Samurai Warriors Crossroads

Samurai Warriors Crossroads (戦国無双Kōsaten, Sengoku Musou Kōsaten) is the fifth main entry in the Samurai Warriors series and the second game in the Alternate Reality series. It is set to be released on June 25th, 2020 on the PS4, Xbox One and Steam digitally as well as it being released at around December 2020 for the PS5 and the Xbox Series X, the latter compatible for Smart Delivery. The Nintendo Switch version is currently planned to be released in June 2021, one year after the release date while the Physical version has been put on hold until further notice.
 * WARNING: Contains blood and graphic violence.

Development
Crossroads was the second game in development by the same creator behind Dynasty Warriors Bloodlines. The creation of the Alternate Reality came to be when she proposed about the potential alternate reality of the Warring States. According to her, she was surprised over the praise and acclaim Bloodlines received so she decided to work on the Samurai Warriors version of the AR series, at around 2017.

This time, it was developed by the team behind the Saints Row series with the producer serving as the supervisor. She stated that it was to make sure they capture the essence of the Warriors series while giving it a Saints Row makeover.

Corona Virus Pandemic
Due to the Corona Virus Pandemic, Crossroads was delayed for six additional months in order to add polishing and fixing bugs. The producer stated that this was done because the team felt that they would be unfair on players with the game's release, especially due to the Corona Virus, which forced them to give six more months in game development time.

Issues with The Last of Us Part 2
The team is well aware of the new release date being at the same month as The Last of Us Part 2. But despite the obvious war from fans of both games, the producer said that all she cares is that people get the opportunity to play the game. She explained that The Last of Us Part 2's placement is nothing to the entire team.

Possibility of Crossroads being SW5
When asked about if Crossroads is the long awaited fifth game in the series, the producer said that it depends on what people think of the overall product. However, she did say that Crossroads is not the fifth SW game they were hoping for due to it being in a separate reality from the actual Warring States.

A Balanced Approach
Crossroads is lighter and softer than Bloodlines, as confirmed by the team. The producer revealed that Crossroads will serve as a calming experience for those that were not happy at how her first game turned out. She also confirmed that there will be some dark moments, but it won't be as much as Bloodlines in order to make players feel relaxed and comforted at the overall tone.

Physical Release Delay
Due to a lot of problems, and it's Troubled production time, the producer confirmed that Crossroads' physical copies will be on hold until further notice while the digital copies will stay in the same date. While it was a subject of criticism, she insisted that the team didn't want people to miss out on the game since she wanted to create a game where people would feel safe with.

Plot
Haru Kikkawa, the second oldest daughter of Motonari Mori, has set her sights on

Characters
Everyone from Spirit of Sanada will return with twelve new additions
 * Haru Kikkawa
 * Hiroie Kikkawa
 * Nagahide Niwa
 * Dosan Saito
 * Ujimasa Hojo
 * Tadatomo Honda
 * Ujizane Imagawa
 * Nobuchika Chosokabe
 * Nagamasa Kuroda
 * Takamoto Mori
 * Lady Goryu
 * Tazu

Additional Characters
These characters hail from Chapter 2 and the Multiverse series. They will be added one month after the game's release.
 * Takeyoshi Murakami
 * Yoshitatsu Saito
 * Lady Myokyu
 * Terumoto Mori
 * Hidemune Date
 * Hirotsuna Utsunomiya
 * Nobumasa Sanada
 * Hideie Ukita
 * Terumasa Ikeda

UNPCS
Along with the created ones from Samurai Warriors 4 Empires and Spirit of Sanada, as well as the Unique NPC's from 4 and 4-2, Crossroads has a couple of Non-Playable Characters that were given the unique look. Some of them are from 4 Empires, only with a new design. One of them, for example, is Lady Toida, who is Takakage's wife. These UNPC's were created exclusively for the game alone.
 * Lady Toida
 * Naiki Takanashi (The only UNPC to receive costumes)
 * Hidetaka Kawajiri
 * Tsuneoki Ikeda
 * Hidemoto Mori
 * Terumoto Mori (Is given a big makeover along with a new voice actor)
 * Narimassa Sassa
 * Nobunao Kumagai
 * Lady Shinjo
 * Lady Sen
 * Ujinaga Narita
 * Ekei Ankokuji
 * Takaie Shishido
 * Naotaka il
 * Ujinao Hojo
 * Lady Toku
 * Maria Konishi
 * Kagetsuna Naoe
 * Yoshihi Sagara (Is given a redesign in opposed to his appearance in 4 Empires)
 * Hideaki Kobayakawa (Is given a redesign with a new voice actor)

DLC
It was confirmed that Crossroads will have a Season Pass. The Season Pass will have four additional stories, new challenge modes, a set of DLC costumes and more. Unlike Bloodlines, Crossroads will have a free Seasonal Pass that will last through the 2021 year. Crossroads will also provide free updates to the 2020 year.

