As a "fresh re-imagining" of the franchise, the game features an all-new storyline, revamped character designs, and a new visual presentation.

Samurai Warriors 5 focuses on events leading up to the Honnō-ji Incident, with Nobunaga Oda and Mitsuhide Akechi being the prominent figures of the story.

[7] The entire cast of characters has been vastly redesigned from previous incarnations (with the exception of Katsuyori Takeda, who retains his original design from Samurai Warriors: Spirit of Sanada).

[6][8] * Denotes supporting characters who are not playable in Story Mode, and do not feature unique Power Attacks, and a unique Ultimate Skill ** Denotes characters with two playable versions consisting of Youth, and Mature counterparts Unlike the electronic and traditional Japanese music collaborations in the previous Samurai Warriors games, Samurai Warriors 5 largely replaces the electronic music in favor of rock and orchestral music, while keeping the traditional Japanese music entirely intact.

The game has received "generally favorable" reviews according to Metacritic, becoming the highest rated entry in the series.