The game will seemingly abandon the series' "hypothetical missions", meaning only the actual events recorded in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms novels will take place in the game's story. However, developer Omega Force is planning stories for every one of the 83 characters included (although is still undecided on how to deal with switching warlords mid-campaign, when they canonically die for example).The new freedom of an open world means that elements such as stealth runs and items like grappling hooks have been added, while bows have been brought back to allow for long-range attacks. A full day-night cycle will also change how enemies are arranged and react to the player.
Development is apparently around 40% complete, with a winter release most likely. Only PS4 is a confirmed platform at this time. Joe Skrebels is IGN's UK News Editor, and he is losing his mind at the fidelity of Guan Yu's beard. Follow him on Twitter.