Samurai Maiden Review – Review

Going with the assessment FAQ format for this one, people. I’ve finished it for different waifu video games and I feel it really works fairly nicely. Listed below are some previous examples to get you acclimated to the format. This one’s fairly enjoyable, but in addition fairly janky.

Hey Zach, just a little fowl advised me you’re enjoying a brand new waifu sport.

Oh hey, disembodied voice! I’m enjoying a hack ‘n’ slash sport referred to as Samurai Maiden wherein twenty first century excessive schooler Tsumugi Tamaori is transported again to the Sengoku interval, the place she finds out she’s the Princess of Concord and begins working for Nobunaga Oda and his three multi-dimensional girlfriends to cease the Demon Lord from taking on the multiverse.

That certain appears like a online game you’d like.

It certain does, and I certain do, regardless of its technical points. This can be a stage-based hack ‘n’ slash at its core, however I really feel like we have to provide you with a singular subgenre for video games like this.

Video games like what?

, video games the place you’re a sexy anime lady teaming up with different cute anime women, leaning laborious into anime tropes, in a hack ‘n’ slash format with some gentle RPG parts and heavy on character dialogue. Different examples embody Senran Kagura, Onechanbara, Neptunia, and Azure Lane (though the latter barely has “sport” segments).

How about Waifu Slasher?

That appears like a horror film, however you get the concept; we’ll workshop it. These are all variations on a theme. In Samurai Maiden, you management Tamaori as she slays her manner—

SLAY GIRL, SLAY!

…

Sorry.

…slays her manner by way of undead hordes who put up little or no resistance as she goes by way of an extremely simple, purely ornamental surroundings earlier than operating up towards a lot bigger miniboss enemies. As the sport continues, extra of those mini-bosses shall be current in any given stage. Each few phases, you’ll battle an precise boss character solo—that’s, with out an undead entourage.

What about Nobunaga’s girlfriends?

To be honest, they don’t appear to be his precise girlfriends. They’re different maidens from different dimensions who’re becoming a member of your trigger to destroy the Demon Lord, though one among them (Iyo) does know Nobunaga personally. One of many three is at all times shadowing you, however you possibly can (often) swap them out at any time. They supply assault assist and have some largely superfluous environmental actions. All three conform to deeply ingrained anime stereotypes and are concurrently charming and exhausting.

Are you able to describe them?

Certain. Iyo is the spunky, enthusiastic shinobi who by no means questions her devotion to Nobunaga. Her regular assault entails throwing fireworks at enemies, however she will be able to additionally carry explosives and therapeutic gadgets onto the battlefield, though it’s hardly ever useful. By way of persona, she’s just like Asuka from Senran Kagura.

How come she’s hardly ever useful?

It’s a must to inform her the place to position the bombs, which takes time. A bomb doesn’t simply seem out of mid-air, she has to actually carry it over to the spot the place you need it positioned. Sadly, by the point she will get there, the enemy has most likely moved some place else. Her therapeutic pot is healthier, however you’ll have to interrupt your concentrate on not getting killed to run over and make the most of it earlier than it disappears. Her one actually useful merchandise is the decoy, which attracts mook consideration so you possibly can consider the Large Unhealthy.

Okay, so Iyo’s not nice.

You then’ve bought Hagane, the older, “mature” lady with a voluptuous determine who doesn’t thoughts drawing consideration to it. She’s bought a mechanical arm and, allegedly, different mechanical elements, however her boobs are fully actual in case Tamaori was questioning. She will be able to pull enemies in the direction of Tamaori and in addition electrify her extendable arm to do injury in a straight line in entrance of her. Within the surroundings, she will be able to use her arm like a grapple and swing Tamaori throughout gaps. She’s higher in a battle than Iyo, however her assaults have very restricted vary. Her persona is just like Haruka or Shiki in Senran.

However she has huge boobs?

She does, and it’s particularly apparent with the swimsuit DLC, the place her boobs form of pillow out of the perimeters of the swimsuit, one thing I’ve by no means seen earlier than with character fashions.

By no means change, Zach.

And you then’ve bought Komimi, a younger “robust lady” who’s a kitsune character and hates having her ears or tail touched however secretly loves it. She’s all enterprise, however is essentially the most helpful character in fights, as a result of she has a big-ass hammer and might throw explosives on the sphere, which incorporates bombs dropped off by Iyo. Her Senran counterpart might be Ikaruga or possibly Imu.

So that you depend on Komimi loads?

Sure, and that may be an issue. One of many core ideas of Samurai Maiden is creating a robust bond with all three of your companions.

Oh…how do you try this?

In concept, it’s fairly easy. The extra you spend time with them in fights, and the extra you’ve gotten them assist out throughout fights (you management after they assault), the extra your bond will increase, as proven by a coronary heart leveling system. Bear in mind the bonding system in Hyperdimension Neptunia U: Motion Unleashed?

No.

It’s like that.

Nice.

You possibly can replay missions as a lot as you wish to try to construct up the bond with all three women. I attempted to maintain it pretty even—no enjoying favorites right here, though that’s clearly going to vary with the swimsuit DLC (which is out already). For each ten ranges of connection, you get a brand new means or bonus stage for every lady. The draw back right here is that Tamaori’s new skills are normal hack and slash maneuvers like a fast restoration, floor slam, rising slash assault, three-hit combo, and parry. And there’s no indication what you’ll obtain at each bond stage, so you possibly can’t actually plan forward. That’s why I’d advocate replaying ranges and conserving all three women inside a stage of two of one another.

What are the bonus phases?

