One have a look at new stop-motion Metroidvania The Spirit of the Samurai is greater than sufficient to seize your consideration. Mixing the side-on 2D motion of Hole Knight or Ori and the Will of the Wisps with a spooky, horror-tinged Japanese setting paying homage to Nioh, its lovingly handcrafted animations make it probably the most eye-catching video games I’ve seen shortly. But after sitting right down to take a more in-depth have a look at Gamescom 2024, the extent of management you’re given over the way you combat is what’s actually gained me over.
Constructed by Digital Thoughts Video games and revealed by Kwalee, in The Spirit of the Samurai you combat towards once-dead warriors introduced again to life by a strong Oni. You step into the position of three characters – samurai Takeshi, tiny spirit Kodama, and warrior cat Chisai – every of whom brings a distinct facet to the gameplay. You’ll should make the most of each weapon and trick at your disposal to tackle the undead warriors and monsters rooted in Japanese mythology as you discover this distinctive 2D Metroidvania.
The main focus of fight falls, as you’d count on, to Takeshi, who could make use of a spread of weapons together with katana, bow, and spear. The important thing right here is the way in which that strikes are chained collectively. As you progress, you’ll unlock a lot of completely different assaults, every of which may have its personal specialties. A few of these could be extra apparent, corresponding to a quick swipe or a long-ranged poke, whereas others would require some experimentation. Maybe a sure transfer is superb at coping with shield-bearing enemies; you’ll should attempt it to seek out out.
Crucially, it’s as much as you ways you select to mix these abilities. You should use your unlocked assaults to construct customized combos, every of which might be assigned to numerous directional inputs. This provides you full freedom over the way you combat – for those who’ve ever been up towards an Elden Ring boss and wished you may strip that slower third hit out of your combo string, in The Spirit of the Samurai you may. It’s also possible to use the appropriate stick as an alternate technique to ship assaults, permitting you to manually make use of any directional combo no matter your present dealing with.
Whereas The Spirit of the Samurai’s distinctive look was already sufficient to seize my curiosity, seeing its combo system in motion completely grabbed my consideration. I spend in all probability extra time than I ought to serious about the nuances of weapon movesets, so that is very a lot enjoying to my pursuits. It jogs my memory slightly of the swap abilities applied in Monster Hunter Rise, or – to return slightly additional – the equally designed combo system of stellar however oft-overlooked 2006 PS2 motion sport, God Hand.
The Spirit of the Samurai is ready to launch within the fourth quarter of 2024. Kwalee says it is best to count on it to be round eight hours in size, that includes roughly 1,500 handmade animations together with animated cutscenes and full voice performing all through, carried out in English by voice actors of Japanese heritage. I’m definitely desperate to see extra – for those who’re in the identical place, you may wishlist it now on Steam.
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