Romance of the Three Kingdoms V

Romance of the Three Kingdoms V is another sequel in the long-lived turn-based strategy series from the Japanese studio Koei. It puts the player in the role of a ruler or general during the civil wars of ancient China, as told in the classic novel by Luo Guanzhong. The player governs one or more territories, builds the economy, recruits generals and conducts diplomacy and military campaigns, aiming to unite the fragmented land under their rule. They can start as a minor regional lord or choose a harder starting position on the edge of the map.

The fifth instalment brings a more elaborate map and file systems compared with earlier games in the series, and puts greater emphasis on the personalities of individual generals, their traits and mutual relationships, which affect how easily they can be hired and how loyal they will be to their current lord. Battles still take place on a tactical map, where the player deploys units and chooses formations according to terrain and weather, while provincial management takes place in the overview menus typical of the series: collecting taxes, developing agriculture, building fortifications and hiring new soldiers and officers who command the individual armies. Diplomacy plays an important role, because alliances can be made and broken, and the player must constantly judge which of the surrounding rulers can be trusted at all.

At the time of release it was one of the most complete instalments in the series. It won the favour of fans of turn-based strategy and of Three Kingdoms history, and it is still valued as an entry point for players who want to get to know the Koei style of empire building without the excessive complexity of later games with dozens of interlinked systems. The graphics match the standard of PC strategy games of the time, with clear maps and simple but expressive portraits of historical figures. Romance of the Three Kingdoms V thus remains a solid foundation on which the series went on to build its characteristic mix of strategy, diplomacy and historical storytelling about the fates of famous and lesser-known figures of the Three Kingdoms period.