Way Of The Samurai 4 Review

Swords, Guns, Women and Samurais! Oh my!

Acquire Corporation's affinity for developing samurai and ninja-themed games led to the creation of their masterpiece, the Tenchu series, a dark and beautiful ninja simulator. The spotlight today, however, brings us to their other series, which focuses on samurais rather than stealthy ninjas. Enter Way of the Samurai 4, a Playstation 3 port now on PC. The backstory of the game revolves around the fictional town Amihama, where the main character is caught between the Pranjas, rebels who intend to keep foreigners away from Japan, and the local government, who sides with British forces for the first half of the story. The Pranjas fear Japan losing its identity and culture through English colonization. The British forces, however, feel their technological and medicinal advances can further improve Japan, gaining support from the government.

My Kenshin-like character

The game's charm is its branching story and how it affects the outcome of the game. Your actions and decisions determine your character's story and, yes, this game has multiple endings. If you decide to become a mass murderer, you will reap what you sow.  But if you build your character up to be somewhat of a hero, you will gain the utmost respect from the people.

What surprised me is the replayability and how previous choices will affect the outcome of the next playthrough. Once the game is finished, items collected, swords created and money earned are carried over so the player doesn't have to pull hairs out of their head from losing everything they've accomplished. The player is also awarded with endgame points to unlock extra content. These unlockables range from extra character hair styles, weapons and even harder difficulties, giving Way of the Samurai 4 much more diversity as players continue their adventure.

Superb Dialogue keeps you immersed throughout the game 

This is in fact an open-world game filled with quirky characters and hilarious dialogues. The town is filled with shops, restaurants, item/food stalls and a casino all painted against a beautiful Japanese backdrop. There are loading screens when moving from one area to another, but they are quick and do not encumber the adventure. Way of the Samurai 4 also has a fast-travel system. Although, sometimes it's better to avoid fast travel since it takes a toll on the character's energy, and you may miss some opportunities for side missions 

Customize your own weapon

The combat system is pretty complex in terms of timing and fighting stances. Way of the Samurai 4 shouldn't be treated like a button-masher. A single opening in your defense can be synonymous with death, especially on the hardest difficulty.

Players have three different fighting styles available at their disposal: swords, spears and hand-to-hand martial combat. Each one requires a moveset that can be learned or picked up from other fighters. Mastering a style requires players to use the chosen stance for a certain amount of time or, if you're lucky, finding a move scroll can unlock some moves immediately.

I generalized swords earlier because there are not only katanas in-game, but knives, odachis, long swords and much much more. Weapons can be upgraded to meet their full potential and are one of the best parts of the game because players can creatively name their swords whatever he or she wants.

Gathering items the honorable way

Forging swords in Way of the Samurai 4 is extremely accessible as players can easily craft new swords by dissembling weapons they find. Weapons also realistically get dull with use and may eventually break if not taken care of.

Your health in the game coincides with an energy bar. Without energy, your samurai avatar cannot regain health amidst combat. The more energy you have, the faster you gain life. Energy drains through combat and strenuous activities, not including running around town, but could be easily restored by eating or drinking. In the middle of the health and energy meter is the Spring Harvest gauge, which enables your character to perform faster and stronger combos to quickly finish off enemies Rurouni-Kenshin-style.Though the Spring Harvest gauge steadily increases through normal combat, players can raise the gauge by consuming certain food or drinks.

Assert your dominance

Way of the Samurai 4 is a port of the PS3 version, so the graphics are only just slightly enhanced from the console version. There's nothing to be excited for in that regards. The game is constantly updated and worked on as there are a few sound glitches and graphical issues. Luckily, those issues do not hinder the game at all. For $24.99, you get exactly what you pay for, but as of right now, Way of the Samurai 4 is only $19.99 on Steam until Aug. 6. Fans of samurai, sword fighting and even Rurouni Kenshin and Samurai Champloo should definitely pick this game up to satisfy their sword-slashing needs.

Visit the Way of the Samurai 4 steam page to get your copy today and...

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