If you haven’t played, let alone heard of, The Spirit of the Samurai yet, do yourself a favour and go check out this visual marvel while there’s still time during the Steam Next Fest. No doubt the demo will still be available for a little bit after, but it’s well worth playing now.
A mystical side-scrolling hack ‘n’ slash set in feudal Japan, you play as a samurai named Takeshi who’s an ancient Dr Doolittle that talks to the animals. Not that there’s scope in the demo, but he does have a playable cat companion at his side. If that’s your motivation for playing the demo, hold fire. If you want your eyes to pop out in a controlled environment without any consequences other than wanting the game sooner rather than later, then download it immediately.
Based on the promotional material, expectations were a stop-motion adventure in the style of Harryhausen, or perhaps like the recent Judero. What was presented instead was a beautiful CGI-rendered cinematic, depicting a young boy, his cat and a talking fox in one of the most stunning fantasy versions of Nippon seen this year. Aha – this is Takeshi. Nope, the next person is Takeshi, and look at who he’s mates with.
With the exception of Princess Mononoke and maybe Ghostwire: Tokyo, the Kodama is underrepresented, so it is with great pleasure to announce that Takeshi can speak with them and has a Kodama companion (which can’t be played in the demo). They have a transcendent interaction, we close our jaws after the wonderful presentation, and then the oni jump in. Comparisons can be made with the equally stunning Trek to Yomi – both the looks, gameplay, and initial theme. Knocked unconscious, Takeshi awakens to find the village under attack, so he sets forth to give them a good hidin’.
Using the right stick in one of three directions, Takeshi will attack in the style of most katana-wielding protagonists. The Spirit of the Samurai isn’t a button-masher as he has a stamina bar affected by attacks, deflections, and dashing about. Combat is fluid, and in sticky moments of parried shots or when mobbed by enemies, he can roll past them and let out a sneaky swipe, which will give him the advantage. Like many a samurai, he’s proud and, therefore, will expect you to kill enemies and survive with finesse; he doesn’t have much health.
Souls-like shrines appear throughout the village where skill points are invested to improve strength, resilience and whatnot, as well as new moves to add to your combos; making a very customisable style which arguably, could take it in the direction of button-mashing to some extent. And if close combat gets tiresome, he also wields a bow that is readily available for attacks and takes hardly any time or faffing about to equip.
This Steam Next Fest has been more of a cherry-pick affair. Sure, there has been a fair amount covered, but not enough has been written about. If there’s an article, it’s a recommendation, and The Spirit of the Samurai by Digital Mind and Kwalee is a definite recommendation. It’s out in December, so try out the demo now.
