We are hoping that this is something the devs can look at more closely.Īnother complaint we had was that many of the battle modes just boiled down to the same repetitive structure of fighting waves of enemies with the odd subtle twist thrown in for good measure. We thought that ghosts didn't respond to us in the same manner as an actual player would and instead often just jumped up and down in one corner. Sadly at the time of writing, we were unable to access the main online mode but from what we experienced in the dojo, we weren't particularly impressed with the implementation of this feature. For those looking to take the fight online, there's casual and ranked matches along with the aforementioned dojo that allows you to take on ghosts built using player data.
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There's Time Trial, Gauntlet, Versus, and Survival modes for offline play as well as a series of handy training tutorials.
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We should also mention that this roster is set to grow over time, with Season 1 planned to roll around this August (it's also free if you purchase or pre-order before 30th June).Īlong with an arcade-like story mode crafted for each character, Samurai Shodown also features a handful of other modes for players to sink their teeth into. Our favourite is perhaps the painfully clumsy Wu-Ruixiang who can summon a fire-breathing dragon and clobbers her foes to death with a bronze shield. Three might not be many newcomers but fortunately, each of the characters feels distinct, each one with their own personality and bespoke weaponry. The hulking man-mountain Earthquake is here along with other originals such as Galford and his canine companion, Poppy. One thing to note though is that you can only activate the rage gauge once per battle so you need to be mindful of using it at just the right moment.įans returning to the reboot will surely find some familiar faces here as 13 of 16 characters have returned from previous iterations.
When in this momentary rage state you can also activate a special attack (similar to a final smash move from Super Smash Bros.) to shred your foe's health bar in two. If you've been turned into an opponent's punching bag the meter will start to raise and once filled can be triggered for a temporary boost to your attack and defence. The blazing bar at the bottom of the screen is known as the 'rage gauge' and this can be wielded as a powerful comeback tool. Heavy blows have the potential to strip away a hefty chunk of health but can leave you vulnerable if correctly countered, and the other attacks present safer alternatives but may not be what you need for a rapid takedown.
Your three main attacks are light, medium, and heavy and much of the challenge comes from knowing when to use the right attack.
It's a tricky dance to master especially when the most tempting thing to do is to spam the most powerful attack and hope for the best. We spent several sessions in the training dojo before we really got into the rhythm of blocking, reading, and countering attacks.
The shiny new reboot features three new playable characters, special moves, and an all-new dojo where you can battle AI 'ghosts' created using player data. Rooted in the Tenmei era of Japan, it's a gorgeous brawler that demands careful strategy and the main difference when compared to its competitors is that here you fight with an assortment of razor-sharp weaponry instead of with your fists. After remaining stagnant for over a decade the Samurai Shodown series has found its second wind in the form of an unexpected reboot.