. If Three Kingdoms history leaves you cold, this is the softer entry.

Why it's here: The sequel opens the map up: Heroes II trades the first game's hub-and-mission layout for connected fields you roam between battles, and adds four-player online co-op with a wider cast. It is also the entry Steam reviewers are most divided on, with performance problems and progress-blocking bugs dominating the negative half, which matters if you are choosing between this and the original. Rated Teen, 4.44 from 3,000 players. Play the first Heroes before this one unless co-op is the point.

Why it's here: The best writing on this list after Strikers: a Holy Grail War in Edo-period Japan, with you switching between the ronin Iori and his Saber servant mid-fight while a dense visual-novel story runs between battles. Steam reviewers rate it highly, and the caveat they keep returning to is a slow early power curve with repetitive encounters before the build opens up. Rated Teen, on PS Plus Extra, 4.35 from 4,400 players, so it costs nothing to test on the subscription. For Fate fans it is an easy yes; for everyone else, the story carries it.

Why it's here: A single-clan musou, and the best story Samurai Warriors has told: Spirit of Sanada follows Yukimura Sanada across his whole life, adds explorable castle towns between battles and strings missions into multi-stage battles instead of one-off maps. The complaint Steam reviewers raise most is optimisation, with frame drops in the busiest fights. Rated Teen, 4.69 from around 840 players, the second-highest rating here but from the smallest group. If you want a musou that reads like a historical drama rather than a roster, this is the one.

Why it's here: The darkest game on this list and the heaviest hitter: Guts' sword cuts enemies in half rather than knocking them over, and the story walks the Golden Age arc into the Hawk of the Millennium arc with the anime's voice cast. Steam reviewers single out the faithful adaptation, with the recurring reservation that the roster is small by musou standards and some missions turn into a grind. Rated Mature, 4.59 from 3,600 players. For a Berserk reader this is close to essential; for anyone else, it is the most cathartic combat here.

Why it's here: The furthest this list drifts from the formula, and the most distinct game on it: ODM gear replaces the ground combo, so every fight is a swing toward a Titan's nape rather than a sweep through infantry, with a created character threaded through seasons one to three. Steam reviewers rate it highly and name the repetitive mission structure and bugs as the trade-off. Rated Mature, 4.49 from 9,100 players, with four-player online co-op. If you have bounced off traditional musou before, try this one first.

Why it's here: The classic pick, and the most content per pound on this list: the full Three Kingdoms story, hypothetical what-if battles, a Lu Bu story route, Ambition and Challenge modes, and two-player split-screen throughout. Nearly all of the Steam criticism targets the PC port's controller support and optimisation, a caveat that reads as port-specific rather than about the game underneath. Rated Teen, 4.49 from 11,000 players. If Origins' single hero feels too narrow, this is where the series' breadth lives.

Why it's here: The subscription pick: Samurai Warriors 5 is on PS Plus Extra, so it is the musou on this list you can try without buying anything. It reboots the series with an ink-brush art style and a tight Nobunaga and Mitsuhide story, and the caveat Steam reviewers raise most is the smaller roster with movesets shared between officers. Rated Teen, on PS Plus Extra, 4.12 from 2,900 players, the lowest rating here. Play it on the subscription for the look and the story; buy Orochi 4 if you want the roster.

Why it's here: The entry that tells One Piece properly: Pirate Warriors 3 runs the manga from Romance Dawn to Dressrosa at full length where the sequel compresses, so it is the better game to read the story through. Combat is older and ground-bound, co-op caps at two, and Steam reviews are sharply divided over the PC port's crashes and controller problems. Rated Teen, 4.70 from 14,000 players, one of the highest ratings on this list. Pick this one for the arcs and Pirate Warriors 4 for the fights.

Why it's here: The highest-rated game on this list, and the fastest: EXTELLA LINK moves at a sprint, with 26 Servants, Noble Phantasm finishers and 4-on-4 online battles bolted onto the usual sector-capture maps. Steam reviewers like the combat and consistently call the story short and thin, so treat it as the arcade musou here rather than the narrative one. Rated Teen, 4.73 from 1,500 players. If you want the cleanest combat on the list and already know the Fate cast, this is the pick.

Why it's here: Koei Tecmo's crossover for its own catalogue: 30 heroes drawn from across the publisher's series, open scenarios and multiple endings that shift with which battles you take, plus a Musou Rush mode for clearing crowds at speed. No review corpus is stored for it yet, so I am going on the catalogue record alone, and with the second-smallest rating pool here it reads as a fan curio rather than a safe buy. Rated Teen, 4.21 from 1,300 players. For Koei Tecmo completionists first, everyone else after Orochi 4.