![]() ![]() ![]() The game opens with you arriving at a small mountain pass. These are two of my favourite things in any kind of game, and to see them melded together is always a joy. What drew me in wasn't the brand, though I'm sure it might for existing fans, it really came down to two factors: random dungeons and fun sword-oriented combat. If you’re itching for a little dramatic samurai action and need something to help scratch it, Katana Kami is worth checking out – but watch some gameplay first to make sure it’s what you’re after.Now I'm not acquainted with the Way of the Samurai series-I may even go as far as saying it's not a series I'd heard of before playing this game. Still, as a dungeon crawler, it’s a surprisingly pleasant experience, and the minor faction interplay elements add a little bit of extra flavor. ![]() It’s also hurt somewhat by its lack of traditional multiplayer. Katana Kami: A Way of the Samurai Story doesn’t quite have the surprising depths of a mainline Way of the Samurai game. As for sound effects and music they’re fairly standard, though enemy death cries can be a little irritating and might lead some to reach for the mute button. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it also means that Katana Kami might have been perfectly at home on the PS3 – or even the PS2 if that machine was feeling spunky that day. ![]() Katana Kami sticks faithfully to the Way of the Samurai series’ classic no-frills look. You also shouldn’t buy it if you’re after a Crysis-level graphical tour de force. What isn’t possible, sadly, is choosing who you want to play with don’t buy Katana Kami if you’re looking for a game to go through with friends. Chances are they’ll want to kill you because you’ll drop tasty weapons, but it’s also entirely possible to work together. You’ll turn on online functionality and multiplayer (two separate options) before entering the dungeon, then you just might run across other players while you’re exploring. Katana Kami’s multiplayer works something like how Dark Souls handles the idea. You can even do that dungeon-crawling with other players…sort of. Katana Kami’s mostly about dungeon-crawling, so that’s what you’re getting here and the blacksmith simulator – such as it is – is more of a sideshow. If you favor a particular faction they factor a bit more into the story, but it’s not as significant a shift as you’d expect from the Way of the Samurai series. Stoking tensions by providing more swords will result in more battles, in turn resulting in a greater need for weapons, so you’ll get more sword orders…it’s something of a vicious cycle, but it’s necessary if you want to keep up with Dojima’s debt payments. Naturally, you’re arming these factions so they’re better able to fight among themselves. When you aren’t trudging around Jikai, though, you’ll fulfill weapon shipment orders given to you by the three factions that surround Dojima’s workshop. It’s not going to be the next Diablo-style ARPG hit, but it’s compelling. You’ll collect healing and combat items to throw at enemies as well as a vast variety of swords to upgrade and equip, keeping in mind that swords have durability and can easily break so you’d do well to keep your weapons well-maintained. It’s a fairly standard dungeon crawler with the iconic combat that the Way of the Samurai series is known for – weapon-shattering sword battles and all. That typically means sleeping all day and then going into the dungeon of Jikai at night to battle enemies and collect goodies. Unless Dojima can keep up with his loan payments, his daughter’s going to be sold off! You have to do something because it’s the right thing to do! Alternatively, you have to do something because you want to marry his daughter, I guess, which is the option the game would really like you to take.Īnyway, that means you’re going to have to help raise the necessary money to make sure she doesn’t get sold off. That’s why you’re willing to help out when you come across a blacksmith, Dojima, whose daughter is kidnapped by seedy loan sharks. You’re mostly just looking for work and a place to stay. Sure, you’ve got a cool outfit and a badass sword to go along with it, but in the Meiji era there’s not quite as much use for that sword. It boils the Way of the Samurai formula from a bizarrely deep choose-your-own-samurai adventure story into an engaging action-RPG with dungeon-crawler elements that, frankly, kind of works That’s what Katana Kami: A Way of the Samurai Story is hoping for, anyway. Not every game has to be a 60-hour tour de force epic! Sometimes a decent, well-implemented idea with an interesting gameplay loop is more than enough. ![]()
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