Sangokushi Koumei-den is the second installment in the Sangokushi Eiketsuden series. Unlike its predecessor, Sangokushi Kōmeiden relies heavily on the player's ability and success in each combat to determine how the game will conclude. The game tracks the player's overall record by monitoring the character's overall health and counting the number of times the player has resorted from battle and restarted a level, in addition to having decisions at the beginnings of most stages that affect troop placements for both sides, event triggers, and the items found in armories and granaries. Zhuge's health will be badly harmed if he takes too many rounds to reach a specific point in the tale, or if he restarts fights too many times, and if he becomes too weak, he will die before the final Battle of Wuzhang Plains takes place. If the player's skill level is high enough, Zhuge Liang will pretend to die, leading his adversary, Sima Yi, out into the open. After then, the game will go to the last chapter, which will feature a series of climactic conflicts against the kingdoms of Cao Wei and Sun Wu.