These are phases the place you possibly can solely convey alongside the topic gal pal, and so they’re often pretty nightmarish platforming challenges with some gentle puzzle fixing. Bear in mind how irritating the “Retro Phases” had been in Tremendous Mario Sunshine?

Having just lately suffered by way of them on the Tremendous Mario 3D All-Stars Assortment, sure. Terrible.

Effectively, think about platforming challenges in a sport that’s NOT constructed for platforming! Tamaori’s double-jump is imprecise, so touchdown on smaller platforms—slim ones particularly—is an issue! You additionally should manhandle the digicam throughout these areas, which in some circumstances means altering your view whereas additionally leaping off rapidly-flipping platforms. The puzzles are typically fairly straightforward, although: have Komimi throw bombs at targets, or stand on a change earlier than directing Iyo to go stand on one other change. Most of Hagane’s bonus areas contain her grapple arm. The prizes for these bonus phases often contain new gal pal skills or weapons.

Ooh, you possibly can equip totally different weapons?

Sure, and you may improve current weapons!

RPG stuff!

Certainly! Whereas murderizing monsters, you acquire purple orbs, which you’ll pour into enhancing Tamaori’s weapons and the weapons of her pals. Her personal weapons improve fairly cheaply, and I feel they solely go as much as Stage 20. The trio’s weapons, nevertheless, price rather more to improve, so I discovered myself farming orbs in early missions to afford their enhancements.

Do the enhancements assist?

Sorta? It was laborious to inform throughout precise gameplay. I hardly ever switched away from their default stuff as a result of these had been the weapons I upgraded; every weapon must be leveled up by itself. Every weapon has skills which unlock as you improve them however, once more, it’s not apparent what’s altering throughout fight.

Hmmm. How IS the fight?

When you unlock extra assault slots for every lady (all of them have cooldown durations) and unlock a handful of Tamaori’s normal assaults, the fight is fairly enjoyable…however senseless. Regular undead enemies hardly ever put up a battle—their assault patterns might be recognized by their coloration—however the minibosses put up an even bigger battle. Auto-targeting is important, however you need to be pretty near the enemies in your companions’ assaults to be helpful. Minibosses even have a nasty behavior of breaking away out of your auto-target, and YOU should break free from it to make the most of Iyo’s therapeutic pots. Nonetheless, there’s one thing very satisfying about locking these minibosses right into a stun cycle whenever you’re spamming helper assaults whereas slashing them to smithereens with Tamaori.

How about regular bosses?

Regular boss fights require much more diligence, however fortunately they lack the lackeys. They hit a lot tougher and it’s worthwhile to take note of their windups. As soon as you determine their patterns, although, it’s only a matter of conserving the stress on.

That every one sounds nice, actually. What’s the draw back?

Oh, there’s a draw back.

Ominous!

That is the place we speak concerning the sport’s technical efficiency. Whereas I’ve to reward the character fashions (and hair results) of Samurai Maiden, I’ve seen Waifu Slashers carry out a lot better on different programs, together with the PlayStation Vita.

Hey, I bear in mind the Vita.

Proper? I powered it up final evening simply to play some Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien! Man, what a superb sport. Disgrace about Runner3.

So what’s the take care of Samurai Maiden?

For a sport with naked bones environments, water textures which are actually only a flat texture with none motion or opacity, backgrounds which are functionally empty, and stage topography that makes Pokémon Legends: Arceus seem like an Xbox Collection X sport, Samurai Maiden is extraordinarily framey. The framerate drops whereas Tamaori is simply operating by way of the stage. It drops extra when enemies present up, much more when she begins attacking these enemies, and it turns right into a slideshow when she and her girlfriends are wreaking havoc on the entire group of enemies.

Yikes.

And a few battlefields have loads happening—along with extra enemies than most likely must exist, you typically have environmental obstacles, explosions, stunning results, any individual swinging a large ice hammer, and Tamaori doing the sorts of swordplay acrobatics that will make the common Senran lady get up and take notes. And naturally, her sword swipes have particle results, too. It’s all manner an excessive amount of for the Swap to deal with, so whereas I often got here out the opposite facet of every battle with out a lot hassle, the precise combating course of was virtually comical in its brokenness.

To be honest, this has at all times been a difficulty on Swap.

Certain, however it’s nonetheless annoying.

Anything? Isn’t there some controversy concerning the sport?

Oh, do you imply the smooching?

Perhaps?

So when you accrue sufficient of a reference to every lady, Tamaori (who’s apparently polyamorous) will have the ability to energetic one thing referred to as “Devotion Coronary heart” throughout battle, which briefly will increase sure stats relying on which of her pals are on the sphere together with her. This activation is preceded by a short cutscene wherein she…KISS de lady (whoa whoa).

Oh my stars and garters!

Proper? I feel it’s most likely meant to be titillating, however right here in North America, a minimum of, same-sex smooching is fairly blasé. Now, if Tamaori buried her face in Hagane’s cleavage or one thing…

Cease picturing that. STOP IT.

Sorry.

So with all that in thoughts, would you advocate Samurai Maiden?

I truly would advocate it in case you’re a fan of Waifu Hack ‘n’ Slashers, however the Swap’s framerate points hold me from issuing a full-throated endorsement. If in case you have entry to different fashionable consoles, possibly take a look at some gameplay movies. If it’s manner smoother throughout fight conditions, possibly go for that model. I’m having fun with the sport on Swap, and shall be shopping for a number of the DLC, however it suffers loads on the efficiency facet. That and the horrible platforming segments that, fortunately, are fairly uncommon.

Cool cool cool. Thanks, I’ll take a look at some movies.

Perhaps any individual will make a Hagane determine.

Get assist.