There will also be a free Upgrade pack containing Chapter 2, which adds a lot of new features.

Season Pass 1 (Free)

 * 5 additional stories
 * Two new challenge modes (Escape and Swim to Safety)
 * Haru Costume Pack (5 - Professor Ozpin, Ray McCall, Tommy Angelo)
 * Hiroie Costume Pack (5 - Wen Yang, James Ironwood, Vito Scaletta)
 * Takakage Costume Pack (5 - Jia Xu,
 * Yukimura Costume Pack (5 - Zhao Yun,
 * Mori Costume Pack (Motonari - Ma Dai, Julius. Takamoto - Lu Su, . Myokyu - Zhang Chunhua, Vanoss. Goryu - , Terumoto - Chen Gong)
 * Sanada Costume Pack (Nobuyuki - Cao Pi, . Masayuki - Guan Yu, . Ina - Xingcai, Chacha - Daqiao, Weiss
 * Gantz costume pack (A set of costumes from Gantz)
 * Super Sentai weapon skins (A set of weapon skins based on the weapons of Super Sentai)
 * SW1 BGM Pack

Pre-Order Bonus

 * Playa's (SR4) Outfit for Haru Kikkawa
 * Johnny Gat's Outfit for Hiroie Kikkawa

Theme Song

 * Butterfly Heaven - Sung by Kana Hanazawa

Reception
Crossroads was positively received by fans and critics. Praise was directed at the voice acting, graphics, gameplay mechanics and the story. However, like Bloodlines, it was criticized for the alternate reality and the genderbent issue people have. It was also criticized for it's lighter tone in opposed to it's brother game as well as the over-reliance on the costumes. Adding to this is the sudden change in setting with the issues stemming from being too futuristic. On the other hand, it was well-received for it's take on serious issues.

The Season Pass, however, was praised for being a free seasonal take on post launch content.

In terms of characters, Haru has been overwhelmingly positive.

Anime Adaption
In order to prepare, an anime adaption was confirmed one year before the game's release date. The anime will be a tie-in to the game, as confirmed by the team.

A Second season has been confirmed due to the positive reception of the first, slating for a release date in October 2020.

Manga
A Manga adaption is set to be in development as part of the Shonen Jump lineup, confirming that the game is part of Shonen Jump.

Voice Cast
The entire voice cast comprises of voice actors from a mix of Western Animation, Anime, from Canada, and celebrities, making it a mixed bag of people lending their voices to the game, at least in the English Dub. It was also confirmed that almost all of the characters will be given new voices in opposed to the ones from Samurai Warriors 3.

Crossroads

 * Haru Kikkawa - Aki Toyosaki (JP), Rachel MacFarlane (ENG)
 * Yukimura Sanada - Takeshi Kusao (JP), Bill Fagerbakke (ENG)
 * Hiroie Kikkawa - Hiroki Tochi (JP), Robert Costanzo (ENG)
 * Takamoto Mori - Ryohei Kimura (JP), Zach Hanks (ENG)
 * Motonari Mori - Hideo Ishikawa (JP), Marc Alaimo (ENG)
 * Takakage Kobayakawa - Hiroshi Okamoto (JP), Michael Rapaport (ENG)
 * Lady Myokyu - Yuriko Yamaguchi (JP), Tara Strong (ENG)
 * Terumoto Mori - Hiro Shimono (JP), Tom Kenny (ENG)
 * Lady Goryu - Mao Kawasaki (JP), Hynden Walch (ENG)
 * Lady Toida - Makiko Ohmoto (JP), Carolyn Lawrence (ENG)
 * Lady Shinjo - Mariya Ise (JP), Liliana Mumy (ENG)
 * Hideaki Kobayakawa - Nobuhiko Okamoto (JP), Doug Lawrence (ENG)
 * Nagahide Niwa - Masami Suzuki (JP), Trey Parker (ENG)
 * Dosan Saito - Kenji Matsuda (JP), Dan Green (ENG)
 * Ujimasa Hojo - Daisuke Sakaguchi (JP), Matthew Lillard (ENG)
 * Tadatomo Honda - Takahiro Kawachi (JP), Patrick Seitz (ENG)
 * Ujizane Imagawa - Kensho Ono (JP), Roger Bumpass (ENG)
 * Nobuchika Chosokabe - Kenji Hamada (JP), Mark Whitten (ENG)
 * Nagamasa Kuroda - Yoshimasa Hosoya (JP), Vincent Tong (ENG)
 * Tazu - Ai Maeda (JP), Laura Stahl (ENG)
 * Takeyoshi Murakami - Shinichi Yamada (JP), David Vincent (ENG)
 * Yoshitatsu Saito - Takehito Koyasu (JP), Steve Blum (ENG)
 * Hidemune Date - Nobuhiko Okamoto (JP), Steve Staley (ENG)
 * Narrator - Hideo Ishikawa (JP), Keith David (ENG)

