A look at the new stop-motion Metroidvania The Samurai Spirit That’s more than enough to grab your attention: its blend of the side-by-side 2D action of Hollow Knight and Ori and the Will of the Wisps with an eerie, horror-infused Japanese setting reminiscent of Nioh, and lovingly handcrafted animations make it one of the most eye-catching games I’ve seen recently. But what really won me over, after spending a good bit of time watching it at Gamescom 2024, was the level of control you have over how you fight.
Developed by Digital Mind Games and published by Kwalee, The Spirit of the Samurai pits you against once-dead warriors who have been resurrected by a powerful demon. Players take on the role of three characters, each bringing a different dimension to the gameplay: the samurai Takeshi, the little spirit Kodama, and the warrior cat Chisai. As you explore this unique 2D Metroidvania, you’ll need every weapon and trick at your disposal to battle undead warriors and monsters from Japanese mythology.
Combat centers around, as you’d expect, Takeshi, who can use a variety of weapons including swords, bows, and spears. The key here is how to chain together moves. As you progress through the game, you’ll unlock a variety of attacks, each with their own special move. Some are obvious, like a quick swipe or a long-distance lunge, while others require trial and error. You might have a move that’s better for dealing with shield-wielding foes; you’ll just have to try it out.
The thing is, how you combine these skills is up to you. You can build custom combos with the attacks you unlock and assign each one to different directional inputs. This gives you complete freedom in how you fight. If you’ve ever fought a boss in Elden Ring and wished you could take a slow third hit out of your combo string, you can do that in The Spirit of the Samurai. You can also use the right stick as an alternative attack to manually use combos in any direction, regardless of your current orientation.
The Spirit of the Samurai’s unique look alone was enough to intrigue me, but seeing the combo system in action really piqued my interest. I often spend more time than I should thinking about the nuances of weapon movement, but this really piqued my interest. It reminds me a bit of the Switch Skills implemented in Monster Hunter Rise, or, going back a bit further, the similarly designed combo system in God Hand, a brilliant yet often overlooked 2006 PS2 action game.
Spirit of the Samurai is scheduled for release in Q4 2024. According to Kwalee, the game is about 8 hours long and features around 1,500 hand-drawn animations and animated cutscenes, as well as full English voice acting by Japanese voice actors. I’m dying to see more, and if you’re in the same situation, you can add it to your wishlist on Steam right now.
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