Gameplay FeaturesOpen World - Overall
The reason why the team decides to make DW9 as Open World is they're taking challenges to make new things because as of the last numbered title (DW8), the series is coming to a stale.
DW9's Open World system takes some references from Toukiden 2, but it won't be the exact same because the nature of Open World in each games are different.
They plan to reproduce the whole lands of China, but with a focus on livable territories, and a further focus on places where major battles took place like Hulao Gate or Zhongyuan (Central Plains, Guandu etc)
Time & Weather will be changing in real time. In nighttime and/or rain it will be harder for enemies to notice the player. *NEW*
Open World - Cities
There will be over 10 major unique cities along with more generic towns & villages in the world map. *NEW*
The major unique cities such as Luoyang won't be as big as they were actually, but each area will be about 1 kilometer(square?) big so they should still feel large. *NEW*
Player can move into cities in the middle of battles.
Player should be also able to do purchases inside cities. *NEW*
Open World - Transportation
The main method for land transportation is by riding a horse, but a Fast Travel feature is also planned to be added. *NEW*
Swimming is confirmed returning from DW6. Player can also cross large rivers like Changjiang and Yellow River, although it may take about 5 minutes by swimming. *NEW*
Boats are also available as a faster transportation method to cross rivers. *NEW*
Story Progression
Story mode is back to character-based (like pre-DW7), but the history progression is basically the same for each character (like pre-DW6). *NEW*
There will be no What-If/Hypothetical branches that alter history here. *NEW*
Story progression is based on eras (Yellow Turban Rebellion, Anti-Dong Zhuo Coalition, and so on). *NEW*
The starting era will depend on the selected character. For example if you choose Wang Yuanji she will start in an era later than what Zhao Yun would start at. *NEW*
Due to the different starting era, switching player character in mid-game is currently unconfirmed because they would have to re-introduce the era again if the new character's starting era is different from the current era. *NEW*
Discussions in the world map will be pertaining to that era. For example if you go to Nanman during Yellow Turban Rebellion era, you will hear Nanman people talking about Zhang Jiao. *NEW*
Battles & Missions
Each era has a main mission that must be cleared to advance the era. (eg. Defeat Zhang Jiao in YTR era to advance to Dong Zhuo era) *NEW*
The main mission starts with having a high difficulty, but it can be lowered by clearing other missions related to the main mission beforehand. *NEW*
Multiple battles may occur at the same time in different places, and the player will have to make a choice on which battle they want to participate in. They are no longer split by stages.
Player can capture castles in various ways other than the orthodox-from-castle-gate method. For example they can raid the castle from a higher elevation (eg. mountains), or do a stealth infiltration to hit the main target without getting noticed by other enemies. *NEW*
There are also subquests such as hunting wild animals with archery and battling against foreign tribes (eg. Shanyue) that have unique visuals. *NEW*
State Combo
In the first interview, the team indicated that they are planning to revise the moveset system from what has been commonly known as Square for normal attacks and Triangle for charge attacks.
State Combo is the new moveset system that will change moves depending on the surrounding enemy situations. *NEW*
State Combo is comprised of the following 3 attacks: *NEW*
-Trigger attack: Begins the combo
-Flow attack: Combo that changes based on enemy situations
-Finish attack: Powerful attack that ends the combo
An example of how State Combo works is that when enemies are mid-air then the player character will jump towards them. *NEW*
Interactive Action
Actions will change depending on the surrounding terrains and objects. *NEW*
For example, player will be able to use field objects to attack, such as catapults. *NEW*
Player can also use a grapple hook to climb castle walls and high mountains. *NEW*
Player can utilize oil cans in field to cause fires. *NEW*
Other Action Revisions & Additions
The team has indicated that they want to keep some other systems like Musou attack to retain the exhilarating feel of one-vs-thousand
(Note: In DW8, all characters have 1st Musou, 2nd Musou, Aerial Musou and Awakening Musou)
Archery FPS mode from DW5 & before is returning & usable for all characters. It also lets the player to snipe enemies from afar. *NEW*
Miscellaneous
On 31 March 2017, Producer Suzuki held a poll on Twitter asking if the fans prefer Liu Bei with mustache or not. The poll ended with the mustache winning 67% of the votes.
Producer Suzuki also said to use the poll comments as reference, in which many are suggesting both versions of Liu Bei (young without mustache & older with mustache) to appear in DW9, just like in SW: Spirit of Sanada.
Character models are being reworked from scratch to fit PS4-grade graphics. *NEW*
Characters' new costumes in DW9 will have a tendency of getting less flashier and more geared towards realistic based on the costumes in Three Kingdoms era. *NEW*
, ok ora sono interessato 
certo però che lo "sfoltimento" dello story mode mi fa invece pensare bene 
da una parte un pochino mi dispiace che manchino scenari ipotetici/what if, ma d'altra parte meglio così perché la storia di DW è sempre stata più che sovrabbondante, meglio meno capitoli ma più curati 
(no :hm