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Disgaea Mayhem adds the chaos of Dynasty Warriors to the JRPG classic series

Tactics are overrated, so lets cut down a million enemies and then take on a big boss in Disgaea Mayhem.

PAX East 2026 Disgaea Mayhem — Image credit: NIS / Popverse

News by Trent Cannon, Senior Contributing writer

Published on Sun Mar 29 2026

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Normally, when you’re playing a Disgaea game, you’re thinking your way through each move, especially in the early stages. Sure, by the end you’ll be doing millions of points of damage in beautifully over-the-top attacks, but you still need to be thinking of what you’re doing and when. That strategy is taking a backseat in the upcoming Disgaea Mayhem, which brings an element of Dynasty Warriors’ chaos to the cheeky humor of the Disgaea franchise, and it works surprisingly well.

I got a chance to play a demo for Disgaea Mayhem at PAX East 2026, not entirely knowing what to expect. This isn’t my dip into the Disgaea series, so the enemies and designs were fairly familiar. However, instead of the usual tactical combat that the series is known for, the demo dropped me into an open field and gave me a whole swarm of enemies to cut down. It was visually chaotic, with new mobs to attack every time I turned around. In true Dynasty Warriors fashion, a larger boss appeared after I’d killed enough minions, forcing me to switch tactics and focus my damage on it.

There is still an element of strategy here, of course. You have attacks that work well in groups and others that hit a single target, so learning the right time to use both is key. But the main focus seems to be a more chaotic, action-oriented experience. Thankfully, the tone of the story, which is about a mercenary trying to recover a magical flan from rebellious villagers, is exactly as silly and irreverent as most games in the series. The gameplay of Disgaea Mayhem might be a big departure for the series, but the snippet I played feels deliciously chaotic and frantic and, most importantly, fun.

Disgaea Mayhem is scheduled for release Summer 2026.

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