One look at new stop-motion Metroidvania The Spirit of the Samurai is more than enough to grab your attention. Blending the side-on 2D action of Hollow Knight or Ori and the Will of the Wisps with a spooky, horror-tinged Japanese setting reminiscent of Nioh, its lovingly handcrafted animations make it one of the most eye-catching games I’ve seen in a while. Yet after sitting down to take a closer look at Gamescom 2024, the level of control you’re given over how you fight is what’s really won me over.
Built by Digital Mind Games and published by Kwalee, in The Spirit of the Samurai you fight against once-dead warriors brought back to life by a powerful Oni. You step into the role of three characters – samurai Takeshi, tiny spirit Kodama, and warrior cat Chisai – each of whom brings a different aspect to the gameplay. You’ll have to utilize every weapon and trick at your disposal to take on the undead warriors and monsters rooted in Japanese mythology as you explore this unique 2D Metroidvania.
The focus of combat falls, as you’d expect, to Takeshi, who can make use of a range of weapons including katana, bow, and spear. The key here is the way that moves are chained together. As you progress, you’ll unlock a large number of different attacks, each of which can have its own specialties. Some of these might be more obvious, such as a fast swipe or a long-ranged poke, while others will require some experimentation. Perhaps a certain move is excellent at dealing with shield-bearing enemies; you’ll have to try it to find out.
Crucially, it’s up to you how you choose to combine these skills. You can use your unlocked attacks to build custom combos, each of which can be assigned to various directional inputs. This gives you complete freedom over how you fight – if you’ve ever been up against an Elden Ring boss and wished you could strip that slower third hit out of your combo string, in The Spirit of the Samurai you can. You can also use the right stick as an alternate way to deliver attacks, allowing you to manually employ any directional combo regardless of your current facing.
While The Spirit of the Samurai’s distinctive look was already enough to capture my curiosity, seeing its combo system in action absolutely grabbed my attention. I spend probably more time than I should thinking about the nuances of weapon movesets, so this is very much playing to my interests. It reminds me a little of the switch skills implemented in Monster Hunter Rise, or – to go back a little further – the similarly designed combo system of stellar but oft-overlooked 2006 PS2 action game, God Hand.
The Spirit of the Samurai is set to launch in the fourth quarter of 2024. Kwalee says you should expect it to be around eight hours in length, featuring approximately 1,500 handmade animations along with animated cutscenes and full voice acting throughout, performed in English by voice actors of Japanese heritage. I’m certainly eager to see more – if you’re in the same position, you can wishlist it now on Steam.
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