Other Characters

 * Hirotsuna Utsunomiya - Satoshi Tokushige (JP), Greg Cipes (ENG)
 * Nobumasa Sanada - Michiko Kaiden (JP), Wendy Schaal (ENG)
 * Hideie Ukita - Hiroshi Okamoto (JP), John DiMaggio (ENG)
 * Terumasa Ikeda - Masaya Onosaka (JP), Carter Hayden (ENG)

Spirit of Sanada

 * Masayuki Sanada - Kenta Miyake (JP), Dan Castellaneta (ENG)
 * Katsuyori Takeda - Hiroshi Okamoto (JP), Howard Wang (ENG)
 * Hidetada Tokugawa - Yusuke Handa (JP), Patrick Seitz (ENG)
 * Chacha - Marika Kouno (JP), Julie Nathanson (ENG)
 * Sasuke - Yohei Azakami (JP), Ben Diskin (ENG)
 * Lady Muramatsu - Ayaka Maeda (JP), Carolyn Lawrence (ENG)

Samurai Warriors 4

 * Nobuyuki Sanada - Daisuke Ono (JP), Scott McCord (ENG)
 * Yoshitsugu Otani - Satoshi Hino (JP), Zachary Bennett (ENG)
 * Hisahide Matsunaga - Kouji Ishii (JP), Scott McNeil (ENG)
 * Lady Hayakawa - Satomi Sato (JP),
 * Kojuro Katakura - Ryota Takeuchi (JP), Ian Sinclair (ENG)
 * Toyohisa Shimazu - Shunzo Miyasaka (JP), Tom Kenny (ENG)
 * Koshosho - Ryoko Shiraishi (JP), Gina Bowes (ENG)
 * Kagekatsu Uesugi - Ryota Takeuchi (JP), Daran Norris (ENG)
 * Naomasa li - Katsuyuki Konishi (JP), John Burgmeier (ENG)

Samurai Warriors 3

 * Kiyomasa Kato - Tomokazu Sugita (JP), Josh Keaton (ENG)
 * Kai - Masami Suzuki (JP), Erica Lindbeck (ENG)
 * Kanbei Kuroda - Masaya Takatsuka (JP), Robin Atkin Downes (ENG)
 * Ujiyasu Hojo - Masashi Ebara (JP), Kyle Hebert (ENG)
 * Muneshige Tachibana - Hiroki Tochi (JP), Roger Craig Smith (ENG)
 * Hanbei Takenaka - Umeka Shoji (JP), Kenn Michael (ENG)
 * Aya Gozen - Umeka Shoji (JP), Cindy Robinson (ENG)
 * Masanori Fukushima - Takahiro Fujimoto (JP), Dan Woren (ENG)
 * Takatora Todo - Masaya Matsuzake (JP), Brad Swaile (ENG)
 * Naotora li - Yuka Saitou (JP), Erica Mendez (ENG)
 * Muneyori Yagyu - Hiromu Miyazaki (JP), Scott McNeil (ENG)

Trivia

 * Crossroads, setting and story wise, is similar to the Saints Row series, notably a mix of all four Saints Row games excluding Gat out of Hell. This is justified since the game is being done by Volition.
 * The writer for Samurai Warriors Crossroads is Naruhisa Arakawa, who's known as the main writer for various Toku shows including Kamen Rider Kuuga.
 * Crossroads actually received a MA15+ Rating in Australia, probably because it was inspired by the Saints Row series.
 * Crossroads is the first SW game to have the Digital copy released first instead of it's Physical Release.